Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane rides into Deadwood riding Shotgun on the stagecoach. Henry Miller, proprietor of the local saloon, the Golden Garter, has sent for a beautiful woman to appear on the stage and entertain the menfolk of the town.

Unfortunately, this beautiful woman happens to be a Francis with an I, not an e- who ends up doing  a stage act in drag (seems to be all the rage these days). Henry Miller has been misled by the name, and when the men begin to get ugly (insert your own joke here),  Calam, amongst all the uproar, promises to get the one woman they`re all swooning over, even though they`ve only seen her on cigarette cards- singer, Adelaide Adams who happens to be playing her farewell performance in Chicago before going off on tour. Before doing so she gives her starstruck maid, Katie Brown (who dreams of being a singer) her costumes. Calam mistakes Katie for Adelaide, Katie takes advantage of this mistake and poses as Adelaide Adams in the hope of fulfilling her dreams. Sounds like the opening two minutes of a Gilbert and Sullivan, doesn`t it? As you can guess, after much singing and dancing, love stories and never-ending Black Hills, everything works out fine in the end.

Kira Hayes led the way in the leading role as Calamity Jane- a barnstorming, rooting-tooting performance, every inch the tomboy, nailing the character down to a tee- whether boasting manfully about her exploits, being hostile to those who questioned her or transforming herself into a lady as she eventually discovered her love for Wild Bill Hickock, ably played with confidence by Keiran McCormack. These two looked and sounded great together, with the tangible initial friction right through to the confession of their (not so) Secret Love. Although if I had one reservation, it would have to be the speed of delivery of Calam`s dialogue- her character drives the story, in dialogue, deed and song- with an accent so perfect, it was sometimes really difficult to discern what was being said. That said, it was a committed, effective and well executed performance

Emily Wild played a delightful Katie Brown showing great development in the character throughout the two renditions of ‘Keep it Under Your Hat’. The scenes between her and Calamity were a joy. Toby Sainty played Katie’s somewhat phlegmatic love interest, Lt Danny Gilmartin, with both looking good together on-stage.

Oliver Banks as Francis Fryer threatened to steal the show, with his great voice, and first rate timing - on occasion, when people get an audience reaction, they push and push until the joke is killed, not so with Oliver, he managed to pull himself back from over egging on more than one occasion-well done. Both he and Susan (Lydia Hetherington) made a lovely couple as their relationship blossomed throughout the show.

There was very strong support from Ben Sibbitt as Henry Miller, and Beth Higgins demonstrating her vocal talents in the small but important role as Adelaide Adams.

Smaller parts- way too many to mention and chorus competently supported the cast in their dancing and musical numbers, although the card players on table two must have had such good poker hands they forgot to sing.

Scenery and props were efficient and kept up with the pace of the show although the grey plastic coat-hangers were a little out of place in 1800`s Deadwood.

Under the baton of Ian Bird, the chorus, Orchestra and leading roles were strong throughout, with some very effective ‘pictures’ and characterization created on stage by Artistic Director Paul Jones. The choreography (Sue Lloyd Roberts) was slick and well-rehearsed, although it was a bit of a shame that the tallest were set at the front, as many of the smaller dancers couldn`t be seen during some of the numbers.

Nice to hear the National Anthem played too, as per the society founders' wishes.

The production team, cast and crew must have been justifiably proud of this production, and rightly so.

Thank you Walney Juniors, and congratulations.

 

Martin Craig

NODA NW

District 11 Representative

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