"ANNIE GET YOUR GUN"

SSAOS 1982 production

• Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

• Book  by Herbert and Dorothy Fields

• SSAOS Production at Empire Theatre, Sunderland 8th - 13th November 1982

THE REAL ANNIE. (with thanks to the producer, Fred Wharton, for this note which appeared in the  SSAOS programme)  
Annie Oakley is not a fictional character - she really did come from DARKE COUNTRY, OHIO. She was born in 1866, her real name being  , and she firsdt leart to shoot after her stepfather was frozen to death one winter. The recoil fron the first rifle she fired broke her nose, but she practiced and eventually became a first-class markswoman. 

She did indeed 'get her man with a gun' - she met Frank Butler in a shooting competition, married him a year later and held him as her partner and manager as they toured America and Europe in Wild West Shows. She performed before Queen Victoria in London, and before the Kaiser of Germany who allowed her to shoot a cigarette out of his mouth. When the First Worlt War started she appologised for being so accurate and wrote to the Kaiser asking to be allowed to try again!  She received no reply! 

Annie retired from showbusiness in 1916 and died in 1926. Frank Butler died just 18 days later.

Cast

Barry Hinchmore, Derek Shield, Mark Hogarth, Peter Charlton, Beryl Henderson, Karen Roach, Alan Davison, Jim Grey, Ann McLennan, Simon Hobson, John Darvell, Paul Milburn, Jill Wright, Joanne Hegarty, Samantha Nelson, Ilona Brown,Ken Dunn, Alan Philips, Ron Markwick, Judith Godfrey, Paul Grey, Andrew Brown, Chris Brown, Bill Scott. 

Also taking part were the South Tyneside Schools' Brass Band and the Mortimer Comprehensive School Gymnastic Team.

	Frank Butler - Peter Charlton
Annie Oakley -  Ann McLennan		Chief Sitting Bull -  Ken Dunn
NOTE:- See the other production by the SSAOS of  "ANNIE GET YOUR GUN" in 1955
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