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Calamity Jane

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh 

Four stars 

 

Don’t mess with Calamity Jane. If you do, you’re likely to be shot down in a dramatic standoff you’ll never win. This is as true of any attempt at reworking Charles K. Freeman’s 1961 stage version of David Butler’s 1953 James O’Hanlon scripted movie as it is of the gal herself. As unreconstructed as this rootin’, tootin’ yarn concerning tomboyish Jane’s getting of wisdom remains, Freeman’s play is as faithful to its big screen roots as the assorted brides at the end of the play are to their various beloveds who look like they finally struck gold.

 

All this is driven by composer Sammy Fain and lyricist Paul Francis Webster’s wagonload of showtunes that have become sing-along classics. This is evident from the opening moments of this touring revival of Nikolai Foster’s 2014 production, first seen at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. As a grizzled old cowboy plucks out a few notes on a banjo, it immediately prompts the audience to gently join in en masse with his cracked rendition of The Black Hills of Dakota.

 

This happens several times throughout the show after the curtain peels back to reveal the good folk of Deadwood playing along on a mini orchestra’s worth of instruments inside designer Matthew Wright’s all purpose barn with a miniature stage at its centre. As Carrie Hope Fletcher brings who she believes to be vaudeville star Adelaide Adams to town, all of Deadwood becomes starstruck over a showgirl who turns out to be Adelaide’s maid Katie Brown. As Calamity and Seren Sandham-Davies’ Katie shack up together, Vinny Coyle’s Wild Bill Hickok and Luke Wilson’s Danny come a courting, and after much line dancing around each other, happy endings ensue.

 

Foster and co-director and choreographer Nick Winston play things as straight as they can here, with Fletcher, Coyle and co keeping a lid on things while clearly having fun. This makes for an irresistibly infectious affair, with versions of The Deadwood Stage and Secret Love inspiring a sense of devotion from the audience. The various turns on Wright’s stage make Foster and Winston’s production a mini variety show in itself in a show that plays to its old-fashioned strengths even as Fletcher’s thoroughly modern Jane looks set to take on the world.


The Herald, April 17th 2025

 

ends

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