Annie Get Your Gun

Over the weekend I auditioned for the Classic Musical: Annie Get Your Gun. The book was written by Herbert and Dorothy Fields and Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin in the mid-1940's. It was written as a vehicle for the legendary, irrepressible belter and performer, Ethel Merman. A 1999 revival was presented on Broadway with one of my favorite performers, Bernadette Peters. It is the fictionalized story of Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter from Ohio and her husband, Frank Butler. I am sure most of you reading this will recognize some of the songs from the catchy and popular score, You Can't Get a Man With A Gun, Anything You Can Do, Doin' What Comes Natur'lly and There's No Business Like Show Business. St. George Musical Theater is homeless and has had to cut back dramatically on the shows they can produce. After the hit winter show, Singing In the Rain, they were sad to announce they would take the year off to just focus on raising money for their new building. Well, as miracles happen, the college was able to provide them with a space this summer and they decided to do Annie Get Your Gun. Dawna and Don Kenworthy who run the theater asked Brodie Perry, who is an equity actor and local voice teacher to serve as musical director and play the part of Frank Butler and for his wife Kerry to head the production team as Director of the show. They agreed and got permission from Actor's Equity for Brodie to perform in the show, since SGMT is a community theater. But, as far as community theater's go, this is one of the best I have seen. It rivals some professional and regional theater's I have worked in as far as production value and talent. The whole community seemed abuzz about the show and some of the most talented people came out to audition. Especially of the female variety. This is a plum role for a leading lady and hard to pass up. I had no plans of doing theater this year, and for the most part I go by my heart as to what projects I will work on regardless. I had some other opportunities come my way, and nothing felt right. Plus, I had family obligations and this house to renovate. But, when I heard that this show was being produced and the people that were involved (I had worked with Brodie at Tuacahn last summer and he is my vocal teacher) I felt good about it. I really wanted to do it. I bought the CD's of the music and researched Annie Oakley's life. I admired her standing up for women's rights (a subject close to my heart) in a time when women could not vote and were secondary citizens. She became a world wide celebrity and thought that women should serve their country as soldiers in the War. She was heavily involved in rights for women up to the day she died. I also admired her relationship with Frank, her husband. It was a true partnership and their business ethics and the way they worked together was a superb model for others to follow. I practiced everyday on the songs and decided to do You Can't Get a Man With a Gun for my audition piece. My kids would dance around as I practiced and got to know that song and the others I practiced for fun very well! (Catchy Tunes) Roger gave me some great advice going into my audition on Thursday, he said, "Don't give your performance just the broad strokes and the obvious choices. Make very specific choices and play those, because this song (along with a few of the others in the show) are repetitive and have verse after verse. Treat it like you would any monologue and tell a complete story with the song." So, I focused on that in the audition. I got called back with Brooke Bang, Katie Salter and Tazia Murie. All very strong, talented women who have been leading ladies for SGMT at some point over the years. I just kept focusing on what Roger had said and Brodie said something very similar in the audition. I knew I should work hard to convey the characters thought process and make all indicating and catchy melody secondary. I felt good about the callback. I left pretty clueless as to how they were going to cast it because we all were so different and had our strengths in different areas. I got home and Roger asked how I felt I did. I said, "Everyone did so well, and I am not just saying that. And it is hard because they are friends, especially Taz. It is weird going up against the same part with a good friend and know that once the decision is made one of you is going to be sad. It is bittersweet." He listened and then said, "Friendships aside, how do you feel you did and how would you gauge things"? I told him that I felt like Taz had the strongest singing voice, Brooke had the best comic timing, Katie had the best energy and that I was just the well rounded one. I didn't think I had any obvious stand outs...except that I had variety. I tried to play every verse with a different motivation and tactic and tried to keep it honest. I sang with variety. I would 'speak sing', 'belt', 'pretty it up', 'character it up'...whatever was necessary to convey what she was thinking and feeling at the time." He smiled a big smile and said, "Thatta Girl". I told him that my main goal was to just feel good about the audition and that I had done my best, the rest was out of my hands. When Kerry called to offer me the role she told me the reason she settled on me for the part was because she could see my thought process. It was interesting to watch and with the songs being so long and repetitive she needed someone who could hold the audience and tell the story first with the music being secondary...thanks Roger. The official list went up today and I am Annie Oakley! Brooke will be playing Dolly and be my understudy, for which I am grateful! It is such a relief when you know you have someone that can step in if anything goes wrong. And the show is vocally and physically demanding so she will take the 3 matinees so I don't have to do 2 shows in one day. It is a great opportunity for her as well to have the chance to play the role. I look forward to working with her and getting to know her better. I can't wait to start working on this material and to grow as a singer and actress. It has been over two years since I had a lead in a musical, YAY! Back in the spot light for my 15 minutes of fame, always fun! I am purposefully not watching or listening to any other actresses like I did initially so I can make this genuinely my own character. I am going to focus on the lady herself and learn all I can about her and watch old footage of her and Frank doing their shooting tricks. Roger and I are talking about going out shooting, I am excited for that. I shot a .22 a couple times in high school and was a pretty good shot if I remember correctly. I will write about this as the process goes on. The show will play late July through mid-August, the same as Roger's show. We have family and friends helping with the kids. Should be fun!