Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun is a stage musical loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
The music and lyrics were written by Irving Berlin with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields. Berlin had taken on the job after the original choice, Jerome Kern, collapsed and died suddenly. It is said that the showstopper song, "There's No Business Like Show Business", was almost left out of the show altogether because Berlin, wrongly, got the impression that his sponsors, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, did not like it.
Annie Get Your Gun was first staged at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway on May 16, 1946. Ethel Merman starred as Annie in the original production, with Ray Middleton in the leading male role as Frank Butler.
In the 1947 London production, Dolores Gray played Annie with Bill Johnson as Butler. The 1966 Broadway Revival starred Ethel Merman again, the one in 1999 starred Bernadette Peters. Other stage Annies include Heidi Brühl, Marilu Henner, Cheryl Ladd, Susan Lucci, Mary Martin, Reba McEntire, and Suzi Quatro.
In the 1950 MGM movie production directed by George Sidney, Betty Hutton played Annie with Howard Keel in the role of Frank Butler. Originally, Judy Garland had been cast for the title role, but she was indisposed. Still, some of the songs were recorded with her and can be found as bonus tracks on CD and DVD publications. There is also a recording starring Doris Day.
Songs from the show:
- "I'm A Bad, Bad Man"
- "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly"
- "The Girl That I Marry"
- "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun"
- "There's No Business Like Show Business"
- "They Say It's Wonderful"
- "Moonshine Lullaby"
- "My Defences Are Down"
- "Who Do You Love, I Hope"
- "I'm An Indian, Too"
- "I Got Lost In His Arms"
- "I Got The Sun In The Morning"
- "Anything You Can Do"
- "An Old-Fashioned Wedding", was written by Berlin for the 1966 revival.
