Annie Get Your Gun

1946 Irving Berlin, Dorothy and Herbert Fields' musical "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Ethel Merman and featuring "There's No Business Like Show Business" opens at Imperial Theater, NYC


Composer and Lyricist Irving Berlin


Actress and Singer Ethel Merman

Annie Get Your Gun (musical)


Broadway 1946 Original Cast Album

Music: Irving Berlin
Lyrics: Irving Berlin
Book: Dorothy Fields, Herbert Fields

Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).

The 1946 Broadway production was a hit, and the musical had long runs in both New York (1,147 performances) and London, spawning revivals, a 1950 film version and television versions. Songs that became hits include "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "They Say It's Wonderful", and "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)".

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Productions

Original productions

Annie Get Your Gun premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on May 16, 1946, and ran for 1,147 performances. Directed by Joshua Logan, the show starred Ethel Merman as Annie, Ray Middleton as Frank Butler, Lea Penman as Dolly Tate, Art Bernett as Foster Wilson, Harry Bellaver as Chief Sitting Bull, Kenneth Bowers as Tommy Keeler, Marty May as Charlie Davenport, Warren Berlinger as the Little Boy and William O'Neal as Buffalo Bill.

The musical toured the U.S. from October 3, 1947, starting in Dallas, Texas, with Mary Martin as Annie. This tour also played Chicago and Los Angeles. Martin stayed with the tour until mid-1948.

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