Annie Get Your Gun is a 1946 musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with fellow sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).A number of Internet sources claim that the musical is based on Walter Havighurst's book Annie Oakley of the Wild West, but the book was written in 1954, eight years after the musical was first produced.

The 1946 Broadway production was a hit, and the musical had long runs in both New York (1,147 performances) and London, spawning revivals, a 1950 film version and television versions. Songs that became hits include "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "They Say It's Wonderful", and "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)".

History and background Dorothy Fields had the idea for a musical about Annie Oakley to star her friend Ethel Merman. Producer Mike Todd turned the project down, so Fields approached a new producing team, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. After the success of their first musical collaboration, Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein had decided to become producers of both their own theatrical ventures and those by other authors.Bloom and Vlastnik, p.13 They agreed to produce the musical and asked Jerome Kern to compose the music; Fields would write the lyrics, and she and her brother Herbert would write the book. Kern, who had been composing for movie musicals in Hollywood, returned to New York on November 2, 1945, to begin work on the score to Annie Get Your Gun, but three days later, he collapsed on the street due to a cerebral hemorrhage.Nolan, pp.164-65 Kern was hospitalized, and he died on November 11, 1945.Kern, p. 165 The producers and Fields then asked Irving Berlin to write the musical's score; Fields agreed to step down as lyricist, knowing that Berlin preferred to write both music and lyrics to his songs.Kantor and Maslon, p.223 Berlin initially declined to write the score, worrying that he would be unable to write songs to fit specific scenes in "a situation show". Hammerstein persuaded him to study the script and try writing some songs based on it, and within days, Berlin returned with the songs "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun", and "There's No Business Like Show Business".Nolan, p.166 Unlike other shows where her love songs included comical elements as it was felt that Merman's style was not suited to romantic expression, Berlin included ballads for Merman to sing, including "They Say It's Wonderful" and "I Got Lost in His Arms". Merman claimed that "Irving Berlin made a lady out of me." Berlin's songs suited the story and Ethel Merman's abilities, and he readily composed the rest of the score to Annie Get Your Gun.Nolan, pp.166-67 Berlin also included upbeat tunes for her, including "I Got the Sun in the Mornin'" and "Anything You Can Do". The show's eventual hit song, "There's No Business Like Show Business", was almost left out of the show because Berlin mistakenly got the impression that Richard Rodgers did not like it. In imitation of the structure of Oklahoma! a secondary romance between two of the members of the Wild West Show was added to the musical during its development.Bloom and Vlastnik, p.14

According to some sources, the role of Annie was originally offered to Mary Martin, who turned it down. This is not true. Dorothy Fields went to the hospital after Merman gave birth to her son to ask her if she would do the show. The show was conceived for Merman, but when time came to send out the post-Broadway national tour and Merman was unwilling to do it, Martin jumped at the chance, going on the road for approximately two years and belting out the songs, which had the effect of lowering her voice from its normal lyric-coloratura range to mezzo-soprano-alto.

For the 1999 revival, Peter Stone revised the libretto, eliminating what were considered insensitive references to American Indians, including the songs "Colonel Buffalo Bill" and "I'm An Indian Too".Brantley, Ben. "Everything the Traffic Will Allow". The New York Times, March 4, 1999, p.E1 Stone said, "The big challenge is taking a book that was wonderfully crafted for its time and make it wonderfully crafted for our time... It was terribly insensitive...to Indians.... But it had to be dealt with in a way that was heartfelt and not obvious... In this case, it was with the permission of the heirs. They're terribly pleased with it."Simonson, Robert (March 2, 1999). . Playbill. Stone also altered the structure of the musical, beginning it with "There's No Business Like Show Business" and presenting the musical as a "show within a show".

Plot summary

Act I When the traveling Buffalo Bill's Wild West show visits Cincinnati, Ohio ("Colonel Buffalo Bill"), Frank Butler, the show's handsome, womanizing star ("I'm a Bad, Bad, Man"), challenges anyone in town to a shooting match. Foster Wilson, a local hotel owner, doesn't appreciate the Wild West show taking over his hotel, so Frank gives him a side bet of one hundred dollars on the match. Annie Oakley enters and shoots a bird off Dolly Tate's hat, and then explains her simple backwoods ways to Wilson with the help of her siblings ("Doin' What Comes Natur'lly"). When Wilson learns she's a brilliant shot, he enters her in the shooting match against Frank Butler.

While waiting for the match to start, Annie meets Frank Butler and is instantly smitten with him, not knowing he will be her opponent. When she asks Frank if he likes her, Frank explains that the girl he wants will "wear satin... and smell of cologne" ("The Girl That I Marry"). The rough and naive Annie comically laments that "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun". At the shooting match, Annie finds out that Frank is the "big swollen-headed stiff" from the Wild West show. She wins the contest, and Buffalo Bill and Charlie Davenport, the show's manager, invite Annie to join the Wild West Show. Annie agrees because she loves Frank even though she has no idea what "show business" is. Frank, Charlie, and Buffalo Bill explain that "There's No Business Like Show Business".

Over the course of working together, Frank becomes enamored of the plain-spoken, honest, tomboyish Annie and, as they travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a train, he explains to her what "love" is ("They Say It's Wonderful"). Buffalo Bill and Charlie discover that their rival, Pawnee Bill's Far East Show, will be playing in Saint Paul, Minnesota, while the Wild West show plays in nearby Minneapolis. They ask Annie to do a special shooting stunt on a motorcycle to draw Pawnee Bill's business away. Annie agrees because the trick will surprise Frank. She sings her siblings to sleep with the "Moonshine Lullaby".

