"Annie, Get Your Gun" changes

I happened to catch the production of “Annie” with Bernadette Peters in NY last year, and there were some of the songs had been removed and replaced.

“Col Buffalo Bill” (I guess because part of the song deals with guarding a stagecoach being attacked by Injuns.)

“I’m a Bad, Bad Man” (Not so sure on this one–apparently he has left behind a trail of broken hearts (and fatherless chillun?)

“I’m an Indian” (Not so sure on this one, either. Maybe because it says “Indian” instead of “Native American,” or possibly because it “perpetuates racist stereotypes.”

If you’re familiar with the play and these songs, do you have any opinion on this?

“I’m an Indian Too” was cut out early on, probably to head off protests.

It may have been political correctness that cut the other two songs, but they are fairly weak compared to the rest of the score. (Well, it is hard to compete with “Doin’ What Comes Naturally,” “The Girl That I Marry,” “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun,” “No Business Like Show Business,” “They Say It’s Wonderful,” “I Got the Sun in the Morning,” “An Old Fashioned Wedding,” and “Anything You Can Do.” Man what a list!) If there were time constraints, they would have been the first to go.


“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.

www.sff.net/people/rothman

Oh, and it’s “Annie Get Your Gun.” “Annie” isn’t even in the same sport, let alone the same league.


“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.

www.sff.net/people/rothman

Sad to say, almost NO revivals are accurate. It’s always been that way—when they revived “Florodora” (1900) in the '20s, they changed songs, dialogue . . . Goodspeed Opera House is famous for “reviving” great old shows like “Oh, Kay!” and “Very Good Eddie,” but actually cutting and pasting from other shows. And anyone remember when “Irene” and “No, No, Nanette” came back to B’way in the '70s? Any resemblance to the 1920s originals was pure coincidence.

So it’s really no surprise that they hacked up “Annie Get Your Gun.”