Vinny Coyle Archives - North West End UK

5Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Calamity Jane – Leeds Grand Theatre

All musicals need at least two showstoppers, and Calamity Jane exceeds that bar with songs to spare. Show opener The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away) would be enough on its own for any self-respecting posse of musical theatre fans, but when you throw in the Oscar winning Secret Love, plus an utterly bonkers ahistorical plot, then it’s time to saddle up for a fun night out in Dakota’s Wild West. Calamity Jane is a stagecoach driver in Deadwood where her sparring partner gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok helps keep the peace, and when a local saloon singer is unmasked as a drag act she hightails it to Chicago to persuade famed performer Adelaide Adams to come back to Deadwood. But the brash and excitable Calamity - who as the folk of Deadwood sing is Careless With The Truth - is aptly ...

Whip-crack-away as Calamity Jane rides into Leeds Grand

The revival of The Watermill Theatre’s Calamity Jane starring Carrie Hope Fletcher comes to Leeds Grand Theatre before a West End run. It’s based on the beloved Doris Day movie, andthis foot-stomping new production features all the sure-fire classic songs including The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills of Dakota, Just Blew in from the Windy City, and the Oscar-winning Secret Love. The fearless, gun slingin' Calamity Jane is biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight. She'll charm you hog-eyed though, especially when trying to win the heart of the dashing Lieutenant Gilmartin or shooting insults at the notorious Wild Bill Hickok. But when the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams the touch rebel struggles to keep her jea...

Calamity Jane – Opera House

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 ...