Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Jason Donovan, Emma Williams, Norman Pace, Dermot Canavan, Ed Currie, Kara Lane, Yiftach Mizrahi, William Oxborrow, Lorna Want, Ste Clough, Matthew Dale, Natalie Day, Floe Fields, Sarah Galbraith, Jonny Godbold, Hannah Grace, Katie Marie-Carter, George Parry.

There is no business like show business…even when sometimes during a performance, for whatever reason, the tension in the actor’s voices, the verve and command of the piece feels a little flat, there is still nothing quite listening to an audiences reaction before the star of the show says a word and the adulation given at the end of the musical.

For Annie Get Your Gun still aims with more precision than most, even when you can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the whole occasion.

It is a shame when the two main stars of any show don’t seem to believe in the dynamic that has been created for them, for in Jason Donovan, one of the finest stars of musical theatre in the last 20 years and Emma Williams there didn’t seem to be any discernable spark that filtered through to the audience. For a story set around a burning passion, both of undisguised attraction and untendered jealousy, there was no great clap of magnetism and stage temptation. Away from each other they were a joy to watch, Emma Williams especially played the Mid-Western sharp shooter perfectly and in scenes with Lorna Want as Winnie Tate and Dermot Canavan as hotel owner Foster Wilson she delighted the audience with her charm in the part.

If the desire wasn’t felt in the two main actors then it was a joy to see Norman Pace on stage as the world famous Buffalo Bill. To see a man of his comedic stature take on the role as one of the ultimate American showmen, alongside P.T. Barnum, was to be revelled in and whilst not the main part in the show he still captured the essence of the production, which is to have fun both on and off stage.

The highlight of the production though was the ensemble, dance numbers and some of the songs in which the whole cast luxuriated in as if playing out of the skins. The opening number of There’s No Business Like Show Business, I’ve Got the Sun in The Morning and the astonishing Anything You Can Do were so captivating that a herd of buffalo being herded through the back of the stalls at the Empire Theatre would barely have caused a ripple of interest.

A show such as Annie Get Your Gun is always going to be a big draw, it is one of the great American musicals but just sometimes it fails to completely deliver up to its own self-imposed highs.

Ian D. Hall