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Reba Mcentire: Annie Get Your Gun
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In February 2001, Reba McEntire stepped in as a replacement star in the Broadway revival of Irving Berlin's musical Annie Get Your Gun that had begun performances in 1999 with Bernadette Peters in the title role of Annie Oakley. McEntire had been preceded as a replacement in Annie Get Your Gun by soap opera star Susan Lucci and TV actress Cheryl Ladd, both of whom kept the show going while being largely ignored or derided by theater insiders. McEntire turned out to be an entirely different proposition. Although she lacked legitimate theater experience, she had by now done plenty of acting on television and even a little in film. Second, she had long since brought unusually high production values to her concerts that included choreography and costume changes, good preparation for similar demands in the theater. Third, she could, of course, sing.
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Reba McEntire first reached the country music charts in 1976, but it wasn't until 1984 that she had hit records in "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave." By 1987 she had been named the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year four times in a row. In the 1990s she continued to tour and record and branched out into television and movie roles. In late 2000 she took over the title role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway show Annie Get Your Gun.
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In January 2001, Reba McEntire took over the title role in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun, which won a Tony Award in 1999 for Best Revival. After the departure of the revival's original Tony-winning star, Bernadette Peters, the play had begun to falter at the box office, as critics and audiences were less than thrilled by Peters' replacements, including soap queen Susan Lucci and former Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd. With McEntire in the lead... the show became more popular than ever, as she received virtually unanimous critical praise.
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Reba stormed Broadway in early 2001, as the star of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. Although ineligible for a Tony, Reba's critically acclaimed performance received every other major theatre award. She ... received unprecedented unanimous acclaim from the New York media. The New York Times said, “Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season.” Amazingly, Annie Get Your Gun marked Reba's debut as a stage actress. The woman who has sung on every stage from Sydney, Australia to Peoria, Illinois can now make the unique claim that her first theatrical performance took place on the Broadway stage.
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Reba McEntire never wanted to take four years between albums. But along the way she encountered a couple of diversions - including garnering commanding reviews for her starring role in the hit Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun and launching her successful new TV series, Reba.
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In a career that has now expanded beyond music, Reba is ... a multiple award winner in the acting arena. Her critically acclaimed Broadway debut in 2001's ANNIE GET YOUR GUN was awarded both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics awards. Now in its fifth season, her self-titled TV show, REBA, reigns as the WB's top rated sitcom, and has landed Reba a Golden Globe nomination and a People's Choice Award.
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Annie Get Your Gun