Soundtrack   Annie Get Your Gun Music & Lyrics by: Irving Berlin Distributed by: Masterworks Broadway Reviewed by Melissa Minners               In 1945, following the success of Oklahoma! and Carousel, the duo of Rogers and Hammerstein set about looking for someone to write the music and lyrics for a brand new project.  Suggested by friend Dorothy Fields, the duo wanted to produce a new musical based on the life of Annie Oakley, the famous Wild West sharpshooter.  When they first approached Irving Berlin to create the music and lyrics for Annie Get Your Gun, he balked, but after much coaxing, he finally read the script and immediately came up with the first of three songs that would sum up the entire experience.              Masterworks Broadway has recently released the eco-friendly packaged version of the 1966 Music Theater of Lincoln Center  20th anniversary stage revival of Annie Get Your Gun.  Having dressed as Annie Oakley one Halloween, thinking she was just about the coolest cowgirl in the Wild West when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to check this one out.             This presentation of Annie Get Your Gun stars Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley, a young sharpshooter who has just been discovered by Colonel Buffalo Bill (Rufus Smith) and asked to become a part of his famous Wild West Show.  It is there that she meets the dashing Frank Butler (Bruce Yarnell), the star of the show and hero to all the local girls.  Naïve and somewhat inadept at love, Annie sets out to capture Frank’s heart by impressing him, performing fantastic shooting stunts ostensively to win his heart.  However, by becoming the star of the Wild West Show, she inadvertently drives Frank away.  Can she somehow manage to remain the star of the show and win Frank’s heart over at the same time?             For someone who didn’t want to work on this project and had to be prodded and cajoled, Irving Berlin produced some rather funny and enjoyable songs.  Everyone knows There’s No Business Like Show Business and Anything You Can Do as they have been re-enacted many times on stage, in film and on television.  However, my favorite songs are Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly and You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun.  The first is a country bumpkin’s look at how to succeed in life and offers up some hysterical situations to prove that you can be very successful if you stick to doing what comes naturally.  The second song shows us Annie’s frustration at being so talented at shooting, but realizing that all this talent counts for nothing when you are trying to win a man’s heart.             While I enjoyed the music and the lyrics of Annie Get Your Gun, I just couldn’t get used to Ethel Merman’s singing.  Not to say that I don’t like her singing - who couldn’t love the powerful voice that Ethel Merman brings to the stage.  However, it was her attempt to pull off a southern drawl with that powerful voice that somewhat fell short for me.  More suited for songs like I Got Rhythm, Everything’s Coming Up Roses and Anything Goes, I felt Merman’s singing style was simply out of place here.             If you can overlook the fake drawl of Merman in this show, then the Music Theater of Lincoln Center version of Annie Get Your Gun is truly a funny and enjoyable soundtrack that anyone who loves theater will enjoy.    For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop.net.