Review – ANNIE GET YOUR GUN at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, July 29 to Saturday, August 2, 2014.

THIS is one of the theatre’s classic musicals and it’s still bang on target from start to finish.

Although it could be deemed slightly old fashioned it’s still got bags of energy and fun - and above all it provides cracking entertainment for all the family.

Composer Irving Berlin obviously set his sights as high as those of Annie with gun in hand when he wrote a vintage score for a show which still resonates today with such memorable hits as There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do and several beautiful love songs.

This new touring production may be a slightly reduced version of the original mid-1940s Broadway blockbuster and subsequent follow-ups in the intervening seven decades, but it its enduring appeal doesn’t diminish. While it may have been infiltrated by a touch of modern-day PC in leaving out certain items the TLC is still there in director Ian Talbot’s hands.

It’s one of those shows which, if you’ve had a bad day at the office, will provide the perfect pick-me-up. And what a tonic it is!

Berlin’s tunes and witty scores – set to the original book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields - hit the mark as regular as ace shooters Annie Oakley and Frank Butler, who is targeted by her as the man she will marry.

Jason Donovan and Emma Williams do not disappoint in their respective roles as the stars of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. There is quite a spark there, their rapport was excellent and the Aussie oozed style.

Donovan is the big name, although his voice wasn’t always at its peak - maybe a throat infection, while it was Williams with the big voice who sang supremely.

She looks set to be a star name in years to come.

Elsewhere there is great support provided by Norman Pace’s most affable Buffalo Bill and Ed Currie’s impressive Chief Sitting Bull, and the choreography is first class.

If there has to be a criticism it would be levelled against the disappointing set. Not a complete disaster, but oh so basic!

All the action was in a big top in need of a big scrub... with the band occupying the back of the stage, a jumble of boxes occasionally re-arranged and announced scene changes that were partially illustrated by huge art sheets exiting stage right.

Still, laced with good humour and great songs this show is as enduring and endearing as it ever was, and long may it continue to delight. It’s vintage and it travels well.