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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Garfield
Players’ ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ is loaded with talent<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns
= "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
American Theatre Critics Association <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Times
</I>papers </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on
2/23/12<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Like
the larger-than-life, full-color posters used to promote the Wild West Shows of
the 1880s, “Annie Get Your Gun” is a big, broadly painted musical comedy relic
from the 1940s.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
story is a highly fictionalized account of real life old west sharpshooter Annie
Oakley. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After leaving a rustic,
back woods existence to join Buffalo Bill's travelling <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Wild West Show<I>,</I></SPAN> she falls
hopelessly in love with smooth-talking Frank Butler, the show's featured
marksman. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When Annie becomes the
main attraction, Frank’s ego gets bruised and the two part ways, only to be
reunited in traditional Broadway fashion: a huge production number.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
an old-fashioned piece of musical theater, “Annie Get Your Gun” offers
characters who are one-dimensional caricatures, dialogue that largely serves to
segue from one song to the next, and the classic “boy meets girl, boy loses
girl, boy gets girl” scenario played out within a creaky storyline written by
Herbert and Dorothy Fields.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
thing is, there is something quite charming and genuinely endearing about relics
with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This show boasts of some of the most enduring show tunes ever created,
such as “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Anything You Can Do,” and
“They Say It’s Wonderful.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Less
remembered but one of the show’s most gorgeous songs is “Moonshine Lullaby,”
sung by Annie to her three young siblings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In
fact, these songs are the show’s salvation. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They also serve as a wonderful showcase
for the performer playing Annie, who is featured in nearly every musical
number.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Annie was played by
legendary Ethel Merman in the original 1946 Broadway production and Mary Martin
on tour.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the show’s 1999
Broadway revival, Bernadette Peter’s had the title role.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While this role didn’t establish their
star-status, it certainly solidified it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
modest, community theater production currently being staged by the Garfield
Players has found the right lead players in Caitlin Hamm and Justin
Green</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Hamm possesses an
absolutely gorgeous voice that fully embraces Irving Berlin’s melodic songs
while maintaining Annie’s rough-and-tumble personality.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Green, as Frank, has an exceptional
voice as well, and achieves just the right level of charm and slick virility to
go with it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One never tires of
hearing these two sing, although the seven-piece orchestra under Angela
Bruzina’s direction runs out of steam toward the end of Act 1.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It fully recovers for Act
2.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">While there is
considerable variability in those sporting supporting and ensemble roles, a fine
performance is turned in by Claire Connelly as Dolly, Frank’s brazen assistant.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Stephen Rieger and Carleigh Spence,
as the naďve young lovers Tommy and Winnie, and the trio of cowboys that
meanders in and out of “Moonshine Lullaby”—Mark </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Snyder, Zach Cummins, and Rieger—are </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">adorable.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jim Ray brings great energy to Buffalo
Bill.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The monumental task of
staging a big show like this is made even more so by the cavernous stage on
which it appears.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Heather
DePietro’s isolated set pieces, while attractive, do little to cut the stage
into manageable spaces or provide viable entrance ways and exits.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This forces choreographer Jessica Atwood
and director Jim Jerrell to devote much of their time and expertise to just
getting people on stage, in position, and then off again in full view.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All this extraneous movement slows down
the proceedings.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Still, this
production of “Annie Get Your Gun” is pretty to look at and an absolute pleasure
to listen to.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It continues through
February 26 at </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">the
Garfield Heights High School Center for Performing Arts in Garfield
Heights.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which are
$14, contact 216-475-8313.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>