It's all true. A small-town girl who was a phenomenal shot with a rifle became one of the stars of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show under the name of Annie Oakley and toured the United States and Europe.
Sitting Bull, leader of the Indians who had defeated Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn, joined the show, too. He became so fond of Annie that he adopted her as a daughter.
Buffalo Bill ran into stiff competition from another showman, Pawnee Bill, and the two shows merged rather than go broke. Annie married another trick-shot artist named Frank Butler.
Basically, that's the story of Annie Get Your Gun, the current production at Toby's Dinner Theatre. Of course, the show's writers, Herbert and Dorothy Fields, rearranged and elaborated on the facts. Annie (real name Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee) was a quiet, home-loving woman who could read and write.
In the musical she becomes a naive, illiterate, loud-mouthed creature of the backwoods.
Annie and Frank are in love but can't get together because Frank resents the fact that a woman is a better shot and a bigger star than he is.
In real life Annie and Frank were married and performing as a team even before they signed on with Cody, and when they did, Frank had enough show-business savvy to make Annie the star of the act.
But the story is a lot more fun the way the Fields tell it.
The music for Annie Get Your Gun was supposed to have been written by Jerome Kern, but Kern dropped dead on a New York street in November 1945. With an opening night in May 1946 staring them in the face, producers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II approached Irving Berlin. After some initial reluctance, Berlin agreed to take on the job.
He came up with a score in record time, and what a score! Before the show is 15 minutes old, Annie sings "Doin' What Comes Naturally."
After that come "The Girl That I Marry," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do" and six or seven more numbers.
One of the songs, "I'm an Indian, Too" (sung by Annie when she is adopted by Sitting Bull), is omitted at Toby's, presumably for the sake of political correctness.
But there is another example of political incorrectness they could not take out because it forms the climax of the plot: Annie deliberately loses a shooting match to Frank so he can retain his sense of masculine superiority and agree to marry her.
Meaghan Kyle is a splendid Annie, swaggering and stomping around the stage and belting out her numbers in big brassy tones.
As the vain and handsome Frank Butler, Russell Sunday has plenty of opportunities to show off his fine baritone voice. David Bosley-Reynolds brings a strong stage presence to the dignified Sitting Bull.
Terry Sweeney (as Charlie Davenport, the show's advance man), Dallas Munger (Buffalo Bill), Chan McQuay (Dolly Tate, Frank's assistant) and David James (Pawnee Bill) all turn in colorful performances.
In keeping with the Wild West, show biz background, director Toby Orenstein has the actors play broadly and keeps the action moving at a brisk pace.
A bit of modulation would have been welcome, though - there are a lot of clever lines in the script that didn't get the laughs they deserved because the performers couldn't take the time to milk them.
The choreography by Ilona Kessell and costumes by Larry Munsey are up to Toby's usual high standards. A nostalgic atmosphere is created by Peter Hengen's sets and especially by the wonderful circus-y posters painted by scenic artist Carrie Ballenger.
Annie Get Your Gun is great entertainment for the holidays, and should be even better for brightening up the dreary days of January and February.
Toby's Dinner Theatre, 5900 Symphony Woods Road, Columbia, presents "Annie Get Your Gun" through Feb. 16. Doors open at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 p.m. Sundays. For matinees, doors open at 10:30 a.m. Sundays and Wednesdays. Reservations are required. Information or reservations: 410-730- 8311 or 800-888-6297.