Theatre Review: Annie Get Your Gun – Theatre at the Mill

When I saw that Annie Get Your Gun was coming to Theatre At The Mill I won’t lie I was excited, I’ve always loved musicals of any description; anything from Calamity Jane to Pitch Perfect and I’m on board. Annie Get Your Gun has always held a special place though as it was the first musical I saw at ‘big school’. It was performed by staff and pupils and I was mesmerised by it, so much so that when the rehearsals came around for the next big production I was front and centre to audition. I ended up as second peasant from the right in ‘My Fair Lady’ and loved every second.

The story revolves around Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show as it travels around the United States in the late 1800’s and is loosely based on the real life sharp-shooter Annie Oakley. It’s a fast paced story of romance, shooting, ego and competition. It includes songs you’ve probably heard but maybe aren’t sure where they came from. The most popular being There’s No Business Like Show Business and my personal favourite Anything You Can Do.

Peter Corry directs this production and is brilliant. Probably best known at the minute for his Christmas special “The Music Box”, he’s brought new life to a classic and really concentrated on the songs from this musical. The stage is fairly simple with just wooden steps in the middle and the orchestra either side there is definitely more focus on the actors than the set.

The orchestra is made up of around ten people. Half of these are multi-tasking as they are also actors in the show (often with more than one character). This was incredibly impressive as it really brought the music to life and made it an even more integral part of the show.

One thing that really surprised me was the accents. American accents can be notoriously hard to master and it can be very off putting when you are watching people sing and talk for two hours if it’s not convincing. No issue here, all the actors were superb at the accents. Special mention to Kara Swinney who played Annie herself as her accent was flawless and definitely seemed to come ‘natur’lly’.

George Jones played Buffalo Bill and was excellent – he was very natural on the stage and really impressed with his singing voice which definitely surprised me.There were a few quite young actors in the ensemble too and they were great, such strong singing voices and very comfortable on the stage.

The final scene was my absolute favourite because it focussed around (in my opinion) the best song of the entire show: Anything You Can Do. It was performed brilliantly and I was just so impressed by Kara Swinney and Blair Robertson (who played Frank Butler) and their ability to pull off such an iconic song.

All in all I loved it and feel like they stayed true to the feel and the story of Annie Oakley and the crew! The show is running until 10th October and you can find out more info or book tickets here.