I’ve got two words for you if you are on the fence about seeing Village Theatre’s “Annie Get Your Gun.”
Vicki Noon.
Noon plays the plucky sharpshooter, Annie Oakley. Noon’s performance is worth the price of admission.
For starters, she was “absolutely darling” on stage, to quote my theater companion. She also had a set of lungs as big as Ohio. Her version of “Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” gave me goose bumps.
Noon sparkled on stage where she seemed immensely at home. She balanced a playful personality with a serious sense of pride.
I was a little worried at the start of the show about how the material and subject matter might be dated, especially since Annie appeared to fall stone, cold nuts for this model-handsome Frank Butler with not so much as a test drive. But she turned into a headstrong feminist by the time “Old Fashioned Wedding” was sung.
This little lady was definitely not going to “obey.”
In “Annie Get Your Gun,” Annie, a world-famous female sharpshooter, is crazy about Frank Butler, the heart-throb of Buffalo Bill’s traveling show, and he is crazy about her, though both are headstrong and competitive which leads to lots of conflict – funny and some not so funny.
Noon’s natural-born talents hit the mark as Annie Oakley but she’s been a force since she was called a rising star by the Seattle Times in 1998. She’s performed on various Village Theatre mainstage shows and is fresh off a second national tour of the smash hit musical “Wicked,” the Wizard-of-Oz-based story where she has played Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba.
But Noon couldn’t have been Annie without a strong Frank. Dane Stokinger played a smooth though not overly cocky Frank Butler. Stokinger also had a wonderfully crystal clear voice that shone during such numbers as “The Girl That I Marry” and “They Say It’s Wonderful.”
Other things I thought shined about this production was the fine directing by Steve Tomkins (thank you for choosing Noon); the fantastic costumes (Karen Ann Ledger); the incredible moments when the set transformed into a gorgeous ballroom (scenic designer Bill Forrester) and the score, delivered as true as a bull’s eye (music direction by R.J. Tancioco).
A couple of final mentions.
Kathyrn Van Meter was hilarious as Dolly Tate and I laughed out loud on several occasions, in particular the line after Annie shoots a bird off Dolly’s hat: “It’s not a shootin’ bird, it’s a wearing bird.”
And Casey Raiha made Charlie Davenport one of my favorite characters.
“Annie Get Your Gun” plays at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. selected Tuesdays and 7 p.m. selected Sundays through Jan. 29 at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett.Tickets are $20 to $56. Call 425-257-8600 or go to Village Theatre.
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