With a musical score whose only potential for success lies in the visual spice of the stage and creative vocal styling of its cast members, the Lansing Civic Players left its production of "Annie Get Your Gun" all but flavorless last weekend.
The show's low energy chorus only added to the boredom of Irving Berlin's already dated score.
That's not to say that with a little flashy movement and some dynamic vocal renderings of the well-known music, the show couldn't appeal to a contemporary audience. Both these elements were mostly absent in Friday night's performance.
There were some pleasant vocal moments in the show, namely from LeAnn Dethlefsen in the title role of Annie Oakley and Martin Underhill as her co-lead, Frank Butler. Unfortunately, both actors were too seasoned for their roles.
Underhill, a veteran performer in the Lansing community, recently gave a brilliant performance in MSU's "Babes in Arms," in a role more appropriate for his age, but was unfortunately too mature both vocally and in stature for his role as a young womanizer in this show.
He was a very unbelievable object of affection for the adolescent girls swooning over his character.
Despite being energetic and pleasant to listen to, Dethlefsen was hardly suited to play the navet of a young, feisty and smitten Annie Oakley. Granted, she was matched well in age to her costar, but the roles of her siblings were all played by children, giving her a matronly appearance, rather than the big sister and young lover image she was meant to portray.
The young chorus, who was just as unconvincingly adult as the leads were young, was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the evening. With the exception of the final reprise of "There's No Business Like Show Business" an obvious favorite among the cast the chorus merely added lethargy and disinterest to its few featured numbers.
Chorus vocal parts were, at times, all but inaudible, while their movement numbers were for the most part slow and uninteresting.
Facial expressions would suggest the performers were indifferent to their presence on stage.
When the magic is lost on a mediocre performance that was far too reminiscent of the average high school musical, I can do nothing more than encourage more consideration in casting choices, recommend more enthusiasm from performers, and hope for something better from the Lansing Civic Players in future productions.