Photo: Mark Senior
When the town drunk picks out the notes of the Deadwood Stage on a banjo in front of the curtain, and the audience without thinking starts singing along, you can see why Calamity Jane has been such a successful old school musical revival
Most of the people here when they think of Calamity Jane would be immediately thinking of Doris Day’s rollocking performance in the classic 1953 movie. This warm hearted and often very funny show offers a more folky version as a team of actor/musicians stroll and dance around Matthew Wright’s Golden Garter saloon set playing all the show’s familiar numbers.
Rootin’ tootin’ tomboy Calamity Jane lives up to her name causing mayhem everywhere she goes in gold rush town Deadwood shooting her mouth off and telling tall stories much to the disgust of Wild Bill Hickok. The town’s loose cannon makes matters worse when she thinks she has brought the world’s greatest actor back to Deadwood to save the show, but instead she brings her maid. This classic trope of mistaken identity has elements of a British farce, but set in the Black Hills of Dakota, before Calamity finds love in the most unlikely of places.
Calamity Jane was a fifties movie set in the back end of the nineteenth century, so some of the sensibilities in numbers like A Woman’s Touch do feel a bit old fashioned. But Nikolai Foster’s intelligent direction keeps the pace up and encourages the cast to play for laughs as they deliver some cleverly staged set pieces, including recreating Calamity’s dangerous and uncomfortable stagecoach rides using a few random props
West End veteran Carrie Hope Fletcher’s high energy and charmingly hokey performance as Calamity does pretty much dispel thoughts of good old Doris. Not known as a hoofer, Hope Fletcher is quick on her feet as Nick Winston’s Wild West inspired choreography is lively, and she really gets to the heart of the lovelorn big mouth with a heart of gold. She confidently leads the company through an amusing Careless With The Truth, and all that West End experience is on display during her beautifully judged Secret Love.
Tomas Wolstenholme is a decent sparring partner as Wild Bill, and whilst he’s no Howard Keel, his powerful version of Higher Than A Hawk was well received by this knowledgeable crowd. Seren Sandham-Davies lights up the stage as wannabe star Katie who finds a friend in Calamity.
The cast have great fun with Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s smart pastiches of saloon song and dance routines. Samuel Holmes is the show’s star funny man as cross-dressing saloon entertainer Francis Fryer sparking nicely off Hollie Cassar’s sensible Susan. Peter Peverely is wonderfully nonplussed as saloon owner Henry Miller, and Luke Wilson is suitably charming as love interest Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin.
I saw this company earlier in their tour and the extra months on the road means this sparky and witty revival is now a well-oiled machine that delivers exactly what the audience wants, which is a faithful and whip crackin’ version of a movie they all really love.
Calamity Jane is Alhambra Bradford until Saturday 6th September. To book
https://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/alhambra-theatre
Reviewer: Paul Clarke
Reviewed: 2nd September 2025
North West End UK Rating:
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