Laughs In The
Black Hills of Dakota
Calamity Jane
Hexham Queens Hall
16th May 2015.
You
wait for Calamity Jane to be staged and 2
productions come along at once. After the Calamity of the professional show
earlier in the year it was the turn of the Hexham Amateur Stage
Society
to stage the thigh slapping musical.
Based
upon the 1953 film starring Doris Day and Howard Keel, the musical keeps the
sense of place and good humour. Calamity Jane rides into Deadwood, South Dakota, full of stories of her
exploits. Her friends accept that she is good at bending the truth in order to
create a good tale. When the local bar owner mistakenly books male actor
Francis, thinking he was booking entertainment with a female called Frances, she decides to help
out. She heads to Chicago in order to persuade big
star Adelaide Adams to come back to Deadwood to entertain her fans. Nothing is
what it seems and Calamity brings an entertainer back to help out.
Early
signs were good as a tight eight piece band, under the musical direction of
Warren Smith, started up at Queen’s Hall. As the curtain was raised the large
ensemble filled the stage and raise the roof with The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away!). Kenny Toal, as Bill
Hickock, and Clair Applegarth as Calamity Jane are both great singers
who come across as very likeable characters. Along with Ruby Westlake as Katie
Brown, they are immediately engaging and this helps the audience laugh along with
the many humorous lines in the script. Special mention must go to Mike
Routledge for his hilarious rendition of Hive
Full of Honey.
The
songs are memorable classics and delivered with zest. Under Elva Mason’s
direction, the show whips along at a entertaining pace and it the two and a
half hours quickly pass.
The
show was full of brilliantly coloured dresses and sharp suits, loud bangs and
big laughs. It was a delightfully fun show.
This
review was written by Stephen Oliver for the North East
Theatre Guide for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo,
Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo
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