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| Author | Topic: Annie Get Your Gun |
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 UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 7/6/2003 at 4:13:35 AM ET
Okay, all of you theatre mavens, don't laugh at this request -- SWEAR you won't, okay?
Here's the thing. First, my "captain-obvious-opening- statement:" I am a HUGE Bernadette fan, but I have never had the money or the means to go see any of her recent Broadway performances. (My trip to see Gypsy in Oct. will be the maiden voyage!)
Despite this, (and despite never having seen any versions of it) I am also a huge fan of the AGYG soundtrack. I mean... I really do love the music.
My problem?
I have no idea what happens in the play. None at all.
So I know a lot of you have seen AGYG (the revival) and I was just wondering if you could indulge me and post a sort of summary. Like, what happens in each act, what happens for each song. What the choreography is like... And maybe some fun experiences you've had from seeing the show.
I know this sounds like an utterly bizarre request, and yes I know anyone who takes me up on this offer will have a LOT of typing to do, but... I really do love the soundtrack and I'm going out of my mind trying to puzzle out why certain songs aren't where I thought they would be. ('Anything You Can Do,' for instance, I thought would be at the beginning, but it's not. It's at the end. Why? What's going on? And why is the end of the first act so sad? -- Bernadette said something along these lines during an old Rosie interview.)
Anyway. Thanks so much for at least not laughing at poor little old me. And for indulging such a silly request! 
***************
"I'm not good I'm not bad I'm just right. I'm the witch; you're the world. I'm the hitch; I'm what no one believes, I'm the witch. You're all liars and thieves...oh, why bother?"
-- Into the Woods
|  BwayLover
Registered User
Registered:
8/12/2002 | posted: 7/6/2003 at 1:26:37 PM ET
Okay, I only saw the show once, but I'll do my best to give you a summary.  Someone here could more than likely do a better job, but here goes...
Frank Butler is the star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The troupe comes into the town where annie lives, and Frank and annie meet. The people of Buffalo Bill's show discover that annie is a great shot,and she subsequently joins the show. annie is attracted to Frank, but she knows she's not the kind of girl for him-this realization is sung in "You Can't get a Man With A gun."
Jessie, Nellie, and Little Jake are annie's young siblings, and they travel with her. "Moonshine Lullaby" is sung by annie to the children one night as they are traveling. I love this song.
annie quickly rises in popularity. Both annie and Frank have an attraction to each other, but so far, a relationship is not working out. (I'm going to interrupt the summary here to say that one of the things I remember most about the show took place right before the Act 1 Finale, where annie is reading a letter from Frank. She can't really read, and she's sounding out his name...Fffff...rraaaaannnk...,and anyway, it amused me, the way she was trying to sound out the words to read )
Okay, Act 2...um, I can't remember the first part of the act! Except that I think annie is swinging on a trapeze as part of the Show...that may be during the "European Tour".
"I Got the Sun in the Morning" is a big number-I think this is where annie is wearing the blue dress with all the medals (if you have the little booklet thingy from the CD, there's a picture on the last page). I think they're at some kind of party or something...Someone correct me if I'm wrong! Anyway, annie and Frank confess their love for each other, then go into the amusing, "An Old Fashioned Wedding."
I think they have some sort of disagreement. One challenges the other to a shooting competition. annie doesn't know what to do, because she's afraid if she wins, she'll lose Frank. But she also doesn't want to lose *to* him. So some people from the show, without her knowledge, fix the gun in some way so that it won't work properly. Then they say to annie something like, "You can't get a man with a gun? Well, you'll get a man with *this* gun." (I don't remember the exact line.)Somehow, I don't remember how, by competition time, I think annie used a gun that was in proper working order. "Anything You Can Do" is the song they sing as they're competing. Someone's throwing those clay thingys in the air, and annie and Frank take turns shooting at them. They both hit all of them in the first round, but then they both start missing on purpose. So, in the end, they live happily ever after. 
Oh, and since my summary probably isn't good enough, here's a link to one that may give you more information-it's for the original show, but you still get most of the same stuff as was in the revival.
Synopsis
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Walter Bagehot
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 7/6/2003 at 3:37:26 PM ET
Here's a review from Talkin Broadway that might help; I saw AGYG a few times, but can't remember details very well. The choreography was kind of Broadway-country. The "Sun in the Morning" song had a big dance sequence with it, with the entire cast in formal dress, and at one point 4 (?) dancers lift Bernadette up onto their shoulders. "Old-Fashioned Wedding" was very funny and, if I remember correctly from interviews with Wopat and Bernadette, they were given a lot of latitude to do what they wanted during that song --which SHE certainly did!
During "My Defenses Are Down", the male dancers are on stage with Wopat, and at one point pull him in one direction, and then he pulls the entire line in another direction.
annie Review
| UCFGuardgirl
Registered User
Registered:
6/15/2003
From:
New York City | posted: 7/6/2003 at 4:04:22 PM ET
You guys are SO nice! Thank you!
Oh, and for those of you in the NYC area who have never seen the show, I have just discovered a new, useful bit of info: The NYC Public library tapes all the NYC Broadway shows for its archives for educational purposes. If you go to the Lincoln Center branch, you can check out AGYG there and watch it (but you have to watch it there in the library.)
Anyway. Now I am DOUBLY excited about moving. WOO!
***************
"I'm not good I'm not bad I'm just right. I'm the witch; you're the world. I'm the hitch; I'm what no one believes, I'm the witch. You're all liars and thieves...oh, why bother?"
-- Into the Woods
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