Pull the trigger quick to see 'Annie Get Your Gun'

Even with the opening song made famous in 1946 by Ethel Merman belting out "There's No Business Like Show Business," the latest Music Circus production, Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun" is really all about the fragile male ego — and leather fringe.

Beth Malone stars as the backwoods but spunky Annie, an 1888 sharpshooter who hunts game to help feed her younger siblings. When she's discovered in a Cincinnati shooting competition, the naïve Annie falls hard for her competition, Frank Butler (Edward Watts).

Under the direction of Gary John La Rosa, Watts is perfect as the confident, debonair and, yes, chauvinistic Butler, the king of Wild Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, all decked out in his silver-studded leather chaps. When Annie bumps into him and swoons, he sees her relic of a gun and advises her, "Give this back to your pappy and get yourself a pair of knitting needles."

Annie beats Frank easily, and when an onlooker noted, "Aw, anybody can miss a shot," she quickly and modestly replied, "I cain't." Her shooting victory won more than just $5 — Annie scored an invite to join Wild Bill's show. Frank's ego can't handle a woman who shoots better than he can, and she ends up serving as his assistant.

Poor Annie. Even though she bemoans her reality as she croons, "You Can't Get A Man With A Gun," one of the 13 tunes in this 2-1⁄2-hour show, she never knew what hit her as she ends up "dumbing" down her aim to keep her man.

But Wild Bill (Ron Wisniski) knows he got a gold mine and promises Annie her own special shooting spot in the upcoming Minneapolis show. Wisniski has been busy this summer, first in last month's Music Circus production of "Oliver" and now as the larger-than-life Wild Bill, his gray hair flying as fast as the long fringe on his leather duds.

It's fun to see Annie's evolution from a raw, hillbilly kind of girl into a more sophisticated entertainer who sounds like country singer Reba McEntire. (A 1999 Broadway revival of this production featured McEntire as Annie.) Malone carries off the metamorphosis seamlessly, with lots of laughs to boot.

Even ol' dedicated bachelor Frank is smitten with her, so much that he considers marrying her — until her new trick is a smash hit and his jealousy rears its ugly head and tears them apart. When they reunite, it's up to Annie to miss her shots to save her true love's shattered pride.

"Annie Get Your Gun" runs through Sunday.