Original Screenplay: James O’Hanlon
Adapter: Charles K Freeman
Music: Sammy Fain
Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
Original Director: Nikolai Foster
Co-Director and Choreographer: Nick Winston
Calamity Janehas just blew in from the windy city and landed at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre with a whip crackin’, feel good actor-musician production of the classic musical, which was originally a film starring Doris Day.
This production ofCalamity Janestarted at The Watermill in 2014, before touring the UK with Jodie Prenger in the lead. The production has now been remounted, over 10 years later, with a wonderful new cast, for an extensive tour of the UK. It tells the story of Calamity Jane, a woman who is outcast from her patriarchal society for being ahead of her time. She finds other ways to please her community, raising up other women and falling in love along the way (but only on her own terms!).
The show is funny with stage adapter Charles K Freeman finding plenty of moments for laughs. At times, the script is very wordy though and the cast race through the dialogue – giving it a little more room to breath at times wouldn’t harm the show but it would allow the audience to take every plot point in. Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster’s music and lyrics are a delight to listen to. The score boasts a great variety of numbers, from big company dance numbers to comedic duets to heartfelt ballads. Catherine Jayes deserves a huge amount of praise for her work as Musical Supervisor and Orchestrator, alongside Christopher Mundy as Musical Director. Within the constraints of the actor-musician set up, the music always sounds rich with wonderful vocal harmonies consistently (despite the fact that the actors are also playing the instruments).
Nikolai Foster and Nick Winston direct the production, ensuring it has a huge amount of energy throughout. They effectively use Matthew Wright’s fairly static set design to depict the multitude of locations. The way they create fast moving carriages on stage is particularly impressive. Winston’s choreography is impressive and delivered with great precision and infectious joy. He finds way to allow cast members to put down their instruments to perform energetic hoedowns, whilst also choreographing routines well when the cast all have to play instruments at the same time.
Headlining this tour is Carrie Hope Fletcher who is almost faultless in the show. She proves herself to be a true triple threat. Audiences will know Fletcher as a stunning and powerful vocalist and she more than delivers with this score, whether singing upbeat company numbers or soaring ballads. She has an excellent stage presence, building great rapports with her fellow castmates. She leads dance numbers confidently, showing off her ability as a dancer in a way that she hasn’t been able to in her previous roles.
Alongside Fletcher is Vinny Coyle as Wild Bill Hickok. Fletcher and Coyle develop a beautiful and believable chemistry on stage throughout the show. Coyle sings wonderfully and is great fun to watch as the slightly mysterious man, who clearly has some darkness in his past but is a hopeless romantic at his core. He also bounces well off Luke Wilson as Danny Gilmartin, the duo landing plenty of laughs as they compete for women.
Seren Sandham-Davies is a lovely Katie Brown, her on stage chemistry with Wilson’s Danny being lovely. Samuel Holmes is very funny as Francis Fryer, making a great comedy musical duo with Hollie Cassar as Susan. Molly-Grace Cutler is heavily underused as Adelaid Adams, but makes the most of every second on stage that she gets. Her vocals are rich and a delight to listen to, and she enjoys chewing the scenery as the rather nasty Hollywood actress.
Calamity Janeis a fun evening out, with enjoyable musical numbers, fabulous choreography and an exceptionally talented cast.
Runs until 14th June 2025, before continuing on tour