Category: Shows

Story by BEVERLY CRICHFIELD / Photos by FRANK VARGA

New theatre company makes big debut with classic musical

MOUNT VERNON — Who was the real Annie Oakley?

Lyrica Mueller is having a tough time combining aspects of the real Quaker sharpshooter from the late 1800s with the wide-eyed, perky stage persona conveyed in Irving Berlin’s colorful musical “Annie Get Your Gun.�

“She was kind of shy and quiet, but she was a strong, independent woman,� Mueller said, while gluing a piece of ribbon to a blouse she plans to wear during Lyric Light Opera’s production of “Annie Get Your Gun,� set to open Friday night at McIntyre Hall.

Mueller, a veteran of the stage and a musician, has been reading Oakley’s memoirs and any other information about the orphaned girl named Pheobe Ann Moses, who made her way from a life of abuse and poverty to working with the famous Buffalo Bill Wild West Show as a sharpshooting entertainer.

While Oakley, nicknamed “Little Sure Shot,� was considered a woman light years ahead of her time, she also was a surprisingly modest woman who marched to promote Victorian-era morals. The paradox is intriguing to Mueller.“I want to respect the woman as she was,� Mueller said, thoughtfully. “She was a great combination of a modern-day feminist, but she was a very Victorian woman.�

Mueller and the rest of the 30-member cast spent Monday evening getting familiar with the elaborate set of the show that runs July 14-30 at McIntyre Hall.

“Annie Get Your Gun� is the first production of the newly formed Lyric Light Opera of the Northwest. Former Northwest Civic Light Opera partner Barbara Mueller founded the new theatre company after Northwest Civic Light Opera dissolved in February. It had been operating just two years before it folded.

Barbara Mueller, director of the show, said she wanted to create a theatre company that would not only produce high-quality, family oriented entertainment, but also provide budding actors a place to learn the ins and outs of theatre — from the sound, lights and sets to music, dancing and portraying characters of all kinds.

“I believe that theater affects the people on the stage so very much,� Mueller said. “We can make such a difference in a person’s life by taking them through the process of a show.�

Mueller didn’t spare expense or energy for “Annie.� The production, which includes colorful Western-style sets from the Utah Festival Opera Company, a large cast of all ages, elaborate costumes, marketing, a 15-piece orchestra and booking of McIntyre Hall, is expected to cost about $75,000.

Mueller said the biggest challenge so far has been coming up with money for the show and other expenses, and bringing in experienced volunteers to produce and act in the shows.

But many actors from the Northwest Civic Light Opera followed Mueller to work with her new theatre company.

Rick Shallow of Camano Island had portrayed Von Schreiber in the Northwest Civic Light Opera’s 2005 production of “The Sound of Music.� In “Annie,’ he’s playing the worldly wise icon of American entertainment, Buffalo Bill Cody, who operated the famous “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show� in the later half of the 1800s.

“Buffalo Bill was America’s first superstar,� Shallow said, after rehearsing possibly one of the best known tunes from a musical, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.� But Buffalo Bill also was the glue that held the entertainers together, Shallow added. They looked up to him and admired him. He treated them well, and reportedly even paid the women and men performers equally for their work.

While reading up on Buffalo Bill in history books and on the Internet, Shallow discovered that Bill had been in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment — the same regiment that his son is now serving in, although it’s now called the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Shallow’s son helped outfit him with an authentic old-style cavalry hat, sword and spurs.

While Shallow said portraying Bill isn’t a challenge, Sarah Simmons of Burlington had to look for just the right inspiration for her jealous and insecure character, Dolly Tate.

Dolly was set to be the big female sharpshooter of the Wild West show until Annie came along, said Simmons, whose resume includes many performances with the local Theatre Arts Guild. So Dolly tries to undermine Annie whenever she can, Simmons said.

“I’ve been thinking about how to make her likable,� Simmons said, laughing. “I think of Karen Walker on ‘Will and Grace.’ Yeah, she’s scheming and mean and a lush, but she’s fun.�

And fun is what the show is about, said producer Leslie Asplund.

“It’s a very joyous, sweet, simple show,� Asplund said. “For our first show, we wanted to do something that celebrates love and humility, and this was it.�

WHAT Lyric Light Opera of the Northwest’s production of the Irving Berlin classic musical “Annie Get Your Gun.�

WHEN 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, July 14-15, 21-22, 28-29; 2 p.m. Sundays, July 16 and 23.

WHERE McIntyre Hall, 2501 E. College Way, Mount Vernon

COST $20-$30