Annie Get Your Gun 1999 revival

[BroadwayFan12]

I love Bernadette in almost everything she does, but I couldn't get past her "accent" in this one. I think Reba was a better fit for the role.

[EricMontreal22]

No talk about the rewrites?

[MrMidwest]

What were the rewrites again? I remember hearing about some of them.

[AC126748]

It's been so long that I barely remember the rewrites, save for the omission of "I'm An Indian, Too" and the removal of similar material that could be construed as offensive/insensitive. Anyone with a longer memory (Eric, I'm guessing that since you brought it up, you're such a person) care to fill in the rest?

[jacobtsf]

The biggest re-write was making it a show within a show, which worked for this production, though I have seen a few others that license the revised version and don't understand how to play it.

[EricMontreal22]

Right, wasn't Peter Stone credited with the new book? They opened with No Business Like Show Business. I believe other songs were cut besides Indian, like I'm a Bad Man (title? I only vaguely know AGYG). An Old Fashioned Wedding from the 60s production (I think) was used...

[EricMontreal22]

Didn't even think to check Wiki. Obviously this info should be taken with a grain of salt, but...

"This production had a revised book by Peter Stone and new orchestrations, and was structured as a "show-within-a-show", set as a Big Top travelling circus. "Frank Butler" is alone on stage and introduces the main characters, singing "There's No Business Like Show Business", which is reprised when "Annie" agrees to join the traveling Wild West show. The production dropped several songs (including "Colonel Buffalo Bill", "I'm A Bad, Bad Man", and "I'm an Indian Too"), but included "An Old-Fashioned Wedding". There were several major dance numbers added, including a ballroom scene.[20] A sub-plot which had been dropped from the 1966 revival, the romance between Winnie and Tommy, her part-Native-American boyfriend, was also included. In the 1946 production, Winnie was Dolly's daughter, but the 1999 production made her Dolly's younger sister. In this version, the final shooting match between Annie and Frank ends in a tie.[21]"

[MrMidwest]

Tom Wopat - My Defenses Are Down

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

I saw Ladd, Peters, and McEntire. They were all very strong, in my opinion, but Reba blew the others out of the water. Ladd was competent and Peters did very well with a somewhat ill-fitting role. I wasn't a huge fan of the production itself, though.

[frontrowcentre2]

Rewrites/changes/..there were a few....

1. They cut the Overture. No Overture just opened with "Show Business."
2. With the new opening gone "Col. Buffalo Bill" was also cut
3. So was "I'm a Bad Bad Man."
4. Peter Stone removed almost every joke and funny line from the original script and replaced them with...nothing. If was the least laugh-provoking AGYG ever staged.
5. Also removed was any humour derived from Chief Sitting Bull as the song "I'm an Indian Too" was eliminated.
6. The campy choreography for "My Defenses Are Down" was...bewildering. (Frank Butler is supposed to be a straight guy, right?)

Despite these complaints Peters was enthusiastic (at least opening week when I saw the show) but almost trying too hard to make a dress designed for someone else fit her perfectly. It never did. (At intermission, I chatted with some older theater-goers who had seen Merman in the 1966 Lincoln Center revival. They enjoyed seeing the show again but felt this new production wasn't nearly as good.)

The cast album Angel produced was quite well done but not my favourite recording of AGYG. Peters take of "Lost in his Arms" is sublime.

[EricMontreal22]

I was going to say when it came out, I remember the overall reaction online being VERY mixed, if not slightly negative, largely due to the changes--that's why I was surprised to see them not mentioned in this thread.

[bwayphreak234]

This production had an onstage orchestra right?

[zamedy]

Love this thread. This musical has a special place in my heart because I did it my junior year of high school.. and fell in love with it. I was ignorant going into the whole experience.. just thinking it was some 'country western musical.' Of course I couldn't have been more wrong. A great book by Dorothy Fields and a beautifully written score by Mr. Berlin. It's unfortunate that the overature got the axe in the '99 revival.. as it was beautiful and chilling at the same time (listen to it on the '66 revival.. the part where "I'm An Indian, Too" starts). Just classic Broadway that, in my opinion, was shaken and stirred so that it fit the 'PC' culture of today.

[EricMontreal22]

I remember right around the same time came the Kiss Me Kate revival which also had some script revisions (though far less and not due to potential racism--I believe John Guare of all people did them), so there was a lot of talk online about if these shows needed it.

[niekla]

Peters was excellent in the clips I saw she deserved the tony. She is perfect as she was in song and dance was perfect. She deserved a tony for gypsy and sunday

[PattiLover]

Reba was wonderful, much better than Bernadette. Bernadette was just...bizarre. I really didn't enjoy her performance, but she's excellent on the recording. I remember really enjoying the weirdness of the choreography in "My Defenses Are Down." It made no sense, but it was thrillingly homoerotic. Yowza.

Tom Wopat was the unsung star of that show.

I remember being very disheartened that Carolee Carmello didn't win the Tony for Parade that year instead of Bernadette. Well, that's showbiz.

[morosco]

6. The campy choreography for "My Defenses Are Down" was...bewildering. (Frank Butler is supposed to be a straight guy, right?)

I had completely forgotten about that! That choreography was so drop your jaw wrong for this show! What the hell were Graciela Daniele and Jeff Calhoun thinking??? The show suddenly became Joey Heatherton's lounge act.

[MrMidwest]

Cheryl Ladd & Patrick Cassidy

[EricMontreal22]

Here's My Defences Are Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZOBvgKMVqQ

[zamedy]

OMG. Homoerotic is right. What the heck was that?! A nod to Studio 54?

[jayinchelsea]

I got to see Merman do the revival at Lincoln Center in the 60s, and although she was way too old (and her leading man, Bruce Yarnell, was way younger), she was amazing. She understood the role and played and sang the hell out of it.

Bernadette was completely miscast and misdirected in the last revival, and yes, "My Defenses are Down" was the gayest number I've ever seen!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I thought they were annoucing the new Annie today?


Cheryl looks like she was a real trooper. I would like to hear version of "Dumb Dawg"

[Mister Matt]

Never saw this revival because I simply cannot STAND this show. I don't like the book. I don't like the score. Don't really care about the story or the characters and never heard a recording I wanted to listen to more than once. For the beloved classics, I rate this one slightly lower than Camelot. Reba might have been the only reason I could have been dragged to the show if I had a comp ticket.

[bwayphreak234]

If there was a revival of this, who would you guys like to see play Annie?

[everythingtaboo]

I saw it just to see Susan Lucci, I'll admit it. Her voice wasn't very strong, but she was charming and it's Lucci. And you had to love her program insert of her holding her Emmy! It was cheesetastic but I had no expectations anyway.

[bwayphreak234]

If there was a revival of this, I would kill to see Lauren Ambrose take on the role.