Review: Calamity Jane at Wales Millennium Centre

Rhys John Edwards

Surely, I’ve seen Calamity Jane before? It’s a classic, after all.

The movie is a staple of Hollywood’s Golden Age. It’s Doris Day for crying out loud! Is it even the post-Christmas/ pre-New Year bubble if it’s not on telly in the background whilst you’re munching the last of the Quality Street?

Well, as it turns out, I hadn’t seen Calamity Jane before. What I had seen was Annie Get Your Gun. I guess I just have a special kind of prosopagnosia for singing cowboys.

A truly magnificent musical

But fortunately, this meant that the sensational production currently playing at Wales Millennium Centre was my first experience of the show, and what an experience it was!

This truly magnificent musical is loosely based on the historical figure Martha Jane Canary – a pioneering frontierswoman, known for holding her own in the patriarchal Wild West.  

The story follows the titular character’s quest to retrieve a famous actress from Chicago – the ‘mighty pretty, windy city’. ‘Calam’, as she is affectionately known by her community back in her humble town of Deadwood, is tasked with bringing back the esteemed Adelade Adams to perform at her local saloon.

But she gets more than she bargained for when aspiring performer Katie Brown poses as Adams, deceiving Jane to gain her moment in the spotlight.

Carrie Hope Fletcher’s performance is effortless

You know you’re in safe hands with this production when Rattlesnake, played by Richard Lock (who is so brilliantly animated he’s practically a living cartoon character), stumbles onto stage and retrieves a banjo hanging from the curtain.

He begins to pluck away, as if at random, communicating with us through the sort of slapstick movement you’d find in a beloved, old silent movie.

So instant is his connection with the audience, they spontaneously break out into song – ‘The Black Hills of Dakota’. 

And all this before the curtain even rose and introduced us to the powerhouse that is Carrie Hope Fletcher as Calamity Jane. 

Fletcher’s performance is effortless. She shines brightly in this role which showcases her tremendous vocal range. She nails the characterisation too, fully embodying this rebellious and fiercely defiant Western hero.

And she manages to do this without leaving a trace of her workings in the margins. Every line she utters appears almost improvised – which is remarkable considering how dated this 1950’s dialogue should feel.

You just never believe that Fletcher is anything other than Calamity Jane. There isn’t a nano-second where she can be caught reaching for that high note or contemplating that next step of choreography – she is just consistently this character, unquestionably born for the role.

Vinny Coyle holds the audience in the palm of his hand

Vinny Coyle plays Jane’s rival Wild Bill – who perhaps doth protest too much about his disdain for Jane.

Coyle is marvellously captivating and with palpable charisma, he holds the audience in the palm of his hand, never loosening his grip.

He is unafraid to pause for an extra beat here and there, just to feel the auditorium’s gaze and collective expectation for his next line.

Seren Sandham-Davies excels as Katie Brown – cutesy and clumsy, but confident when called upon. Davies ensures Brown is an instantly likeable character, despite her initial deception and eventual disruption of Calam’s love life. 

Samuel Holmes is also wonderful as the travelling entertainer Francis Fryer. His most impressive turn comes as he performs ‘Hive Full of Honey’ in drag.

I imagine in 1950s Hollywood the sight of a man in a dress would have been enough to prompt a giggle, but Holmes knows it won’t cut the mustard in 2025. He rightly mines the comedy from the character’s attempts to hide their embarrassment – and later, draws it from him enjoying his new attire perhaps a little too much.

Almost all the actors and singers on stage are also musicians – if your capacity to be impressed wasn’t exhausted enough already. And I don’t just mean they’ve incorporated a tambourine into their dance routine – one minute they’re a rowdy cowboy in a bar brawl, next they’re perfecting a jig in the hoedown, but saxophones, double-basses, guitars or trumpets are never far away and aid them in performing superb showstoppers like ‘Men’ and ‘Careless with the Truth’.

Gloriously creative sequences

The choreography is consistently sharp and there are no signs of fatigue from the show’s impressive chorus. The blocking never feels stale, even within a confined set that is only partially adapted scene to scene. 

Tables and chairs become horses and carriages seamlessly, and there are gloriously creative sequences throughout – my personal favourite being when casual furniture is made up as a train and Richard Lock’s Rattlesnake cheekily blows out its steam from his pipe. 

My only gripe with this show is that it has essentially ruined Christmas 2025 already.

How am I now expected to draw comfort from the original Calamity Jane movie once my selection box supply runs dry? 

I’m aware that for many people this will be an unforgivably sacrilegious statement to end on, but honestly, I just can’t see how Doris will ever live up to Carrie.

And as for Annie Get Your Gun, Paint Your Wagon or any other Western musicals I think I have half watched – it’s safe to say there’s a new sheriff in town. 

Calamity Jane is playing at Wales Millennium Centre until Saturday 15 March