Customer Reviews

Annie Get Your Gun: Original London Cast

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The entire recording consists of a series of 78 rpm sides with two songs per side and in one case three - drastically cut - and performed with absolutely no sense of character or showmanship. The 11 selections are over in about 18 minutes. The producers try to give you a bit more for your money in selecting five Berlin songs (in one case Dinah Shore repeating DOIN WHAT COMES NATURALLY)performed by popular artists of the day, but this only brings the total timing for the CD to about 35 minutes. This is for ANNIE lovers only and purists who must have all the cast recordings regardless of the quality. If you're looking for the best ANNIE there is stick with the 1966 Lincoln Center Revival or if you can find the out of print Criswell/Hampson complete recording, get that.

"Annie Get Your Gun" has a marvelous Irving Berlin score, most of which is not to be found in this album. And if that isn't weird enough, someone decided to throw in some other Berlin songs that have nothing to do with this show (such as "How Deep is the Ocean," "Alexander's Ragtime Band"--in `Annie Get Your Gun"!?!). Why? Marketing probably has some cockamamie answer. Interestingly enough, "Who Do You Love, I Hope" was included, a second-rate tune that is often cut from the show, while "I Got Lost in his Arms, a first-rate ballad, has been omitted. And what about that great anthem, "There's No Business Like Show Business?" If you like "Annie," you won't bother with this mishmash. The recent revival with Bernadette Peters is quite good vocally although she mugged her way through the show. The original cast Broadway show with Ethel Merman has to be the gold standard; a revival tour Merman did in the '60s included a new song "Old-Fashioned Wedding," which gave her another counterpoint number to bring the house down with. As was usually the case with Merman, she sang at least a couple of encores at most performances.