Review by Paul Towers, 8/7/25
Calamity Jane by James O’Hanlon, music by
Sammy Fain, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Directed by Nikolai Foster, choreographed by
Nick Winston
Produced by The Watermill
At Curve til Saturday 12th July 2025
When the Deadwood Stage rolls into town you
can be sure of an exciting time, especially if Calamity Jane is on the reins.
In the capable hands of Curve’s Nikolai
Foster this classic musical of The Old West is a joyous evening of hoe-downing
and whip cracking one liners.
Calamity Jane (a fabulous Carrie Hope Fletcher)
runs the stagecoach that connects the remote townships such as Deadwood City to
the outside world. Her authority, alongside that of Wild Bill Hickock (suave
and brimming with sexuality Vinny Coyle), keeps the peace in the town, mostly. When
local saloon owner Henry Miller (Peter Peverley) is let down when his bill
topping act, Frances Fryer mistakenly turns out to be Francis, with an ‘i’
Fryer, a man (Samuel Holmes) Calamity only prevents a riot by waving her
pistols about. To rectify matters Calamity offers to go to Chicago and bring back a real life stage star,
Adelaid Adams (Molly Grace Cutler).
Of course, mistakes are made and Calamity
returns with the wrong girl, Katie Brown (Seren Sandham-Davies), who goes on to
partner up with Calamity in double dating with Bill and local soldier Danny Gilmartin
(Luke Wilson).
The main cast are joined on stage by a bevy
of triple threat performers who sing, dance and play instruments which makes
the illusion that you have wandered into a local saloon all the more real. Choreographer
Nick Winston has the cast hoe-downing at a pace.
This is a great evening out and you will
leave the theatre humming several well know songs and a light step, especially now
a lot of the scaffolding around Curve is gone.
Calamity Jane is at Curve until Saturday 12th
July and then continues to tour.
https://calamityjanemusical.com/
https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment