This revival of the Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster musical Calamity Jane (based on the classic Warner Bros. film starring Doris Day, itself a variation on Annie Get Your Gun) is a production of the Watermill Theatre.
Co-director Nick Winston has opted to keep the plot archaic and period-perfect, as Calamity (Carrie Hope Fletcher) struts around in buckskin and toting guns in the rough gold town of Deadwood.
I love an actor-musician show, and the supporting performers and ensemble don’t disappoint. Fain’s score (arranged by Philip J Lang) thrives, characterised by the big hits “Secret Love” and “Just Blew In From The Windy City.”
What creaks badly now is James O’Hanlon’s original 1953 screenplay, which focuses on real women wearing dresses and relying on a man. The stage adaptation tries to mitigate this with a ‘be who you want to be’ focus, but the bias is there.
Fletcher does well in the lead, a little firecracker sparring and shooting, swigging her sarsaparilla. Her rendition of “Men” is a lot of fun, and her scenes in Chicago are hilarious.
Sadly, Wild Bill Hickok (Vinny Coyle) came up a bit short, never convincing as a tough man with notches on his gun, although Coyle is a good dancer and displays a sweet tenor in his plaintive solo, “Higher Than a Hawk.”
The local colour of Deadwood are represented by a varied crew including Luke Wilson’s lieutenant Danny, Peter Peverley‘s nervous theatre owner, and Hollie Cassar’s Susan (who forms a charming duo with out of town hoofer Samuel Holmes).
Calamity Jane thrives on mistaken identity, as the town tries to tempt a big actress onto its rickety stage. When ‘Adelaid Adams’ comes in on the stagecoach (Seren Sandham-Davies as that pretty gal with petticoats, the prospectors long for) problems ensue.
The show could have stood a bit more dancing around its 18 songs, and the longer first half does struggle a bit with pacing, but this is a solid enough (if old-fashioned) show if you set aside its misogynistic tone.
I’m giving this 3 stars.
Calamity Jane is at New Wimbledon Theatre until 17 May, then continues on tour until 27 Sep – details here.
Image credit: Mark Senior