I haven't posted this in a long time, over six years, but it's so wonderful that it deserves a repeat viewing, many in fact. Back in January, 2001, Reba McIntire was signed to take over the role of 'Annie Oakley' in the then-running revival of Annie Get Your Gun. She only was signed for six months. By all reports, it was a remarkable performance, considered one of the best-ever, made all the more remarkable from someone who had never even appeared in a play before. (Or, as far as I recall, perhaps never had even acted before.) But as a country music star, as opposed to the traditional Broadway performer she was not only uncommonly perfect in the role, but sang the roof off the theater. There were plans to do a TV production and memorialize the performance. But then two Broadway musicals adapted for TV were fairly unsuccessful (Bye Bye Birdie and The Music Man), and so network interest shriveled and disappeared, and the production foolishly never went forward. And the acclaimed performance was lost for the ages. Except -- thanks to YouTube, all that is lost shall be found. There is a full video recording of Reba McIntire's renowned performance in Annie Get Your Gun. Now, I must say here upfront that I do not like bootleg videos. But I am not inflexible. (Nor a lawyer...) It's just that sometimes there are things that would otherwise be lost forever, and so -- wrong as it is -- I'm glad that something valuable has been preserved. And so, I'm going to embed part of the video here. The full performance is broken into about 15 10-minute video segments. I haven't watched the whole thing (that relates to one of those self-imposed restrictions...) but I've seen enough to know that the reputation of Reba McIntire's is well-justified. And so, I'll show you what I mean. In segment #2, Reba McIntire sings, "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun." It's absolutely, joyously, hilariously wonderful, and that's what I've embedded it below. (But know that that's all I've embedded, not even the full segment. I've edited everything else out and got it down to run the one song only. Again, maybe this is stretching what is proper, and a salve to my conscience, but I think I've done my best to be as protective as reasonable.) And the "as reasonable" is the operative word here, because I think this performance and particular song is simply too good to be lost to history forever. Some things deserve their place in the sun, even when that place is stretched. How good is her performance of this song? I played it for my parents a couple years ago and -- well, you must understand that not only were they big traditionalists about such things, but they actually saw Ethel Merman on stage in the original Broadway production. One of the legendary Broadway performances ever. And my dad especially raved about it for decades, that no one could come close to her. So, when I said to them that, at the very least, this one song was on a par with that, I was met with great skepticism (to the extent of "Are you crazy??") When it was over, though, my dad acknowledged that, well, yes, okay she was quite good (which was a huge acknowledgement for him after having made a pronouncement), and attractive, too. And my mother actually asked to see it again. In short (well, okay, I'm well-past that at this point...), Reba McIntire just sings the bejeepers out of the song. She nails every single joke. She throws herself into it and chews up the stage with her soaring voice. And -- with all due respect to the legendary Merman -- as my dad noted, you can easily see Frank Butler falling in love with her. I'm sorry this is bootleg. I'm thrilled it exists. It's just one song, but seeing this one song is enough. The video quality is absolutely terrible -- but after a bit you won't care. You'll just be so glad to be able to be watching it. And know, in the end, that it's not lost to the ages. Not lost, but ...right here, below. And they still should have made the TV production. This was Reba McIntire. People would have watched. Her fans alone almost would have made it a hit. You can watch the whole thing, of course -- it's enjoyable and has a brief reprise -- though you can jump right to the song at the 5:50 mark.
4 Comments
ken kahn
1/10/2020 12:31:35 pm
Thanks for the pointer. I've been wanting to see this for a long time. I found a few playlists on YouTube with all the parts. The strange thing is that in all the playlists part 4 is deleted. Would anyone know why?
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Robert Elisberg
1/13/2020 08:32:24 am
Thanks for your note. Odd about Part 4 missing, no idea. In my initial positing of this clip I had a longer discussion of recordings like this being made during performance. I'm very much against it, for various reasons I go into in the article, and have never watched the full thing. That said, it's hard not to be glad that certain legendary performances aren't lost to history or academics. And this specifically is considered a legendary performance.
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Donald Casali
1/11/2020 03:44:29 pm
That clip is just so great it gave me goosebumps! I saw Bernadette Peters on Broadway and Marilu Henner on tour but missed out on this apparently definitive performance! I believe Reba's silver-voiced hero is played by Brent Barrett. Didn't see him either.
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Robert Elisberg
1/13/2020 08:42:04 am
Donald, thanks for your note. Yes, Brent Barrett played 'Frank Butler' in this production. And yes, this clip is indeed just so great. As I noted above, I think it's terribly wrong when people record full productions from the audience, but when certain legendary works like this might otherwise be lost -- and also therefore aren't intruding on someone else's commercial rights -- I'm willing (perhaps unfairly) to give a small amount of wiggle room.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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