Calamity Jane 2010

Calamity Jane

In the wild-west outpost of Deadwood City, 1876, we find the sharpshooting tomboy, Calamity Jane surrounded by cowboys, townsfolk, and the famous Wild Bill Hickok. After a mix-up in the talent pool at Deadwood's saloon-theater, Calam goes to Chicago to import to Deadwood the glamorous actress, Adelaide Adams, but returns by mistake with her maid, Katie Brown instead. Back in Deadwood, Katie's inability to perform is overcome as she wins the heart of the young Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin, and when Calam sheds her tomboy persona at a ball at the local Fort and becomes a true woman, she realizes that she loves Wild Bill Hickok.

The Cast

Musical Numbers

ACT ONE
Overture
The Deadwood Stage ..........................................................................................................Ensemble
Careless With the Truth ........................................................................................Calamity & Ensemble
Adelaide ................................................................................................................................Men
Everyone Complains About the Weather...............................................................................Francis Fryer
Men! ................................................................................................................. Calamity and Ladies
Can-Can.......................................................................................................................Instrumental
A Hive Full of Honey.......................................................................................................Francis Fryer
I Can Do Without You .............................................................................................Calamity & Wild Bill
It's Harry I'm Planning to Marry .................................................................................... Adelaide / Katie
Windy City ....................................................................................................................... Calamity
Keep it Under Your Hat ................................................................................................... Katie Brown
Careless With the Truth (Reprise)......................................................................................... Ensemble

ACT TWO
Entr'acte
A Woman's Touch ............................................................................................ Katie Brown & Calamity
Higher Than a Hawk ........................................................................................................... Wild Bill
The Black Hills of Dakota .................................................................................................... Ensemble
Love You Dearly............................................................................................... Lt Danny & Katie Brown
My Secret Love .................................................................................................................. Calamity
Finale Ultimo

Reviews

"This was a musical treat, full of tap-along-melodies, in which every song was sheer pleasure to hear. The whole company number of the Black Hills was outstanding, performed in lamplight in the auditorium. Congratulations to Neil Streeter for excellent musical direction. Charlotte Barham’s (Calamity) deeply heartfelt Secret Love beautifully balanced Rob Talbot’s (Wild Bill) commanding Higher Than a Hawk.

Calamity impetuously promises to bring the gun-slinging, gold-digging, poker-playing Deadwood residents the darling of the cigarette cards, Adelaide Adams, to entertain them. As usual, she courts disaster when she brings back Adelaide’s maid instead. John Parker excelled as the despairing landlord of the Golden Garter; Paul Marsh (Francis Fryer) had the audience hooting with laughter at his impersonation of an actress; Ann Sinclair gave a delightful cameo as Adelaide whilst Louise Ellison (Katie) charmed us throughout."

Barbara Godwin - Southern Daily Echo

"AMOS excelled yet again in their recent production of Calamity Jane, directed by Claire Nias. The authentic costumes, toe-tapping music and strong cast combined to make a whip cracking show!

Charlotte Barham was well cast in her first leading role as Calamity Jane, who, in order to hold her own in a man’s world, dresses, talks and rides like a man. Charlotte not only looked the part, but she really captured the plucky and pugnacious essence of the character perfectly, although occasionally her singing was drowned out by the harmonies of the rest of the cast.

Louise Ellison provided a nice counterweight to Calamity as aspirational saloon singer Katie Brown, brunette to blonde and refined to rugged. Posing as the actress Adelaide Adams, she tackled the transformation from nervous indifferent performer, amusing the audience with her very bad rendition of “Keep it Under Your Hat”, to confident singer with aplomb, subsequently blossoming so that she was pursued by two suitors! One of them was Jason Davenhill, completely believable as Lt. Danny Gilmartin whom was able to display his pleasant singing voice when duetting with Louise in “Love You Dearly”.

A new addition to AMOS, Rob Talbot, took on the role of Wild Bill Hickock and he obviously relished in tormenting Calamity about her wild adventures and boyish looks. Although at times we felt he was a little too aggressive towards Calamity, the audience saw a softer side to him in the second act.

While Bill and Calamity’s duet “I Can Do Without You” was well done, Robs voice didn’t hold so strong in his solo numbers as he was pitchy and often strained, especially when holding on to some gratuitous long notes. Praise must be given to the men’s chorus and their rendition of “Adelaide” sung in a Barbershop style with some nice harmonies.

Francis Fryer, played by the talented Paul Marsh (this role was a stark contrast to his last as Scrooge!), added another comedy element to the show. Paul performed the role of both male and female artistes admirably and convincingly while the excitable and pessimistic owner of the Golden Garter, Henry Miller, was performed with amusing nervous energy by John Parker, calmed only by the effect of his niece Susan, played delightfully by Caroline Roper who really made the most of her small part.

The set was simply but effectively designed, centered round the stage of the Golden Garter, which was then transformed into Calamity’s log cabin. Thankfully we were warned at the beginning of the show that the performance involved loud gunshots, which was just as well as they definitely made a few people jump out of their seats!

The highlight of the show has to be the rousingly beautiful harmonies of “The Black Hills of Dakota” sung by the whole cast carrying lanterns through the theatre amongst the audience, bringing a rapturous applause at the end. All in all, a fantastic production!"

Chilbolton Players

Nominated for TWO
Curtain Call Awards!!!
AMOS are thrilled to announce that Calamity Jane has been nominated for in two categories for the Southern Daily Echo Curtain Call Awards!

Paul Marsh
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
Neil Streeter
Best Musical Director