Calamity Jane the musical at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – review

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for providing us with review tickets for Calamity Jane

Oh, the Deadwood stage is a rolling on over the plains, right to Cardiff where the musical Calamity Jane has arrived at Wales Millennium Centre for the week as part of a new UK tour.

The wonderful award-winning Carrie Hope Fletcher stars as Calamity Jane – ‘the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight’, according to the programme notes and she’s excellent in the part made famous by Doris Day in the 1953 film, a mixture of sass and vulnerability with cracking vocals too.

As with the film, the musical is loosely based on the life of real Wild West heroine Calamity Jane, as she brings star of the Chicago stage Adeline Adams to the spit and sawdust bar of Deadwood – although all is not as it seems.
Calamity is such a great character, “not exactly lying, but she’s careless with the truth” as she talks of single-handedly taking on the outlaws, and refuses to dress and act like women of the time were expected to.

It’s clear there are many fans of the film in the audience from the enthusiastic laughs and cheers, even joining in word perfectly with one of the most famous numbers The Black Hills of Dakota, when invited to sing along by the cast. But even if the tale of Calamity Jane is new to you, there’s much to enjoy.

The brown and sepia tones of the saloon bar set conjure up the Gold Rush towns of the late 19th century, as we meet Calamity and the residents of Deadwood in South Dakota, where they are expecting to be entertained by a beautiful and glamorous performer.

With cases of mistaken identity, love triangles, heartbreak, friendship, loyalty and a few gun shots to boot, it’s an action-packed production, filled with much-loved musical numbers The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills of Dakota, Just Blew in from the Windy City, and the Oscar-winning Secret Love.

With the film dating back to 1953 and the musical gracing the stage since 1961, there are definitely moments which jar with life in the 2020s – men fighting over who gets to take a girl out, for example, and the musical number A Woman’s Touch seems so out of touch with modern standards. But it’s great to see Calamity declaring she can dress and act how she likes and refusing to conform. The musical number Men! redresses the balance as she laments “Down, down, down with them all”.

Rather than an orchestra hidden away in the pit, this production features a talented ensemble of actor-musicians who are almost always on the stage, moving effortlessly from energetic hoe down dance numbers to musical accompaniment, making you feel like you’re in an old style saloon and part of the action.

The age guidance is 8+ although younger children might find the plot a little complex at times. My 10 year old enjoyed it but needed a few explanations along the way.

Calamity Jane isn’t perfect but it’s a feel-good thoroughly entertaining show, whether you’re reminiscing about childhood memories of watching the old musical or discovering the classic for the first time.

Calamity Jane is at Wales Millennium Centre until Saturday 15 March. Tickets, from £17, are still available. Age guidance 8+ with no admittance to under 2s. Running time is around 2h 30 including an interval. Book online here.