As Annie and Frank prepare for the show, Frank plans to propose to Annie after the show and then ruefully admits that "My Defenses Are Down". When Annie performs her trick and becomes a star, Chief Sitting Bull adopts her into the Sioux tribe ("I'm An Indian Too"). Hurt and angry, Frank walks out on Annie and the show, joining the competing Pawnee Bill's show.

Act II Returning to New York from a tour of Europe with the Buffalo Bill show, Annie learns that the show has gone broke. Sitting Bull, Charlie, and Buffalo Bill plot to merge Buffalo Bill's show with Pawnee Bill's as they believe that show is doing well financially. Annie, now well-dressed and more refined and worldly, still longs for Frank ("I Got Lost in His Arms").

At a grand reception for Buffalo Bill's troupe at the Hotel Brevoort, Pawnee Bill, Dolly, and Frank also plot a merger of the two companies, assuming Buffalo Bill's show made a fortune touring Europe. When they all meet, they soon discover both shows are broke. Annie, however, has received sharpshooting medals from all the rulers of Europe worth one hundred thousand dollars, and she decides to sell the medals to finance the merger, rejoicing in the simple things ("I Got the Sun in the Mornin'"). When Frank appears, he and Annie confess their love and decide to marry, although with comically different ideas: Frank wants "some little chapel", while Annie wants "A wedding in a big church with bridesmaids and flower girls/ A lot of ushers in tail coats/ Reporters and photographers" ("An Old-Fashioned Wedding"o). When Annie shows Frank her medals, Frank again has his pride hurt. They call off the merger and the wedding, but challenge each other to one last shooting match to decide who is the best shot.

On the ferry to the Governors Island match site, Dolly attempts to ruin Annie's chances by tampering with her guns. She is caught and stopped by Sitting Bull and Charlie. However, they then decide to follow through with Dolly's plan so that Annie will lose the match, knowing that would soothe Frank's ego allowing the two to reconcile and the merger to take place.

As the match is ready to begin, Annie and Frank's egos come out again with each claiming they are better than the other ("Anything You Can Do"). Sitting Bull convinces Annie to deliberately lose the match to Frank, reminding her that she "can't get a man with a gun." That done, Frank and Annie finally reconcile, deciding to marry and merge the shows.

Notes: This description is based on the 1966 revised book. In the 1999 book, Frank also deliberately misses his shots in the final match, which ends in a tie. o written for 1966 revision and included in 1999 Broadway Revival; not in the original production § omitted from the 1999 Broadway Revival

Notable casts +CharacterOriginal Broadway (1946)Original West End (1947)First U.S. Tour (1947)First Broadway Revival (1958)Second Broadway Revival (1966)First West End Revival (1986)Third Broadway Revival (1999)Second U.S. Tour (2000)Annie OakleyEthel MermanDolores GrayMary MartinBetty Jane WatsonEthel MermanSuzi QuatroBernadette PetersMarilu HennerFrank ButlerRay MiddletonBill Johnson Earl CovertDavid AtkinsonBruce YarnellEric FlynnTom WopatRex SmithDolly Tate/DavenportLea PenmanBarbara BabingtonJean ClevelandMargaret HamiltonBenay VenutaMaureen ScottValerie WrightSusann FletcherBuffalo BillWilliam O'NealEllis IrvingJack RutherfordJames RennieRufus SmithEdmund HockridgeRon HolgateGeorge McDanielChief Sitting BullHarry BellaverJohn GarsideZachary A. CharlesHarry BellaverHarry BellaverBerwick Kaler Gregory ZaragozaLarry StorchTommy KeelerKenneth BowersIrving DaviesTommy WonderRichard FrancexxAndrew PalermoEric SciottoCharlie DavenportMarty MayHal BryanDonald BurrJack WhitingJerry OrbachMatt ZimmermanPeter MarxJoe HartWinnie TateBetty Anne NymanWendy ToyeBillie WorthRain WinslowxxNicole Ruth SnelsonClaci MillerPawnee BillGeorge LiptonEdmund DalbyBern HoffmanWilliam LeMassenaJack DabdoubMichael G. JonesRonn CarrollCharles Goff Notes

Characters Annie Oakley—a sharpshooter in the Wild West show Frank Butler—the Wild West show's star Dolly Tate—Frank's flamboyant assistant; Winnie's sister (Charlie's sister in the 1966 version and the 1986 version as Dolly Davenport) Buffalo Bill—owner of the Wild West show Chief Sitting Bull—Sioux chief and holy man; Annie's protector Tommy Keeler§—knife-thrower in the Wild West show; Winnie's boyfriend; part Native American (not in the 1966 version nor the 1986 version) Charlie Davenport—manager of the Wild West show Winnie Tate§—Dolly's sister; Tommy's girlfriend and his assistant in the knife-throwing act (not in the 1966 version nor the 1986 version) Pawnee Bill—owner of a competing western show Foster Wilson—hotel owner Little Boy-show opens on him Annie's brothers and sisters: Jessie, Nellie, Little Jake, and Minnie (Minnie was written out of the 1999 revivalIn the 1999 revival, Annie had three siblings rather than four.)

Notes