Music: Sammy Fain
Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
Book: Charles K Freeman (adapting a screenplay by James O’Hanlon)
Director: Nikolai Foster with Nick Winston
Audiences familiar with the film version of the musical Calamity Jane (from which the stage show is adapted) might encounter a few surprises watching the current touring version. Extra songs, written at the time of, but not included in, the movie are featured and the lyrics of well-known songs are tweaked to take account of modern sensitivities. ‘’Black Hills of Dakota” now have ‘mountainous country’ rather than ‘beautiful Indian country’. However, the central character remains an unrepentant gun totin’, tall-tale tellin’, sarsaparilla drinkin’, buckskin wearin’ tomboy.
Calamity Jane (Carrie Hope Fletcher) is a vital member of the Deadwood community, ensuring the stagecoach reaches town without being plundered. She is, however, fond of her own legend and over confident in her abilities. Boasting she can persuade Broadway star Adelaide Adams (Molly-Grace Cutler) to appear in Deadwood’s ramshackle Golden Garter Saloon she accidently engages the singer’s maid Katie Brown (Seren Sandham-Davies) who hopes to prove she can sing as well as her mistress. Worse, Danny Gilmartin (Luke Wilson), for whom Calamity carries a torch, is smitten by Katie as is Wild Bill Hickock (Vinny Coyle) whose irritation with Calamity conceals a growing attraction.
Nikolai Foster, who directed the original version of the touring production in 2014, tackles head-on the illogical nature of musicals which demands, from time to time, characters burst into song. The centrepiece of Matthew Wright’s saloon set is a glitzy proscenium arch stage which sets the tone for a production in which the characters seem to be aware they are in a musical.
The cast are actor/musicians and so wander around the saloon carrying instruments as if suddenly performing a musical number is an everyday occurrence. The ‘let’s do the show right here’ vibe makes for a cheeky, rapid-paced production. Chairs and tables become a stagecoach and the journey to Chicago takes a few minutes with the cast simply bobbing heads to suggest travel. Appropriately Carrie Hope Fletcher makes her entrance ‘riding’ a piano.
Co-director Nick Winston’s choreography is enthusiastic rather than fancy. There is the rough and ready sense of a group of people letting their hair down and enjoying a breathless hoedown instead of professionals carefully watching their steps.
Calamity Jane lacks a musical anthem but although the songs are short they are to the point and several can be considered classics. The musical is, however, uneven- the first act being a series of incidents and the love triangle not becoming apparent until act two. Wild Bill Hickock losing patience with Calamity at the end of act one, does not create the tension of a lovers’ quarrel, as, at that point, their possible romance has not been raised.
Vinny Coyle’s Wild Bill Hickock is perhaps too suave and sophisticated for the Wild West but Carrie Hope Fletcher is spot-on; capable of maintaining a gauche ‘aw sucks’ accent while belting out the songs with perfect clarity and not a lyric unclear.
The fairy tale nature of the plot prevents Calamity Jane from being considered ‘realistic’. Yet the all-round musical abilities of the cast bring authenticity to the depiction of a rough and tumble saloon in the old west enabling the audience to accept the romantic viewpoint and enjoy a lively back to basics production.
21st to 25th January, 2025
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