Mainstage Season
NOW EXTENDED THROUGH SEPTEMBER 1 !
Book by Herbert & Dorothy Fields
Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, Bay Street's Frost/Nixon)
Irving Berlin’s score for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN is one of the greatest of all time. It features beloved songs including There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do, and They Say It's Wonderful, all of which will be performed by a country-western, bluegrass band. It tells the story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and her tempestuous romance with fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler. Acclaimed director Sarna Lapine brings a fresh, modern approach to the story, incorporating elements from Dorothy Fields’ original book to create the strongest and most revolutionary Annie Oakley you’ve ever seen!
Irving Berlin, the composer of the music and lyrist for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, was born in Tyumen, Russia, on May 11, 1888, and immigrated to New York as a child. He would become one of the most popular songwriters in the United States, with hits like Alexander's Ragtime Band, What'll I Do, God Bless America, and White Christmas. His music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook.
Herbert & Dorothy Fields are the brother and sister team who wrote the book for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. Dorothy started writing songs for Tin Pan Alley and Broadway in the 1920s. From the 1930s on, Dorothy also worked for Hollywood with her partner, composer Jimmy McHugh. She won an Oscar for the song The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time (1936), which she had written with Jerome Kern. Herbert was a writer and actor, known for Hit the Deck (1955), 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) and Joy of Living (1938). Dorothy and Herbert won two Tony Awards in 1959 for Redhead including Best Musical and shared the award for Best Book/Libretto with Sidney Sheldon and David Shaw.
Sarna Lapine is a New York-based director of plays, musicals and opera. Upcoming: a new adaptation of Dracula by Kate Hamill (CSC); the West Coast premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Bernhardt/Hamlet (the Geffen); and the West End premiere of the critically acclaimed Broadway revival, Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford. Credits include Little Women, by Kate Hamill (Primary Stages); Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (Boston Lyric Opera); Noises Off (Two Rivers Theater); Into the Woods(Julliard); and Frost/Nixon (Bay Street Theater). Sarna has directed at regional theaters throughout the country and in Japan. Assistant/Associate Director: The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Awake and Sing! Touring productions: Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage; the second national tour of Lincoln Center Theater’s South Pacific; and The National Theatre’s WarHorse as Associate Director (North American Tour and Japan). MFA from Columbia University.
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN is presented through special arrangement with R & H Theatricals www.rnh.com
Media Sponsors: WSHU, 102.5 BAZ, 92.9 & 96.9 EHM, 88.3 WPPB
