Aaahh, Calamity Jane; evoking warm childhood memories of sitting on a Sunday afternoon in front of the TV with my late Mum, watching Doris Day (in implausibly pristine buckskin) sparring with Howard Keel in the iconic 1953 film. I clearly was not alone in my wistful nostalgia this evening, with a packed press night audience forsaking hearth and home during a freezing January, to rapturously welcome this stage version as it sets off on a 29 city tour of the UK over the next six months. They were rewarded with a show which revels in its sentimentality but has enough heart and humour to send even the most cynical critic home humming its memorable songs.
An example of screen inspiring stage rather than vice versa, ‘Calamity Jane’ didn’t arrive on stage until nearly a decade after the movie first hit cinemas and devotees of the film will notice several additions to the score, some of which were slated to be included in the original and later cut. With the stage version allowing a more leisurely approach, Director Nikolai Foster has a fuller interpretation of the story which was a mixed blessing. The secondary relationship between Katie (Seren Sandham-Davies) and Lieutenant Danny (Luke Wilson) did not convince and their duet (Love You Dearly) slowed the pace and felt like a distraction. However, both Susan (Hollie Cassar) and especially Francis (Isaac Savage) were given space to flex their musical muscles (Weather Dance Lesson) and steal scenes with delightful comedic timing.
Foster originally revived this 1961 stage version for a UK tour a decade ago, then he had Jodie Prenger in the title role, now we see Carrie Hope Fletcher picking up the stagecoach reins and squeezing every ounce of humour and pathos from a great leading role. The part requires both sassy humour and cornball romance and Hope Fletcher delivers both ‘Windy City’ and ‘Men’ (an addition to the film score) with humour, juxtaposing well with ‘Black Hills of Dakota’ and her gorgeous show stopping ballad “Secret Love’. The relationship with Vinny Coyle as Wild Bill Hickok sparks during “I Can Do Without You’ and Coyle has his own moment in the sun, opening the second half with ‘Higher Than A Hawk’ which brought audible sobs from the audience (or was it this reviewer…).
The set design by Matthew Wright was inventive and will serve well during a long tour in differing venues, allowing the minimal props to be utilised to create train, stagecoach and horse and the ensemble of actor/musicians weaved into the narrative and seamless scene changes throughout. As the story was conceived over 70 years ago, the script inevitably creaks with age in parts and although the more offensive references to ‘Indians’ have been excised, the underlying sexism of the play and judgement of women by the way they look is less easy to remove or excuse. Casting Hope Fletcher in the lead went some way to mitigating these faults, but this show is never going to break the glass ceiling in pushing women’s rights and is best seen as the beautiful time capsule it is. It certainly isn’t the Wild West but ‘Calamity Jane’ will pack ‘em in and give audiences a rootin’ tootin’ night at the theatre!
Reviewer: Paul Wilcox
Reviewed: 21st January 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 4 out of 5.
