“Annie Get Your Gun”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - May 2010

You know you’re a theatre geek when you can honestly say: All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Annie Get Your Gun:
1. You can’t get a man with a gun
2. Falling in love is wonderful
3. With the sun in the morning and the moon in the evening I’m all right
4. Its okay for a gal to tell a feller “Anything you can do, I can do better”
5. You should sing your babies to sleep with a Moonshine Lullaby
6. And, of course, there’s no business like show business

Ethel Merman, beaming in her buckskins on the record jacket, seemed to me everything a woman should be – bold, talented, confident, and well-armed. There was also some drippy guy singing on the record, but he couldn’t have been very important because his photo wasn’t on the cover and his name wasn’t in the title. He had one very sad song where he told Ethel Merman that I wouldn’t marry her because she didn’t wear nail polish or cologne and wasn’t “as soft and as pink as a nursery.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew that I, like Ethel or Annie or whoever she was, didn’t fit the bill. Like I said, it was a very sad song because from his other songs I could tell he really liked her and wanted to marry her, but apparently these defects made it impossible.

Until now, my only experience with Annie Get Your Gun had been that 33 rpm LP with Ethel Merman on the jacket. On my way to the Mac-Haydn I wondered how it was that I had never seen the show staged. On the way home, I understood exactly why. The show is horribly dated in ways that seriously compromise the central characters. Even hearing all that great music doesn’t alleviate the discomfort.

I knew that Annie Get Your Gun was more about show business and Merman’s stage persona than it was about Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey, 1860-1926) and her husband Francis E. “Frank” Butler (1850-1926). Dorothy Fields, who wrote the book with her brother Herbert, was a friend of Merman’s and conceived the show as a vehicle for her. The Fields were going to write the lyrics to Jerome Kern’s score too, but when Kern died suddenly of a heart attack his old friend Irving Berlin stepped in and did both music and lyrics for what is universally acclaimed as his best theatrical score.

Actually, there are lots of fairly accurate facts about Oakley in the Fields’ libretto – from the age of 12 or so she supported her mother and siblings (she was the youngest though, not the oldest) as a game hunter and sharp shooter; she had little formal education; she met Butler when she beat him at a shooting match; they toured internationally with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West for sixteen seasons; and Sitting Bull adopted her into the Sioux Tribe.

However the whole battle of the sexes rivalry is entirely fabricated, and it is sad because that is what dates the show and ultimately ruins the otherwise strong character of Annie. During the Second World War American women had had the opportunity to work outside the home and earn good money. Immediately afterward those jobs were taken away from them, given back to the returning GIs, and they were told to “go home and have babies.” Annie Get Your Gun, which opened in 1946, is a show of its time, carefully crafted to send the politically correct message that women, regardless of their skills, even if they are literally the best in the world at what they do, must step aside and be “second best” again.

That is really hard for 21st century women, the daughters and granddaughters of those war-time women who stepped aside and regretted it, to hear.

I lay a lot of the responsibility for my discomfort at the Mac-Haydn at the feet of director Rob Richardson, who could have made choices that would have mitigated some of the disquieting moments. With a strong leading lady like Karla Shook, he could have directed her to be less cartoonish in her characterization. This Annie Oakley seems to have been born and raised in Al Capp’s Dogpatch, not in the leafy forests of Darke County, Ohio. Being poor and illiterate does not make one stupid.

But Shook is a really engaging Annie who doesn’t let that drippy singing guy get her down often or keep her down for long. I enjoyed the confidence and big heart she gave the character. I only wish she had not emulated Merman’s singing style to the extent of allowing herself to sound slightly nasal. Shook has a big beautiful voice of her own and doesn’t need to try to sound like anybody else.

Richardson allows his Native Americans to act like broad-drawn cartoons as well. Granted we are seeing stage versions of stage versions of Native Americans, but Richardson explores neither the reality that they were treated extremely badly by most Americans, and pretty well by Cody who encouraged them to preserve and present authentic representations of their culture in his shows, even as the U.S. government was ruthlessly destroying it.

Let’s take the song I’m an Indian Too which is performed in this production although it is often omitted in efforts at political correctness. I love that number. I love the energy, the rhythm and I was really happy to hear it would not be cut. But when I saw it performed I was sad because Richardson had Shook appear frightened of the Sioux and their ceremony. What I had always heard in the song was pride and excitement – a big honor was being conferred on Annie and she was celebrating it – what I saw was shame and embarrassment.

Later in this piece I will tell you more about the real Frank Butler, but suffice it to say that this show was written for Ethel Merman and while Butler is the only other character who actually matters to the plot, he too is reduced to a cartoon-sized image of arrogant male chauvinism. All the actor assaying this role really needs to do is look good and sing purty – a bill which Whitfield fills to a “T.” In fact I can’t remember a time I’ve seen a feller look handsomer in his cowboy duds, and his rich baritone was enough to make me even like that sad song he keeps singing a bit better.

