Stage: Annie Get Your Gun

Jason Donovan brings the Wild West in musical theatre form to Theatre Royal Brighton

A major new production of this Tony Award-winning version of Irving Berlin’s classic musical, Annie Get Your Gun, stars Emma Williams as Annie Oakley, Jason Donovan as Frank Butler and Norman Pace as Buffalo Bill. Annie Get Your Gun runs at Theatre Royal Brighton from Tuesday 26 to Saturday 30 August.

Jason Donovan is a familiar face from both stage and screen, having performed on the musical theatre stage across the globe. Emma Williams is the twice Olivier-nominated star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Love Story.
The much loved Norman Pace most recently starred in the West End production of Chicago.

With timeless, classic songs including ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’ and ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better’, Annie Get Your Gun tells the legendary story of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West female sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, and her romance with fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler.

When Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show comes to town, it only takes one glance for country girl Annie to fall head over heels for its star marksman, Frank. Both have truly met their match, revealing their competitive natures as they vie for the best shot – and each other’s hearts!

There are poignant Brighton links to the production too, as the real Buffalo Bill came to Brighton in 1877 when proto-feminist Annie Oakley herself performed, and visited again in both 1891 and 1903. There was also a notorious Texas ‘cowboy’, Alexander ‘Tex’ McLeod, who performed with the Wild West shows before retiring and coming to live on Brighton’s Tidy Street in 1919.

Jason Donovan commented in an interview: “I’ve been very lucky – I’m very much looking forward to appearing alongside a truly great cast as we bring the Wild West to theatres across the country.” And as Jason keenly pointed out, the show is called Annie Get Your Gun, not Frank Get Your Gun … so how does he find working with Emma Williams, who plays the famous Annie Oakley? “It’s all about good chemistry as performers. You know, we get along in abundance.

I do think that a good emotional performance comes from the acting and that is the basis for me, and the chemistry. And yes, the fact that she has an incredible voice and an incredible talent makes it a joy working with her.

Norman Pace, who plays Buffalo Bill, will be known to many as half of the successful TV comedy duo from the late ’80s and early ’90s, Hale and Pace. Director Ian Talbot confirmed that Norman is ‘an absolute perfectionist’. Norman laughed it off, by saying: “My biggest contribution to the entire show is that I’ve managed to grow my own facial hair for the part. I’ve got one of those moustaches that you have to twiddle at the ends, and a long thin beard that is somewhere down to my knees.” He added, on a serious note: “I can’t wait to get out on the stage and play Buffalo Bill, with such a legendary script and songs!”

Leading lady Emma Williams commented: “Annie Oakley has been played by so many incredible actresses before that it’s a privilege to fill those cowgirl boots. I have an array of weaponry in the show – rifles, pistols – and I’m having a whale of a time playing with them.

I don’t know if I’d trust myself with any real ammo!”
Now, Howard Panter and The Ambassador Theatre Group are thrilled to be producing this version of the hit musical, on tour across the UK, delighting a new generation of theatregoers with a brilliantly talented cast.

Cast interviews conducted by Chrissy Iley

Annie Get Your Gun runs at Theatre Royal Brighton from Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 August 2014
To book tickets: 0844 871 7650* / www.atgtickets.com/brighton*
*Subject to a booking fee

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