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West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher holding court as Calamity Jane. Pictures: Mark Senior Calamity Jane Birmingham Hippodrome **** Who knew that the rough old Wild West with its gunslingers, prospectors, moonshine and bawdy saloons of ill repute could be such lively, harmless fun? All right, historical accuracy is not a strong point in Calamity Jane which is based on the 1973 Warner Bros film that helped make Doris Day an international star, but who cares, we are there for a musical, not a history lesson. The stage, or perhaps that should be the Deadwood stage version, is as bright and slick as they come with a wonderful theatre in a theatre set of The Golden Nugget saloon (Matthew Wright) and with a cast of characters who would have been right at home in Gunsmoke or Maverick. There is some classy choreography (Nick Winston) with hoedowns a plenty along with the almost forgotten art of the soft shoe shuffle from, in particular, Samuel Holmes as Francis (with an I) Fryer who finds himself as a somewhat reluctant drag artist . . . until the incident with the wig when it all became a bit ugly. Still, he partnered well with Susan Miller, played by Hollie Cassar, to create a lovely song and dance double act. She is the niece of the saloon owner Henry Miller who was given a worried, “I’m not worried” look of worry by Peter Peverley. Promising liquored-up prospectors, cowboys and ranchers . . . with guns . . . a beautiful showgirl, Frances, from New York, and finding Francis is in fact a song and dance . . . man, was not seen as a good, or even long career move in the wild west. Saving his bacon is Calamity Jane, who dresses in buckskin, totes two pistols and can outdraw and outshoot any man. It’s a delightful performance from West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher as the frontier sharpshooter, stagecoach driver and army scout.
Vinny Coyle as Wild Bill and Carrie Hope Fletcher as Calamity Despite her Tomboy with a capital T image, Jane has a hankering for romance in the shape of Luke Wilson as Lt Danny Gilmartin from the local fort who displays a fine voice in his big moment with Katie. Katie, who she? You may well ask. As part of saving Henry’s skin Calamity had promised to bring the biggest star in Chicago to star at The Golden Nugget, a star seen and only known from cigarette cards – remember them? Ask grandad. So, Calamity goes off to find the star, Adelaid Adams, played by Molly-Grace Cutler and, mistakenly, ends up with her maid, Katie Brown, played by Seren Sandham-Davies. Now she isn’t Adelaid, and the crowd have been disappointed once so . . . well she’s pretty, female, has long legs and a great voice so work it out for yourself. Adelaid’s a cigarette card, Katie’s here and on stage! The only problem for Calamity being that Katie and Danny . . . these things happen, which leaves Calamity with long-time friend and sparring partner Wild Bill Hickok’s shoulder to cry on. It’s a lovely performance from Vinny Coyle who gives us a fine baritone voice especially in his lovely solo Higher Than a Hawk, accompanying himself on guitar. Their tender moment also gives us the show’s showstopper Secret Love, the song composed by Sammy Fain with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, which won the Oscar for best original song in 1954, gave Doris Day a No 1 and became the career making record for Kathy Kirby a decade later. Carrie puts her heart and soul into the song showing great control over the softer moments and precision power at the big soaring highs. Director Nikolai Foster is as safe a pair of hands as you can get and in this reviival of his 2014 production keeps up a cracking pace all helped by the characters being musicians on stage while Tim Mitchell’s clever lighting along with the clever use of simple props such as a piano, barrels and chairs helped to transform the single saloon theatre set into a stage coach, a Chicago dressing room, Calamity’s run down shack and a fort ball. The whole thing was brought to life by a brilliant ensemble – these days it seems you have to act, dance, sing and play an instrument to symphony orchestra level (while also dancing, singing and acting or course) just to be considered for the ensemble. The talent on show was just amazing. It is a musical with quite a few familiar songs such as Deadwood Stage, Just Blew in From The Windy City and Black Hills of Dakota and 72 years on the film is still popular. All right, it is a lightweight musical, hardly a landmark, but it is fun, lively, has a simple, easy to follow love story of a plot and does what it intended to do, entertain and top up everyone’s feel good factor, so it is quite a surprise to discover there has never been a West End or Broadway production. Makes you wonder. The stage will be rolling in to the Hippodrome to 22-03-25. Roger Clarke 18-03-25 |
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