Karen Morrow and John Raitt in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

For readers of this message board interested in learning about a performer perfectly suited to a musical role, please take a look at the new page on my website, "Memories of Melody Top." The page is packed with photographs, cast biographies and reviews from a 1975 production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN with Karen Morrow and John Raitt. Ms. Morrow received raves in the Milwaukee press, with critics comparing her voice to a drum and bugle corps and the Liberty Bell. She played the same show at Sacramento Music Circus right after Melody Top, and I would be interested in hearing any first-hand observation of her California performance.

Readers may also be surprised to learn the role of Little Jake was played by Jim Valcq. As an adult, James Valcq composed and co-authored the musical THE SPITFIRE GRILL. Mr. Valcq also played a Newsboy the same summer in Melody Top's GYPSY, with Dave Madden and the late, great Margaret Whiting.

Next month's update to the site will feature a page about FINIAN'S RAINBOW with Arte Johnson, David Holliday, Barbara Williams and Charles Welch – just in time for St. Patrick's Day!
Seeing Stars (3) on Memories of Melody Top

You're welcome! And "thank you" to the 500 people who visited the site yesterday. The two pictures of Karen Morrow on stage in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN are so much fun to see, and I only wish her performance was recorded on audio tape and videotape.

Thank you so much, bryan2, for getting the website to Andrea McArdle and her mother. I saw Andrea do Dorothy in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1985) at Melody Top, and she was wonderful in the part! A friend told me she practiced roller skating in Melody Top's parking lot during that show's run, preparing to audition for the Broadway production of STARLIGHT EXPRESS. What a trouper!

Regional Theatre is still wonderful.


Thanks for the post and the pics! Love them!

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John Raitt did preserve his Frank Butler on a recording with Mary Martin as Annie Oakley, based on a 1957 TV version of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. I just wish Ms. Morrow had been given the chance to record more of her stage roles. She did LITTLE ME twice at Melody Top, and I would pay anything to hear her take on "On the Other Side of the Tracks." Any producers out there willing to finance a solo CD by Ms. Morrow? I'd buy one!

What an interesting addition to the Melody Top website! I especially enjoyed the "backstage" (actually "outside the tent") snapshots. It's just amazing to think how many major roles John Raitt was able to learn and perform in his lifetime. He must have played just about every male musical lead at one time or another in his extensive summer stock work. Although he got top billing and the longest program bio (with a nice mention of daughter Bonnie), Frank Butler is somewhat secondary to Annie in the show. He must have had a lot of respect for the Karen Morrow to accept the role, as he was almost always the sole star lead in the many stock productions in which I saw him.

Thanks for the positive comments, everybody! And yes, I will have more pages on specific Melody Top shows in the future. Next month will be FINIAN'S RAINBOW with Arte Johnson. I also have some amazing pictures of Arte in FORUM with Dave Madden. This summer I hope to have a gallery of color images from two Melody Top producitons of 1776. And I'm thinking of a way to post a nice collection of photographs from GUYS AND DOLLS with Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.