Cast
Calamity Jane – Jodie Prenger
Will Bill Hickok – Tom Lister
Danny Gilmartin – Alex Hammond
Katie Brown – Phoebe Street
Henry Miller – Anthony Dunn
Francis Fryer – Bobby Delaney
Show Date – Saturday 7th March (2:30pm)
Calamity Jane loves to tell stories, but how many of them are actually true? No-one is really sure about this as she certainly does tell a lot of tall tales. The men mock her but are actually quite scared of her at the same time. When she must go to recruit an actress to come back to Deadwood, it obviously does not go to plan, to begin with anyway.
Every now and then I got to see a show which I have not seen the film version or even know any of the songs. This was one of these shows, yes I know terrible that I have not watched the film when I have a huge box set of must see classic musicals which has Calamity Jane in it! Don’t worry though I am sure I will crack that open very soon and Calamity Jane will be at the top of the list to watch. It is nice to watch a show and not be entirely sure on what is going to happen, although in all honesty I did work out the story and how it was going to end. That did not make it any less enjoyable though, it is a very fun experience from start to finish. The whole cast look like they are enjoying themselves on the stage.
Jodie Prenger has an incredible presence on stage with such a fantastic voice. She really delivers in this show and has some brilliant moments. I can still remember wanting her to win “I’d do anything” which she did and totally deserved, I have always wanted to see her live on stage and throughly enjoyed eventually being able to catch her in a show. I hope to see her in other shows in the future.
Tom Lister who is well-known for his role in Emmerdale (not something I watch) but always good to see how good they can be on stage. Lister did not disappoint and also had very good on stage presence, was likeable and nailed his songs as well. Good chemistry with Prenger meant that they bounce off each other in such a good way and work well together. Lister was fantastic at the end, standing at the door everyone was leaving holding a bucket raising money for a great cause (the cast are doing a cycle challenge from one theater to another next month) and taking plenty of time to pose for photos!
The show has plenty of potential love stories and all based around this. It does very well to show how different men and women are. I thought with the fact that Calamity Jane was more of a tomboy and manly but to then show that even if she acts like them in some ways you cannot change the female mindset. Kinda like don’t judge a book by its cover, she was not as tough and strong as she made out to begin with. I liked her transformation and being more comfortable with herself.
It has some fantastic songs, dance routines and will have you smiling as the story unfolds. A very good touring production which deserves a lot of praise. I am sure it will continue to be very popular for the rest of the tour, as a pretty much full house at the matinée in Sunderland yesterday afternoon was fantastic to see.
Calamity Jane is on tour in the UK until August, check out the remaining dates here.
