Karen Morrow and John Raitt in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 2/3/11 at 4:30pm

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

[twinbelters]

Posted: 2/3/11 at 4:56pm

Love this stuff! Thanks for posting!

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 6:31am

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.

[bryan2]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 8:36am

love this stuff I work with Andrea McArdles Mom and I forwarded it to to her..she said it brings back great memories

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 9:06am

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!

[bryan2]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 1:17pm

I just thought they would love to see the 'old" days when regional theater was wonderful...

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 4:22pm

Regional Theatre is still wonderful.


Thanks for the post and the pics! Love them!

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 5:13pm

Isn't there a studio recording of John Raitt in Annie GYG? Maybe with Florence Henderson as Annie.... I am making this up?

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 5:45pm

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!

[buddy 11432]

Posted: 2/4/11 at 7:59pm

Mary Martin & John Raitt did a short concert version of "Annie Get Your Gun" (as well as sang individually) in Philadelphia in 1982, and at the White House in 1983. Martin did a bit of summer theater on the west coast, but that's it as far as I know. That's probably less than any other performer whose career centered on Broadway during the glory days of summer tours.

[beaemma]

Posted: 2/6/11 at 5:48pm

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.

[soubrette]

Posted: 2/7/11 at 1:12pm

Love these blasts from the past--keep 'em coming! Thanks!

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 2/7/11 at 3:54pm

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.