Calamity Jane, Birmingham Hippodrome, 18 March 2025, until 22 March 2025, then touring, 5☆☆☆☆☆. David Gray & Paul Gray.
Calamity Jane, Birmingham Hippodrome, 18 March 2025, until 22 March 2025, then touring,
5☆☆☆☆☆. David Gray & Paul Gray.
“A whip smart revival of a copper-bottomed classic.”
This touring revival of Calamity Jane was first conceived at the Watermill Theatre, a producing house noted for its actor-musician led productions. And it still has about it feelings of freshness, spontaneity and fun associated with a show workshopped into shape by the performers.
It is an intimate ensemble piece, with a single, sturdy, well thought out set. Props, furniture, whatever seems to come to hand, are utilised with ingenuity and imagination to signify changes of scene and location. A supremely talented cast act, sing, dance and form the band; playing all the instruments as they go about their business. The result is fluid, seamless and full of energy, and excitement from start to end.
At the head of this strong cast, Carrie Hope Fletcher, playing the titular role, gives a natural, effortless but very charismatic performance. She succeeds in capturing the vulnerability beneath the bluster, and manages her character’s transition through heartbreak to love convincingly, and with just the right mix of sentimentality and emotional truth.
Her Calamity shares effective chemistry with Vinny Coyle’s Wild Bill Hickok. They spar together to great comic effect but with obvious warmth, so their (spoiler alert) romantic reconciliation at the end, although sudden, is believable and moving.
Hope Fletcher and Coyle head a cast without any weak links. But the real strength of the production lies in how well everyone on the stage works together. The spontaneous, unforced, almost loose feel of the show hides a product clockwork in its precision. This is particularly evidenced in the dance numbers, where sometimes quite simple choreography is given added impact by the tightness, precision and unanimity of the delivery. And everyone seems to be having so much fun: it’s very infectious.
With an ensemble cast this accomplished it seems unfair to single out any player for special mention. However, it does have to be said that Samuel Holmes as Francis Fryer (with an i) delivers comic gold with almost everything he says or does in a very engaging performance.
So much more than a nostalgia trip, or something only for the Doris Day fans. This is a show that stands and delivers on its own merits as a great piece of entertainment, full of heart and good humour and utterly charming.
Cast
Carrie Hope Fletcher – Calamity Jane
Vinny Coyle – Wild Bill Hickok
Luke Wilson – Danny Gilmartin
Seren Sandham-Davies – Katie Brown
Samuel Holmes – Francis Fryer
Peter Peverly – Henry Miller
Hollie Cassar – Susan
Molly-Grace Cutler – Adelaid Adams
Creatives
Director – Nikolai Foster
Adapted for the stage by Charles K Freeman
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster