Annie Get Your Gun 1999 revival

I saw Bernadette well into the run and thought she walked through the show with zero enthusiasm. I have never seen a performer look so bored in a role. The show left me cold.

The role really wasn't a perfect fit for Peters, but she performed it with enthusiasm when I saw it (also well into the run) and was compelling. Tom Wopat was wonderful. I also saw Reba, who was every bit as amazing as everybody says.

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I too saw AGYG with Miss Peters well into the run and thought she was wonderful. I was visiting NY and Bernadette was in a musical and I had never seen her live. Had read some luke warm reviews about the new production comparing it to the original. Went to the box office at the Marquis, needed 2 seats, they only had rear orch on the left, rear orch on the right, decisions, decisions...then the guy said he had 2 tickets 7th row center that a cast member was trying to sell, needed to pay in cash. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I had never seen a production of Annie Get Your Gun before, and I thought it was marvelous. And Bernadette was the jewel at the center. The audience was enthralled. Loved hearing those Irving Berlin songs. (Tom Wopat wasn't bad either!)

I went on Superbowl Sunday at the last minute to the box office and must have purchased house seats because they were center orchestra very close (best I can remember at the moment - actually have the ticket stub at home). Probably had to be Superbowl Sunday 2000 because it only started previews Feb 2, 1999 and Superbowl was January 1999. Didn't know anything about the show. I previously had seen Bernadette in several other shows and loved her so I am probably biased. I loved her and loved the show very much. I did not get the impression that she was walking through the role nor was she bored. I still listen to the cast album frequently. I did not see Reba in the role.

Hearing Reba sing those songs make everyone else pale by comparison.

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I believe Lucci only played the role very briefly (maybe two weeks?), as a vacation replacement for Peters. Anybody see her? Or, for that matter, Cheryl Ladd?

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Here's Crystal Bernard doing Doin' What Comes Naturally. I remember Cheryl Ladd performed the song on the Rosie O'Donnell Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkugE9lXWU

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Barbara Cook creamed her culottes over Reba's performance. I think she even put in an application to try and adopt Reba.

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I saw this production with a friend of mine during previews and we both thought it was dreadful. It looked cheap and sounded cheap (synthesizers). We were actually shocked when it seemed to get good reviews. That being said, I almost returned to see it when Reba joined the cast.

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Bernadette doing Can't Get a Man with a Gun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xReJ6vkSv-8
Tom and Bernadette - Anything You Can Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KCyvkbrQ4I

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I notice Crystal Bernard tones down her natural, Texas drawl as soon as she starts to sing and I have heard nothing but raves about Reba McEntire in the part.

But am I the only one bothered by Bernadette Peters' "accent" on the recording? Irving Berlin was writing for Merman and knew full well she would sing as she always did, verisimilitude be damned.

To my ear, drawling the vowels does something very destructive to Berlin's music. Sticking a "tch" in "natch-er-ly" works fine, but "You caaaa-yunt get a maaaa-yun with a gun" has more syllables than the melody supports.

This was the production that made me hate the Weissler's.