West End and Broadway star Rachel Tucker will star as legendary sharp-shooter Annie Oakley in the first UK concert production of the classic musical Annie Get Your Gun at the London Palladium in the spring.
The one-night only performance on 7 April 2023 will mark a London return for the star after a successful run in the New York production of Come From Away. Tucker’s Broadway encore came a decade after the homegrown star made her Broadway debut as Elphaba in Wicked (following playing the role in the West End production).
Commenting on the concert, the star whose credits also include originating the role of Meg Dawson in Sting’s debut musical The Last Ship said: “It’s an absolute delight to be coming back to London and the West End to play such an iconic role as Annie Oakley at the legendary London Palladium.
“I can’t wait to be back, and to be taking part in this special concert production celebrating the music of Annie Get Your Gun – there really is ‘No Business Like Show Business’!”
Presented by live music and events promoters Cuffe and Taylor and Live Nation in association with theatre producers Lambert Jackson, the production will also feature Julian Ovenden (South Pacific, Grand Hotel) as Annie’s love, fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler.
Tucker replaces the previously announced Amber Davies due to schedule changes.
Commenting on the production, Lambert Jackson’s creative director Eliza Jackson said: “Annie Get Your Gun is a wonderful classic musical, full of memorable show tunes – who can forget the iconic song ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’?
“We can’t wait to bring Rachel Tucker back to the West End to lead this one-off concert performance alongside Julian Ovenden, who we just know will be a wonderfully dashing Frank Butler.”
First performed on Broadway in 1946, the fictionalised story of the romance between Annie Oakley and Frank Butler boasts music and lyrics by Irvin Berlin and a book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields. The title role has been played on stage by some of musical theatre’s most iconic stars including Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Debbie Reynolds and Bernadette Peters and famously by Betty Hutton in the Oscar-winning 1950 film.
Angela Thomas
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