Ben Lewis joins Anna-Jane Casey in Annie Get Your Gun

The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye has announced that Ben Lewis (Love Never Dies/Candide) will star as Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun at the Sheffield Crucible this Christmas.

Lewis joins the previously announced Anna-Jane Casey who is taking on the title role. The duo previously starred together in Forbidden Broadway at the Menier Chocolate Factory before reprising their performances in the West End.

Directed by Paul Foster with choreography by Alistair David, Annie Get Your Gun runs between 8th December 2016 and 14th January 2017.

Big Interview: Anna-Jane Casey

Anna-Jane Casey is currently starring as Violet Butterfield/French Char Lady in Flowers for Mrs Harris at the Sheffield Crucible.

Based on the novel by Paul Gallico the new musical is by Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff. The show marks the final production Daniel Evans directs as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres. With the cast also including Clare Burt, Rebecca Caine and Laura Pitt-Pulford, Flowers for Mrs Harris runs until 4th June.

Later this year Anna-Jane will return to the Sheffield Crucible to star as Annie Oakley in a revival of Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun directed by Paul Foster with choreography by Alistair David. She has worked at Sheffield Theatres many times, previously appearing as Jenny in Company, Edith Piaf in Piaf and Charity in Sweet Charity.

Anna-Jane’s West End credits include: Forbidden Broadway (also Menier Chocolate Factory), Mrs Wilkinson in Billy Elliot, Lady Of The Lake in Spamalot, Velma in Chicago, Anita in West Side Story, Buffy/Dinah in Starlight Express, understudy Rizzo in Grease, understudy Narrator in Joseph and Rumpleteazer in Cats.

Just a few of her extensive credits include: Lottie in Mack & Mabel (Chichester/UK Tour), Miss Jones in How To Succeed In Business... (Royal Festival Hall), Jerry's Girls (St James Studio), Ella Peterson in Bells Are Ringing (Union), The Courtesan in The Comedy Of Errors (Regent's Park), title role in Aladdin (Hackney Empire), Maggie Hobson in Hobsons Choice & Mabel Normand in Mack And Mabel (both Watermill) and Dot in Sunday In The Park With George (Menier Chocolate Factory).

I recently spoke to Anna-Jane about her crazy busy life, why Flowers for Mrs Harris is such a different project for her and how she reacted when she was asked to do Annie Get Your Gun...

Before going into rehearsals for Flowers for Mrs Harris you had solo shows at the Hippodrome and Charing Cross Theatre, you did the 48 hour musical as well as various other concerts… and you also have Annie Get Your Gun lined-up for the end of the year. What is going on inside your brain?! 

Well at around ten o’clock at night my brain turns to porridge [laughs], my husband and I sit in front of the telly and I can’t function anymore. I really do believe that once you’ve had children, because you have to schedule your life like a military operation, you can apply so much more. Also… just to add more drama to my life I’ve got lots of concerts to do this summer – when you do these things they’ll tell you what the programme is, they send you the music and you have to learn it yourself so you turn up on the day and are ready to go. So I have lots of songs to learn. 

Anna-Jane Casey to star in Annie Get Your Gun

Anything you can do Anna-Jane Casey can do better!

The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye has announced that Anna-Jane Casey will star in Annie Get Your Gun at the Sheffield Crucible. 

Directed by Paul Foster with choreography by Alistair David, the show runs between 8th December 2016 and 14th January 2017.

Last week it was announced that Casey has been cast in the world premiere of Flowers for Mrs Harris which runs at the Sheffield Crucible this summer.

Annie Get Your Gun cancels final tour venues

According to The Stage, the current touring production of Annie Get Your Gun starring Jason Donovan and Emma Williams (pictured right) has cancelled its final two venues.

The newspaper suggests the musical's final week of performances at the Princess Theatre in Torquay have been cancelled and that the show’s run at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen has also been cancelled.

According to reporter Nicola Merrifield, Annie Get Your Gun will now finish its tour at the New Wimbledon Theatre on Saturday 13th September 2014. 

Review: Annie Get Your Gun (UK Tour) at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Annie Get Your Gun (UK Tour) 
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
Reviewed on Tuesday 22nd July 2014
★★★★

Sixty-eight years after it was first performed on Broadway, Irving Berlin’s musical Annie Get Your Gun still provides an evening of joyous fun. Ian Talbot's brand new touring production is bursting with old-school wit and charm.

Big Interview: Emma Williams

Emma Williams is currently starring as Annie Oakley in the UK Tour of Irving Berlin’s classic musical Annie Get Your Gun. 

Ian Talbot’s production also stars Jason Donovan as Frank Butler and Norman Pace as Buffalo Bill.

With timeless classic songs including ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’ and ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better’, Annie Get Your Gun tells the legendary story of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West female sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, and her romance with fellow sharpshooter, Frank Butler. 

Emma made her stage debut aged 18 as Truly Scrumptious in the original cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium opposite Michael Ball. She has been nominated for two Olivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances as Jenny in Love Story (Chichester/Duchess) and Luisa in Zorro (Garrick).

Just a few of Emma’s other countless theatre credits include playing: Johanna in Sweeney Todd (Royal Festival Hall), Susan in Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello), Melinda in The Recruiting Officer (Salisbury Playhouse) and Shelley Parker in Bat Boy: The Musical (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Shaftesbury).

I recently spoke to Emma about how it feels to be playing such an iconic role, her first impressions of touring life and her incredible journey to the West End stage… 

Annie Oakley is such an iconic role, but was it a part you have always had your eye on?

I saw the show as a kid when it was done by a local amateur society and I loved it. She’s one of those incredible female roles in musical theatre because she’s strong and she’s feisty! So often I think leading ladies, particularly the roles I sometimes play, are a little weak or drippy. She’s a role I thought I would love to play one day but, as an actor, the problem is you’re relying on other people to put on the production and to give you the job! You hope that at some point in your career the role will turn up and you’ll still be the right age to play it, and I’m just grateful it did and that the producers thought I was the right choice! She’s pretty far removed from the sort of stuff I usually do so I was absolutely thrilled when the phone call came through! It was absolutely amazing [laughs]! I’m loving every minute of it! 

Annie Get Your Gun starring Emma Williams & Jason Donovan confirms tour dates

As previously reported by West End Fame, a major new production of Annie Get Your Gun will embark on a UK Tour later this year starring Emma Williams as Annie Oakley, Jason Donovan as Frank Butler and Norman Pace as Buffalo Bill.

As part of The Ambassador Theatre Group’s ‘Manchester Gets It First’ initiative, this production will receive its premiere at Manchester Opera House on 12th May 2014 prior to a National Tour, ending on 4th October at Torquay's Princess Theatre.

A star of stage and screen, and having performed on the musical theatre stage across the globe, Jason Donovan has appeared in hit musicals including Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Sound of Music, War of the Worlds and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. 

Jason Donovan & Emma Williams to star in Annie Get Your Gun UK Tour

Jason Donovan and Emma Williams will star in a major new touring production of the Tony award-winning version of Irving Berlin’s musical Annie Get Your Gun. 

Jason Donovan, who is currently starring in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, will play as Frank Butler opposite West End regular Emma Williams as Annie Oakley. Norman Pace will play Buffalo Bill until September when he joins the cast of One Man Two Guvnors.

When Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show comes to town, it only takes one glance for sharp-shooting country girl Annie Oakley to fall head over heels for its star marksman, Frank Butler. Both have truly met their match, revealing their competitive natures as they vie for best shot - and each other’s hearts.