Annie Get Your Gun

This was my first visit to the Young Vic and its unreserved bench seats. I liked the community feel of the place and was intrigued to see four upright pianos installed in the front of a long narrow stage rather than an orchestra pit of any kind. "Annie Get Your Gun" was the only musical chosen on this trip, which is quite unusual for me as I am a real lover of the musical form. I don't know this particular musical and had never seen a production of it before. It does contain some great standards I did know and of course the actress, Jane Horrocks. The leading man was Julian Ovenden, who I believe we last saw in the Sondheim, "Merrily We Roll Along", at the Donmar a couple of years ago.

The original story of Annie Oakley was in the late 19th century but Richard Jones, the director, had set his version in the 1940's. This meant that he could show Annie's triumphal tour of Europe, where she was presented with medals by Winston Churchill, De Gaulle, Mussolini and Hitler, as a silent film version. The set was a long and rather shallow rectangular space and the first scene was decorated with chrome furniture as per an American diner in Cincinnati. We meet Charlie, the drummer for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show (John Marquez) who is trying to set up a contest between a local contestant and Frank Butler (Julian Ovenden), champion sharpshooter of the world. The director seemed to have decided on a low key approach relying on ensemble singing supported by the four upright pianos. The director may be trying to capture Irving Berlin's stated aim that he wanted to make his songs sound like "conversation set to music". Ovenden doesn't have a big voice but what he brings is excellent articulation and phrasing of a song. "I'm a Bad, Bad Man" is a typical Berlin conversational verse and allows Ovenden to establish the style of the show. Jane Horrocks is tiny and once again the emphasis is on clarity and characterisation rather than a big voice. What Jane Horrocks brings to the role is vulnerability and, though she is a sharpshooter not only the equal of Frank but indeed his better, we are won over by her and are rooting for her to the end. We were impressed by the staging and the choreography and this is a show packed full of great songs, The Girl That I Marry", "You Can't Get a Man with a gun", "There's No business like show business", "They Say It's Wonderful", "I Got Sun in the Morning" and "Anything You Can Do". I was disappointed in Niall Ashdown as Sitting Bull and in Chucky Venn as Buffalo Bill. The former was too low key and brought little of the exotic to the show. Chucky Venn has the looks and a good singing voice but I wanted a deeper timbre or range from Buffalo Bill. Both actors and characters fitted in with and supplemented the ensemble singing and numbers too well and I wanted something a little more individual from them. Jane Horrocks was the reason for seeing the show and she did justice to the Berlin lyrics. She is small but beautifully formed. I liked her Annie Oakley and wanted to protect and cheer her on.