California Musical Theatre's final offering of the 2000-2001 Broadway Series is Annie Get Your Gun. The 1999 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical and 2000 Grammy-winner for Best Cast Recording, is on its last stop after an 11-month national tour. You'd never know it, however, as the cast brings energy to the Community Center Theater stage - and, most of all - looks like they are having fun doing it.

    Annie Get Your Gun stars Tom Wopat (perhaps best known for his role of Luke Duke on the television show The Dukes of Hazzard) as Frank Butler and Karyn Quackenbush as Annie Oakley.

    Wopat is no stranger to the stage having started with singing and dancing roles at age 12. He has appeared on Broadway in I Love My Wife, Carousel, City of Angels and Guys and Dolls.

    Quackenbush appeared on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun as a standby for Bernadette Peters and Reba McEntire, and steps into the lead role with ease for the National Tour production. She's also been seen on Broadway in Blood Brothers, as well as having roles in a number of Off-Broadway productions.

    Annie Get Your Gun has an amazing score written by the legendary Irving Berlin, featuring songs such as "There's No Business Like Show Business," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun," and "Anything You Can Do." Who knew Luke Duke could sing so well - Wopat is amazing (as is Quackenbush) - and their duet in "Anything You Can Do," was one of the highlights of the show.

    Annie Get Your Gun is the fictionalized telling of the legend of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The musical originated back in the 40s with Ethel Merman in the lead and played to highly favorable reviews. The show ran for 1,147 performances, closing on Feb. 12, 1949.

    Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Anne Mosey in 1866. Picking up her first gun at age 7, she became an expert marksman by age 12 and rose to fame after defeating Frank Butler, a champion vaudeville marksman, in a live bird contest. A year later they joined forces as an act - and later married. In 1885 Annie joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show where she toured Europe and played before royalty. Her various feats included private showings for Queen Victoria, defeating Grand duke Michael of Russia in a shooting match and shooting a cigarette from the lips of Kaiser Wilhelm in Berlin. Her aim was so accurate she could shoot a dime from between her husband's thumb and forefinger with a .22 rifle.

    Annie Get Your Gun is a fitting tribute to Annie Oakley and her legend. The musical is both funny and enlightening as history gets the Broadway treatment. And the tunes in the show are some of the best you will hear in any musical.

    It seems as though the Broadway Series often saves the best for last, and it would be hard to argue with that with Annie Get Your Gun.

    Annie Get Your Gun performs through June 10 at the Community Center Theater, Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with matinees Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the Community Center Theater box office, 1301 L Street (916-264-5181); the Wells Fargo Pavilion box office, 1419 H Street (916-557-1999); or Tickets.com outlets. Prices range from $15-$65. Return to Sacramento Stage & Theatre