| Author | Message: Another Washington Post article...shorter though :) | Posted by: Eric
On: 1/3/1999 at 10:33:50 AM GMT
Message #: 491
See headers | The Gunplay's the Thing
By Sarah Kaufman
Friday, January 1, 1999; Page N24
"Annie Get Your Gun"
Through Jan. 24
Kennedy Center Opera House
Tickets: 202/467-4600
There are several dozen guns used in the musical comedy "Annie Get
Your Gun" (more if you include spares), but there's only one true
gunman: Chic Silber, who as special effects expert has been in charge
of getting them to look and sound as real and dangerous as is safely
possible.
Silber has worked in both theater and circuses for 25 years, but he
says this production, based on legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley,
"gives me the pleasure of tying many circus elements into a theatrical
presentation." He won't say much about those circus elements for fear
of giving their surprises away. But he is eager to reveal that
bullet-dodging is not one of them. None of the custom-designed,
turn-of-the-century Western-looking guns actually shoots, not even
blanks.
"All the creative people feel so strongly about real guns and
violence," he explains. Those cracking bursts of gunfire you think
you're hearing when the actors shoot are actually rim shots, produced
by drummer Cubby O'Brien (who trivia buffs may recall was one of the
original Mouseketeers). With a careful eye on the gunslinger's trigger
finger, O'Brien strikes both the head and the rim of the drum at the
same time -- and all that's missing is the smell of gunpowder.
Despite the fakery, Silber took pains to make all aspects of the
gunplay authentic. He tutored Bernadette Peters, who plays Annie
(pictured above), in the art of firing like a pro. "I explained that
Annie Oakley would've been so comfortable with the gun that she didn't
have to think about aiming it. It was just an extension of herself,"
he says. "She'd have an ease and gracefulness to extending her arm and
rifle, and as soon as her arm was extended she'd take the shot, not
even bothering to aim." Peters, he says, took to the lessons
"beautifully."
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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