Calamity Jane - Norwich Theatre Royal (08.04.2025)

If this musical western rom-com doesn't have you tapping your feet and smiling from ear-to-ear, then heck, just what in tarnation is wrong with you?!

Led by Carrie Hope Fletcher in the title role, this charming company, comprised of a number of on-stage actor/musicians moseys on through a plethora of delightful numbers, such as I Can Do Without You, Just Blew in From the Windy City, and Secret Love.

Hope Fletcher wonderfully embodies the swaggering, raconteur whose "careless with the truth" ways see her mess up her mission to convince movie star Adelaid Adams to perform in the backwoods town of Deadwood, and ends up bringing back Katie Brown, Adelaid's maid, instead.

Fellow leads Vinny Coyle (Wild Bill Hickock) and Seren Sandham-Davies (Katie Brown) also put in remarkable performances, but it was Samuel Holmes as 'actor' Francis Fryer that often stole the show, with a whirling dervish of a performance which demonstrated his brilliant vocal, dance, and comic chops.

However, across the company, the production is full of wonderful performers, and it was also a joy to watch the musicians join in with both the vocals and choreography in many of the ensemble numbers.

The show is set in America in the gold-rush era of the late 1800s, so naturally, the views of gender roles don't match the ideals of today, and if you're looking for a show to address that, you're looking in the wrong place. But it matters not - it has a strong, female lead who's ultimately comfortable in her own skin, and doesn't allow herself to be bullied or swayed by popular opinion of what a women 'should be'.

The beauty of its saloon bar/theatre setting is it means the single-set staging has a rich warmth to it, and of course the magnificent costumes add some extra colour too. There's also some wonderfully inventive staging of horse and stagecoach rides which were really fun to watch.

Ultimately, not a great deal happens in the show, but it's just such an enjoyable ride, you can't help but be swept along. There's even the opportunity for the audience to sing along to a few renditions of Black Hills of Dakota - why not join in the fun; Calamity Jane continues at Norwich Theatre Royal until 12 April.