Last night, Sunday, I attended Circle Theatre's production of Annie Get Your Gun. Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, and directed by Rachel Quinn and Scott Neild. It was a very upbeat, old fashioned type of show, that had a lot of flavor and character.

The actress playing Annie Oakley was Heather Zurowski. I mentioned her brother Marek when I talked about Fame, and he was in it as well. Annie Oakley was a girl who grew up on less than five dollars. She was like a mother to her three younger siblings, and had to take care of them with the little that she had. Despite all this, there was one thing she could never fail at, hence the title of this show.

Annie Oakley was one of the world's greatest shooters. Her gun was like an extension to her arm. She could shoot over her shoulder, under her leg, with her left and right hand, pretty much any way you could think of, and she would always hit the target.

Heather was an amazing actress. The story took place in Ohio, but Annie had a southern accent. Heather did that impeccably! Some people would be annoying at that, but not Heather. She had a certain sweetness to her, an innocence that made her very likable. She sang numerous times, and Heather managed to keep her character, and a little bit of that accent in her tone while she sang.

Her love interest was a man by the name of Frank Butler. He was a very prideful man, who needed to have his manly dignity. Before Annie came along, he was the best shot his whole town had ever seen. The actor who played Frank was Nick Lindmark. I am not quite sure how old Nick is, but he really looked the part. The age, the comfortability, the confidence, all of it made sense, and that is what really sold the show.

Marek Zurowski is altogether an actor. After you see him perform, its pretty obvious. In the shows I have seen him in, he has played very dashing characters. In this one he was charming and sweet. His character was Tommy Keeler, and he was in love with a girl by the name of Winnie Tate (Amanda Lamacki). They wanted ever so much to get married, but she was underage, and still under the parental guidance of her older sister Dolly Tate.

Dolly Tate happened to be Frank's secretary, and was completely bias towards her sister marrying Tommy, because he was part Native American. Ali Lamacki played Dolly and I found her hysterical. Her character was very over the top, but it wasn't too much, it was just right. She was kind of rigid in the beginning, then began to loosen up, no, not the actor, Dolly. I felt that Ali did pretty much everything spot on. She was funny throughout the whole show, and kept character even when the spotlight wasn't on her, that show some great skills.

A few people who really stood out to me were DJ Woullard, Aidan O'Leary, and Conor Howard. DJ looked really comfortable on stage, as he always does, and performed all his lines with integrity and meaning. Aidan was born to play a reporter type character, an almost animator or narrator, that is talking not to the audience but the people around him. Conor had great stage presence. He was in charge of moving the curtain back and forth for a scene change. This may seem like a simple job, but he did played everything so well, you didn't even think about it.

All the costumes were great, they really showed what the time period was, without coming right out and saying it. I also thought the music and choreography was well thought out and simple in some ways, but very complex in others.

Thank You to Circle Theater, to putting on a magnificent show. There are shows next weekend as well so make sure to check online at Circle Theater's website.

Great job everyone!!

OPRF'S Fame: Take Two!

On second viewing last night, Fame was as good as it gets. Vocals seemed stronger on opening night, but this time most of the actors', especially McLean, facial expressions seemed even more developed.

I noticed a few changes in the dialogue, but they always fit, which shows great ad-libbing skills. Sitting in the front row, also known as the BRAVO row, made everything seem like I was up on the stage. The faces of the actors were so exuberant filled with energy and focus, but relaxed, no one looked high strung. They knew what they were doing.

Probably a lot of you have seen the newest movie of Fame that came out into theaters in 2009. Has any one seen the original television episodes from 1982-83? Many thing are similar but boy, some of it is very different. The character Tyrone Jackson, from the OPRF show, shared many similarities to the character Malik, in the new move Fame. Malik was an indignant young man, who wanted to make sure everyone knew life wasn't easy for him. That is kind of what Tyrone was like. He was also an African American dancer, which is like the character Leroy, in the original shows. Leroy is one of the best dancers at the school and has his own sense of humor.

I felt that Jazmine was a little more dramatic in the scene when she's talking to Schlomo about L.A. She did it so well, that the girls i was sitting with were crying, and I was also on the verge of tears. Even though her character, Carmen, is very confident, you fall in love with her by the end. She tries so hard to earn the fame she's killing herself for, and it pretty much breaks your heart. Jazmine has been in numerous shows with both BRAVO and off Broadway shows also. She knows the drill, and that's what makes her so good.

Over all I liked the show again, but I think I still commend the same people for how well they did. The dancers still amazed me at how well and on top of things they were. Also the maturity in some of the actor's voices is still incredible. Well done everyone!