This afternoon, we went to see the Cabrillo Music Theatre (CMT) production of Annie Get Your Gun (google-cached Review). CMT is the resident musical theatre company for the Thousand Oaks Playhouse, and we’ve been subscribers for four seasons now. Their productions are consistantly high quality, and very affordable.
Today’s production was up to their high standards. It used the revised version seen on Broadway (review) in 1999. This version has a revised book from the original (revisions by Peter Stone) that rework a few songs, and get rid of three songs in their entirety: Colonel Buffalo Bill; I’m A Bad Bad Man; and I’m An Indian Too. These songs were deleted because of their lack of political correctness: either they were problematic for Native Americans or for (I guess) unwed mothers. [Article on the CMT Revision] No matter what, this is a show with some classic songs, including There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do, Doin’ What Comes Naturally, I Got The Sun In The Morning, and many more.
This was an excellent production, with an outstanding cast. Kevin Baily played Frank Butler. He had a remarkable voice, and even more remarkable chemistry with the Annie actress. Annie was played by Katherine McPhee, a relatively new actress with a remarkable stage presence, great facial expressions, and a wonderful voice. She will go far. Also notable in this production were Noah Rivera as Tommy Keeler and Jaclyn Miller as Winnie Tate, both making their Cabrillo Music Theatre debuts. Others in the cast included Sandy Mulvihill as Dolly Tate; Cary Pitts as Buffalo Bill Cody; Tim Polzin as Charlie Davenport; Frank Bonventure as Sitting Bull; Nick Mencola as Pawnee Bill/Foster Wilson, Tara Baumann as Jessie Oakley; Sofie Thurston as Nellie Oakley; and Eric Austin Young as Jake Oakley (I’m not listing the ensemble members).
This show closes Sunday evening, March 22. The next CMT production is The Wizard of Oz (Yip Harberg score) the last week of July and the first week of August.
CMT also announced their 2005-2006 season, which sounds like a great one: Oliver!, Forever Plaid, and Seussical. I’ve seen two of the three of these, but won’t mind seeing them again. I’ll note that CMT has great prices: Subscription prices (if they haven’t changed) are only $11 per ticket per show for the balcony on Saturday Matinees—what a great way to introduce your family to theatre!
[Crossposted to socal_theatre]
