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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Richard Jones.
Cast: Eric MacLennan, Jane Horrocks, Liza Sadovy, Julian Ovenden, John Marquez, Buffy Davis
Description: Richard Jones directs Jane Horrocks and Julian Ovenden in Irving Berlin's musical comedy.
Times: Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed, Sat 2pm (no perf Dec 24 & 25, no eve perf Dec 31, extra mat perf Dec 31, 2pm), ends Jan 9
Price: £22.50 & £29.50, concs available
Trains: Tube/BR: Waterloo 
Phone: 0207922 2922
Website: www.youngvic.org
Wide of the mark: Jane Horrocks as Annie Oakley seems to struggle with the Hicksville accent
Since Trevor Nunn’s musicals-stuffed reign at the National, the classics of this genre have been harder to find. It’s a cause for celebration, then, that the Young Vic currently offers the astonishing string of hits Irving Berlin crammed into just one show: There’s No Business Like Show Business, Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly and Anything You Can Do, to name but three.
If the production and Jane Horrocks as sharp-shooting tomboy Annie Oakley, don’t always come natur’lly, at least the next delightful number is only moments away.
It’s unclear what director Richard Jones hoped to gain from updating the action (Oakley was at her height in the 1880s) to a loose approximation of the 1940s. The mock-up video sequences of Horrocks receiving medals from the likes of Churchill and, er, Hitler, are amusing enough but make no sense.
Still, it all gets off to a rollicking start as Annie beats Frank Butler (Julian Ovenden), womanising star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, in a (clay pigeon) shooting match. She’s smitten and he’s arrogant, which propels the narrative cheerfully enough until an ending that will make feminists everywhere wince.
Ovenden hits the target absolutely on the sweet spot, strutting about Ultz’s narrowed-down, saloon-bar-style stage with magnificent swagger.
His lovely voice is a joy and helps smooth over a less accomplished turn from Horrocks. Annie’s pronounced Hicksville accent seems a struggle and she has a worrying tendency to gurn. Confident ensemble singing and nifty accompaniment from just four pianos shoot sharper than she does.
Until 2 January (020 7922 2922, www.youngvic.org).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
