slideshow

In 1972, the Elkin Summer Theater became the Foothills Arts Council, and performed Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Forty years later, Foothills is performing the play again.

“We couldn’t have picked a more perfect year to perform ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’” said Leighanne Martin Wright, executive director of the Foothills Arts Council. “Not only are we performing the same play 40 years later, but also the anniversary of the Foothills name change.”

Kitsey Burns, who is performing in the play, has been requesting to perform “Annie Get Your Gun” for five years. Wright finally agreed to perform it this year.

In honor of the 40-year anniversary of performing “Annie Get Your Gun,” the original play cast is getting together to see the show on opening night, Friday, July 20, at 8 p.m. at Elkin High School.

Vernon Ball, who played the male lead of Frank Butler in 1972, is organizing the gathering.

“We already have about a dozen of the cast attending, some of them from out of town,” Ball said. “We are still trying to reach several of them who were just kids when they performed and have since moved away.”

Ball remembers Frank Butler being a tough roll, and “The Girl That I Marry” and “Anything You Can Do” being his favorite songs in the show.

“I had a good time doing it, but it was a lot of hard work,” he said. “There were a lot of lines and songs to remember. We had a full orchestra for our performance.”

Seats will be reserved for the original cast in at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 20, in Dixon Auditorium, Elkin High School. It will also be performed at Saturday, July 21, and Sunday, July 22.

For more information or if you are one of the original “Annie Get Your Gun” cast members, contact the Foothills Arts Council at 835-2025.

Reach Jessica Pickens at 835-1513 ext. 18 or jpickens@heartlandpublications.com.