John Saunders is a cheerful Charlie Davenport, a fictional conglomeration of many of Cody’s managers, including Nate Salsbury who “discovered” Annie Oakley, and Aaron Komo, despite his youth, gives gravitas to the role of Sitting Bull. But Kevin Kelly as Buffalo Bill and Brett Figel as his rival Gordon “Pawnee Bill” Little are light-weights, mere kids in bad Halloween costumes playing cowboys and Indians.

Stephanie Gaertner is pretty and amiable as the fictional Dolly Tate, a poorly written character who acts as a sort of rival for Frank’s affections. I understand that over the years in various major productions of Annie Get Your Gun there has been more plot for Doll. Here she’s pretty pointless.

But how cute are those kids? George Franklin, Emma Gregg, Sadie Kratt, and Charlotte Tucksmith play Annie’s four little siblings with a delightful mix of professionalism and relaxed realism. I had fun watching them have fun. My favorite moment of the show came during my very favorite number, Moonshine Lullaby, when the four children popped up from their “slumbers” to join Shook on the song’s bridge.

Since many of the ensemble members at the Mac-Haydn are still in college, the company needs to open their season with a show that is light on chorus and dance numbers. Being a true star vehicle, Annie Get Your Gun meets that requirement. In fact I found the ensemble intrusive at times, particularly in Moonshine Lullaby and There’s No Business Like Show Business (which Berlin wrote to cover a scene change) where they were obviously on stage for no other reason than to provide vocal harmony.

Also, and this is not at all surprising considering I attended the very first public performance of the season, the company has not had time to gel. I expect a huge difference when I return in two weeks to see Anything Goes by which time I expect the 2010 Mac-Haydn company to be working as one well-oiled tap-dancing machine!

Jimm Halliday’s costumes didn’t feel like a coherent whole either, and there were some liberties taken with Annie’s dress that would have the real Mrs. Butler, who was extremely modest, spinning in her grave. Annie Oakley never wore trousers, even though the younger and sexier rival sharp-shooter in the Wild West, Lillian Smith did; and she NEVER would have bared her legs as Shook does in the big motorcycle-riding act. In order to preserve her modesty and have enough athletic freedom to perform her act Annie Oakley wore her skirts just below her knee and boots or buttoned leggings to cover her calves, which was fashion-forward without being unseemly.

Annie Oakley’s one “sexy” accessory was her beautiful long dark curly hair, which she wore down at a time when adult married women traditionally wore theirs up. The wigs that Shook wears are a pale imitation of Annie’s own luxuriant locks, but the second one is considerably better than the first.

Click here to view 1894 Edison film of Annie Oakley shooting.

Before I went I joked that because the Mac-Haydn is a theatre in the round, this production should have been titled Duck and Cover and said I would be sure to wear my Kevlar vest. But I am happy to report that while there are many gun-shot sound effects (none of which are ear-splitting) no guns are actually fired in the theatre and there were no casualties at the performance I attended.

I promised you proof that Frank Butler wasn’t really jealous of or threatened by Annie’s talent. Well here goes: In reality Frank and Annie married in 1882 after a respectable year-long courtship and stayed married until their deaths in 1926. They performed together briefly, but soon Frank retired to work as Annie’s manager and publicist. Already ill when he learned of Annie’s death, Frank stopped eating and followed her to the grave 18 days later. For her part, she was so appalled at the idea of any man other than Frank touching her body that she made arrangements for her corpse to be prepared for burial by a female undertaker. Believe me now?

You see what a wonderful musical you COULD write about Annie Oakley? One about a strong, modest, thrifty, monogamous woman who achieved international stardom with her extraordinary talents and traveled the world supported by her loving husband and surrounded by colorful characters like Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, and Lillian Smith? You could even use a lot of Irving Berlin’s great songs – except that one about the pink and white nursery.

Annie Get Your Gun runs through June 6 at the Mac-Haydn Theatre on Rt. 203 in Chatham, NY. the show runs two and a half hours with one intermission and is good clean fun for the whole family. Good seats are available for all performances: first week: Thursday at 2 and 8, Friday at 8, Saturday at 4 and 8 and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.; second week: Wednesday at 2 and 8, Thursday and Friday at 8, Saturday at 4 and 8 and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $28 and $27; $26 for all matinee seats; children under 12, $12.00. Discounts are available for groups and senior citizens. Master Card and Visa accepted. No cancellations or refunds. Fully Air Conditioned. Call 518-392-9292 for information and reservations. See more Mac-Haydn news and information at www.machaydntheatre.org.

To learn more about Annie Oakley and “Buffalo Bill” Cody I recommend reading The Colonel and Little Missie by Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry.

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