Calamity Jane

A favorite show of mine, having played Calamity myself, I was really looking forward to seeing Waterside’s production of this classic American Wild West tale. There are some great, well known musical numbers in this show, and the orchestra is very good under the direction of Chris Talbot.  The chorus singing is also very good and the ladies have been used more in some of the number, which adds to the overall sound. The men’s chorus although small has some nice tones also. 
David Putley has a good cast to work with and everyone has been given a small character to play, and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves which came across. Viki Sarker and Katie Nicholas have done well with the choreography.

Wendy Burgess plays the sharp-shooting Calamity with great passion and energy and Chris Wortley takes the role of Bill Hickok. They both sing and work together very well.

Clare Crayton is good as Katie Brown, giving softness to the part which is the right contrast to Calamity, and James Hale is just right as Danny Gilmartin. Chris Stanway is ‘Millie’ Miller the Golden Garter owner and Lisa Phillips Jo the barmaid are both played by ladies in this production, this works well, and I liked the way ‘Jo’ had lots of little extras drinking drinks etc built in.

The other good pairing is Hannah Worlock playing Susan (Millie Miller’s niece) and Dean Attard as the fabulous Francis Fryer. I liked the ‘Under your hat number’.
The set was nice and worked well, the costumes were very colourful.  Well done cast and crew for a super show.

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