'Annie Get Your Gun' Opens Friday 9/25 at Senior Center for the Arts

Irving Berlin's classic Broadway musical, Annie Get Your Gun, opens Friday, September 25 at the Senior Center for the Arts' Nashville Dinner Theatre, continuing through October 18.

Featuring a veritable "greatest hits" list of Berlin's music-including "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Moonshine Lullaby," and "Old-Fashioned Wedding"--Annie Get Your Gun is loosely based on the life story of sharpshooting star Annie Oakley and her husband, crack shot Frank Bulter. Debuting on Broadway in 1946, Annie Get Your Gun enjoyed long-running success in New York City and London and most recently was revived on Broadway with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat in the lead roles.

Directed by Jane Kelley Watt, the musical's casting is a virtual family affair, with real-life husband-and-wife team Donna and Kevin Driver portraying Annie Oakley and Frank Butler. No strangers to the Donelson theatre stage, the Drivers have appeared in numerous SCA productions, most recently Tom Sawyer. Their three children will also make appearances in Annie Get Your Gun.

Another family connection, this one in the persons of father/daughter acting duo Lloyd and Hannah Mullins, will also be onstage for Annie Get Your Gun. Lloyd Mullins plays Chief Sitting Bull, the legendary Sioux warrior and Annie Oakley's chief protector, while Hannah takes on a variety of roles in this production, after first gaining notice in the title role of Annie.

"This is my fifth time to fully experience this fabulous show," Watt says. "It is definitely my favorite of the many productions I've had the pleasure of directing. The Academy Award winning musical score is second to none, the singers and dancers dazzle, and epic costuming and set design make for must-see musical theater!"

Watt's resume includes directorial assignments at the Madison Art Center Dinner Theatre, Dalewood United Methodist Church Dinner Theatre, City Road United Methodist Church's Chapel Players, Nashville Dinner Theatre at SCA, Main Street Playhouse, Circle Players, Looking Glass Dinner Theatre and Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. She was musical director of Nashville's First Night Theatre Awards for eight years.

Sponsored by the First Tennessee Foundation, Metro Nashville Arts Commission and the Tennessee Arts Commission, SCA Theatre production show times are Thursday through Saturday, with curtain at 7 p.m. Sunday performances are at 2 p.m. All shows are preceded by dinner or Sunday lunch. Tickets, at $25, for a three-course meal and show, are currently available by contacting the SCA at (615) 883-8375, purchasing in person at 108 Donelson Pike, or online at www.SeniorCenterArts.org.

photo by Hatcher & Fell Photography

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