Malone delivers a tour-de-force performance in Moonlight's charming 'Annie Get Your Gun'

By: PAM KRAGEN Staff Writer | Tuesday, July 3, 2007 1:46 PM PDT ∞

What do you get when you cross a big-belting leading lady with one of the juiciest character leads in Broadway history? In the case of Bets Malone as Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun," you've got lightning in a bottle.

From the moment Malone swaggers onto the Moonlight Amphitheatre stage as the hillbilly sharpshooter, the show takes wing. Malone grew up at the outdoor Vista theater (playing an orphan boy in Moonlight's very first show, "Oliver") and the L.A. resident returns to her old stomping grounds in a role that seems ideally suited to her voice and personality.

When Irving Berlin wrote the score for "Annie Get Your Gun" back in 1946, his Annie was the roof-raising Ethel Merman, so a big voice is required for the part. But what Malone brings to the part besides a large, ear-pleasing sound is strong stage presence, charisma, comic physicality, articulate phrasing and a natural likability. Seeing her perform songs like "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" and "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun," it's hard to imagine anyone doing better in the part, whether they're in Vista or on Broadway.

Moonlight is producing the 1999 revival version of "Annie Get Your Gun," in which Peter Stone revised Herbert and Dorothy Fields' original book by trimming sexist remarks, as well as racist Indian stereotypes and the song "I'm an Indian Too," moving "There's No Business Like Show Business" from the end of the show to the beginning, and recasting the musical's setting as a show within a show.

The show's cartoonish Indian characters still utter politically incorrect lines that may make sensitive viewers wince, but in the hands of director/choreographer John Vaughan, the musical is a smile a minute, with lively dancing, a rich and varied wardrobe of colorful costumes and a show with timeless, all-ages appeal.

For those not familiar with the musical, it follows the real-life transformation of Annie Oakley from an 1870s backwoods hillbilly to the toast of Europe in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Oakley falls hard for the star sharpshooter Frank Butler, but his machismo can't handle sharing the spotlight or being outgunned by a woman, so he defects to a rival show. Eventually, the two shows and their stars come together again when Frank learns that winning isn't always everything and Annie learns that "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun."

It's hard to go wrong with "Annie Get Your Gun." The musical's pacing is swift, the book is funny, the lyrics are exceedingly clever, and it has a hit-packed score ("There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful") that only gets better as it goes along. Staged as a vaudevillian circus (much like big-top Western shows the musical depicts), the characterizations are broad and comical.

Almost any actor co-starring with the high-wattage Malone could easily disappear in the glare, but Moonlight regular Randall Dodge is warm and charming as Annie's romantic interest, Frank Butler. The role sits squarely in the middle of Dodge's baritonal range, and he can belt just as confidently as Malone. Dodge is a gifted comedian, so it's in the comic songs and moments where he shines the brightest ---- particularly his delightful duets with Malone "An Old Fashioned Wedding" and "Anything You Can Do." He's manly and a tall drink of water, and has good romantic chemistry with Malone.

With the show-within-a-show staging concept, the rest of the characters in the musical are intentionally over the top, and Vaughan draws broad and well-balanced performances from the rest of his cast.

David Kirk Grant is energetic and rubbery limbed as the consummate showman Buffalo Bill Cody. San Diego character actor Ralph Johnson joyfully reprises the dual roles of cranky innkeeper Foster Wilson and calculating showman Pawnee Bill (he played both parts at the Welk Resort Theatre in Escondido in 2003).

Stacy Goldsmith and David Beaver are loudly battling comic foils as Butler's assistant Dolly Tate and show manager Charlie Davenport, respectively. Natalie H. Emmons and Brian Conway are strong dancers as the idealistic young lovers Winnie Tate and Tommy Keeler. Sean Tamburrino avoids stereotypes as the business-minded Chief Sitting Bull, and the trio of Ashley Twomey, Allie Trimm and Cameron Elmore are endearing as Annie's younger siblings.

One of the best features of Vaughan's production is the choreography, inspired by the Broadway revival. Particularly fun is the creative cowboy dancing in "My Defenses Are Down" (led by Michael Kelly, Brian C. Veith and Justin Weatherby) and the lively waltzing in "I Got the Sun in the Morning."

Musical director/conductor Elan McMahan draws a note-perfect rendering of the score from the orchestra and allows the players to let loose, knowing the two hearty leads are strong-enough singers to rise above the music. The rented sets are minimalist, but they make a nice circus-style backdrop for the lavish costumes by Sharell Martin. Christina L. Munich designed the lighting and M. Scott Grabau designed the sound (which is fine except for the ear-splittingly loud microphones of Goldsmith and Beaver).

The musical runs two hours, 40 minutes, with intermission.