Release Date: 31 October 2005
Label: Naxos - Nostalgia / Naxos Nostalgic
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943279021
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BERLIN
Description
Annie Get Your GunOriginal 1946 Broadway Cast and 1950 Film SoundtrackMusic and Lyrics by Irving BerlinAnnie Get Your Gun began, like many of thegreatest musicals, with a series of unexpectedevents - some happy, some not.Dorothy Fields was a woman at loose endsearly in 1945. Her latest show, Up In CentralPark, had opened on 27 January, and althoughthe book she wrote with her brother Herbertand her own lyrics had both been warmlyreceived, she felt restless.Her good buddy Ethel Merman wasdepressed after the recent closing of her firstflop, Sadie Thompson, and wanted Fields towrite a new show for her. Dorothy was willing,but couldn't come up with a single idea.One night, she was wandering aroundBroadway with Herbert when they passed byone of those shooting galleries where the sharpeyedand steady-handed can win stuffed animalsby the score. A young GI on leave was doingjust that and his lady love was positivelyweighed down with a plush menagerie.'That might make a cute story,' suggestedHerbert.'Why does it always have to be the manwho's the marksman?' bristled Dorothy. 'Haven'tthey ever heard of Annie Oakley?'She stopped dead in her tracks.'Oh my God! Annie Oakley. The Merm.'That's all she had to say. It had only beenfifteen years since Merman made her Broadwaydebut in Girl Crazy, but she was already anicon, with hits like \Anything Goes and"DuBarry Was A Lady" to her credit.Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley: it was an ideathat everyone adored. Merman was the first tosign on. Then Rodgers and Hammerstein agreedto produce. Jerome Kern offered to write thescore and Joshua Logan was set to direct.There actually was an Annie Oakley, by theway. She was a farm girl from Iowa and her realname was Annie Moses but she adopted 'Oakley'as her stage name. She fell in love with her rival(who really was named Frank Butler) and theytoured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show from1880 to 1901.Annie Oakley, as the team originally calledtheir show,was set to go into rehearsal early in1946.Then, on 4 November 1945,Kern suffered astroke, dying a week later.The interesting thing is how no one thoughtof abandoning the show; they all felt the initialconcept was that solid.Rodgers and Hammerstein decided to starttheir search for a replacement at the top - withIrving Berlin, a man who had been riding highsince he wrote "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in1911.The canny Berlin liked the show's book aswell as the idea of composing for Merman, buthe shared his worries with Oscar Hammerstein.'Annie is a hillbilly and I've never writtencountry music in my life. I wouldn't knowwhere to start.'Hammerstein dryly suggested that all Berlinhad to do was drop the final 'g' from his lyricsand he'd do just fine.Berlin wasn't convinced, but he vowed totry. In the dead of winter, he went off toAtlantic City for a weekend and came back withfive songs: Doin' What Comes Naturally, YouCan't Get A Man With A Gun, The Girl ThatI Marry, They Say It's Wonderful andThere's No Business Like Show Business.Needless t
Tracklisting
John Mccormack
J. Grenfell
Ivor Novello
Ives, Burl
Harry Belafonte
Guy Mitchell
Gracie Fields
George Formby
