News
'Annie Get Your Gun' plays Main Stage through Oct. 12
Advance Weekly Entertainment section Review by Lisa Ann Williamson "Annie Get Your Gun" will play on Wagner College's Main Stage through Sunday, Oct. 12. Wagner College's mainstage season opener got off to a strong and accurate shot with "Annie Get Your Gun," the Irving Berlin classic musical of love and competition. Performances continue through Sunday so there's still time to get in on the fun. And when we say fun, you have only to look at the faces of each cast member to see sheer joy, whether it's in a kick line or dance formations. Director Karen Babcock put together a show that honors the 1946 Berlin musical with splashes of safe and well-done knife play and choreographed formations including a rather spectacular gun display. In about two and a half hours with one intermission, the cast sang, tumbled, stilt-walked and otherwise had a joyous time. The story centers around Annie Oakley, a young sharp-shooter trying to earn a living to support herself and three siblings hunting and selling her kill. She is so remarkable that she beats Frank Butler, the main attraction of the traveling Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She also falls in love with him, but competition gets in the way and Butler joins the competing Pawnee Bill show. What a charmer Annie Oakley (Danielle Roth) is with such natural ease. She was able to do what is sometimes difficult with so many models of a role that have come before her, but Roth made the signature songs her very own. She filtered each line through her Appalachian sweetness. Notable songs are "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun' and "Anything You Can Do." Her love interest, Frank Butler (Matt Ban) was every bit the equal in charm and also used her velvety baritone voice to sway the young Annie and the audience, especially apparent in "The Girl That I Marry." It wasn't just the main characters in this production that were strong. Dolly Tate (Jillian Severin), the far more flashy and seasoned performer in Buffalo Bill's show posseses incredible presence and is comfortable in the comic moments without pushing too much. The men, Buffalo Bill Cody (Christopher DeRosa), Pawnee Bill (Joseph Donnelly) and Charlie Davenport (Michael Pesoli) are very strong characters. There are also the very adorable siblings of Annie's, Nellie (Erin Fitzpatrick), Jessie (Xhenet Capani) and the scrumptious Little Jake (Nicholas Velleca). With so many strengths, you forgive any minor flaws like Annie's dirt-smeared face while her clothes are crisp and clean and just hum along with the tunes.
Advance Weekly Entertainment section Sharpshooter by Lisa Ann Williamson Annie Oakley was a superstar at the turn of the 20th century. The legendary markswoman toured the country (Staten Island included) and Europe in the late 1800s with sharp-shooting acts like Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Donned in ornate frocks she sewed herself, Oakley could split playing cards in mid-air and knock off clay targets by the bunches. She even fought for women's rights in the early 1900s. Her father died when she was only a child, forcing Oakley to hunt and sell the game to support her mother and siblings and pay off the mortgage on the family home. Great story, huh? Irving Berlin thought so, too, so he wrote music and lyrics loosely based on her life for "Annie Get Your Gun." Dorothy and Herbert Fields wrote the book and the Berlin musical opened on Broadway in 1946 with Ethal Merman in the title role. The show was revived in 1966 and again in 1999 with Bernadette Peters. Now it opens the 2008-09 theater season at Wagner College, where the show continues through Oct. 12. Tickets are $23 to $27 and available through the box office by calling 718-390-3259. Karen Babcock immersed herself in the history of Annie Oakley before starting her directorial responsibilities. That's when she became "friends" with the characters and the show. "Yeah, I'm really a nerd but I love reading about these characters," said Babcock, a director, choreographer and performer who has toured the states, London's West End, Japan and Austria. "Berlin brings such fun, singable melodies, you go out of the theater humming them." "Annie Get Your Gun" centers around Oakley's competition with Frank Butler for a sharp-shooting prize. She wins and the couple goes on to perform together and fall in love. But when Oakley emerges as the star of the show, Butler leaves and Annie is heart-broken until they meet again. Included in the action are stilt walkers, a hoop dancer, gun spinning, rope twirling and juggling -- not to mention songs like "Anything You Can Do," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "The Girl That I Marry" and "I Got the Sun In the Morning." Danielle Roth stars as Annie, Matt Ban plays Butler and the ensemble is rounded out by Christopher DeRosa, Jillian Severin, Michael Dunn, Madeline Clemens, Michael Pesoli, Joseph Donnelly, Billy Cardone, Erin Fitzpatrick, Xhenet Capani, Nicholas Velleca, John Cardenas, Patrick Heffernan, Michael Hickie, Graham Keen, Peter Marinaro, Sal Pavia, Ryan Rhue, Trevor Sideris, Spencer Taylor, Joey Tierno, Laurie Berich, Stephanie Gaertner, Meghan Gibson, Julianna Gutierrez, Alyssa Herrera, Kerri McNeil, Jessica Pucek, Britney Steele, Chelsea Vann and Laraine Watson. 
|
