Calamity Jane
Rating: ★★
Venue: New Victoria Theatre, Woking 
Cast: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Vinny Coyle, Luke Wilson, Seren Sandham-Davies, Katie Brown, Peter Peverley, Hollie Cassar, Samuel Holmes, Molly-Grace Cutler, Richard Lock, Ben Mabberley, Fergus Murphy, Tomas Wolstenholme and Claire Greenway

Meet the fearless, gun slingin' Calamity Jane – biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight. She'll charm you hog-eyed though, especially when trying to win the heart of the dashing Lieutenant Gilmartin, or shooting insults at the notorious Wild Bill Hickok. But when the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Her heart's a thumpin'... but who for?

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the whip cracking musical it claimed to be. The show was 15 minutes late to start, and while they apologized for this and we know how often these things happen with live theatre, we weren’t told what the actual issue was. However, I don’t think the issues affected the performance.

I went into the musical completely blind, I didn’t know the story; or perhaps I should say, lack of story. However I was keen to see Carrie Hope Fletcher on stage. The story is based in the wild-west outpost of Deadwood city and follows sharpshooting tomboy, Calamity Jane, as she carouses with cowboys, townsfolk and her arch-rival, the famous Wild Bill Hickok. After a mix-up in the talent pool at Deadwood’s saloon/theatre, Calamity Jane goes to Chicago to fetch the glamorous actress Adelaid Adams, but instead returns to Deadwood with Adelaid’s maid, Katie Brown.

While I was keen to see this musical for my love for Carrie Hope Fletcher, Carrie wasn’t the one who particularly stood out during the performance. While her acting was incredible, and her vocals were just stunning and so powerful, particularly in the second half, it was Vinny Coyle who plays Wild Bill Hickok who stole the show. His accent was impeccable, the acting was nothing short of perfection and his voice was brilliant. He managed to play the role so effortlessly and flawlessly, and as well as this, he was an incredible dancer. Although I did enjoy the chemistry and performances between Fletcher and Coyle, as their story was very predictable, the audience were very aware how the story would end.

The show is pitched as a comedy but unfortunately, the comedy fell short on me. However, Samuel Holmes, who played Francis Fryer, managed to get a few laughs out of me, he was great.

The music was decidedly average; I didn’t leave the theatre remembering any particular songs and none of them were catchy enough for me. There were a few songs with some epic high notes from Fletcher and a lovely solo sang by Coyle, but nothing particularly memorable as such. The choreography from Nick Winston was strong. However, tap dancing numbers are typically my favourite, and if you're going to include a tap dancing number, you should really have tap dancing shoes on. It simply didn't work in the way it intended to.

A mention must go to the set design from Matthew Wright which was brilliant and immersive for the story; the saloon/theatre worked really well.

While the entire cast gave a wonderful performance with the material given to them, the production came across as somewhat rushed and underdeveloped.

You can book tickets to see Calamity Jane on its UK tour, here.

Review by Sarah

**photo credit: Mark Senior**