Sheffield Lyceum – until Saturday 14th June 2025
Reviewed by Adam Craddock
5*****
The time is 12:15am and I just blew in from the Steely City of Sheffield having watched the 2025 UK and Ireland tour of “Calamity Jane”, starring West End Superstar Carrie Hope Fletcher, and I have to say my 4 hour round trip was 100% worth it!
“Calamity Jane” follows the eponymous woman of the Wild West as she brings the naive Katie Brown to the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, following which chaos ensues with the locals, in particular Wild Bill Hickok and Danny Gilmartin.
Vinny Coyle was fantastic as Wild Bill Hickok. The machismo oozing from him and the delicious baritone vocal were to die for, with some movement skills that actually surprised me. This felt to me like one of those roles made for a certain actor and I was very pleased to have witnessed it. Luke Wilson was good as Danny Gilmartin. He had a fabulous voice but possibly flew a bit under the radar compared to some of the larger performances in the show. Seren Sandham-Davies was great as Katie Brown. Her slightly chaotic bubbly portrayal was spot on and really lent into the surreal nature of the show. Samuel Holmes was brilliant as Francis Fryer, with a brilliant comedic presence, I particularly enjoyed his semi drag number! Peter Peverley and Hollie Cassar were both fair as Henry Miller and Susan. Peverley was brilliantly erratic but somewhat one dimensional due to how the character is written. Cassar was very funny as Susan but did get somewhat lost in the shuffle of the bigger personalities in the show. Molly-Grace Cutler was good as Adelaid Adams in the limited role, with a strong performance of the vaudeville number and an interesting contrast in character when offstage.
My two absolute highlights in the production however were Richard Lock as Rattlesnake and, of course, Carrie Hope Fletcher as Calamity Jane. Lock was absolutely hilarious as the hillbilly Rattlesnake, with a physical comedic presence to match any and a mighty impressive bass vocal which came out of nowhere! Fletcher’s outstanding performance felt role defining as a modern Calamity Jane, with her trademark twangy vocal on full display and a clear passion for the character shining through. The wider ensemble were absolutely fantastic, with a mighty talented cast of actor-muso’s on display to full effect. I do love an actor-muso show when done correctly and this leant itself perfectly to this production, really leaning into the feeling of a misfit community all working together. Bravo to all!
The set for the show was absolutely perfect, really feeling like an old west style theatre crossed with a saloon bar giving it a real rustic charm. The colour palette leant a sepia tone to the show which made it feel like you were watching an old movie. The costumes were perfection and the whole production values were superb, bar a couple of crackly mics at the beginning which did make the sound seem slightly amateur initially.
All in all I had an absolutely fantastic night and would highly recommend anyone see this production while it is on tour before it goes whip crack away from Sheffield.