Larsen will play the sharp-shootin' Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin musical, which runs at the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theatre July 4-10. She will be joined by Brian d'Arcy James as Frank Butler, Jennifer Prescott as Dolly, Bruce Adler as Sitting Bull and Tony Cummings as Charlie. Paul Blake will direct the production, with musical staging and choreography by Liza Gennaro.
The original production of Annie Get Your Gun — featuring a score by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields — opened at the Imperial Theatre in May 1946, playing 1,147 performances before closing Feb. 12, 1949. Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton starred. The most recent Broadway production — March 1999-Sept. 2001 — cast Bernadette Peters as Annie Oakley. Peters won her second Tony Award for her performance opposite Tom Wopat's Frank Butler. The Berlin score features such classic tunes as "There's No Business Like Show Business," "They Say It's Wonderful," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" and "I Got Lost in His Arms."
Liz Larsen is the understudy for several roles in Hairspray, including Velma Von Tussle, Prudy Pingleton and the Gym Teacher. She received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle Award nominations for her work in The Most Happy Fella and has also appeared on Broadway in The Smell of the Kill, The Rocky Horror Show, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof and Starmites. Larsen will return to Hairspray in mid-July.
Brian d'Arcy James made his Broadway debut in Blood Brothers. His other Main Stem credits include Carousel, Titanic and Sweet Smell of Success, earning a Tony nomination for his performance in the latter. James headed the cast of Barry Manilow's Harmony and was seen at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in the new musical production of White Christmas.
The summer season at the Muny will also include Jesus Christ Superstar (July 11-17), Singin' in the Rain (July 18-24), Mame (July 25-31), West Side Story (Aug. 1-7) and The Sound of Music (Aug. 8-14). For more information about The Muny, visit www.muny.com.
