Type – Revival, Interactive, Musical Classic
If you liked – Neglected Musicals (Hayes Theatre), Kiss Me Kate, Calamity Jane (1953)
Calamity Jane: An absolute hoot from start to finish, the lines of audience and performer are blurred in this production that may just be the most fun you’ll have in a theatre
Yeehaww! Saddle up them horses and get those whips cracking, the Golden Garter in the town of Deadwood has officially opened its saloon doors in the Sydney Opera House as Calamity Jane strolls into town. As the incomparable Virginia Gay once told me, Calamity Jane is the gift that keeps on giving. Now in its biggest version (making it the seventh or eighth version?) at the Sydney Opera House, Gay returns to the role that won her a Sydney Theatre Award in 2018 under the direction of original director Richard Carroll in a production that will have you hootin’ and hollerin’ for more.
What started as a Neglected Musical production at the Hayes Theatre in 2017, Carroll recognised that with Gay in the star vehicle role of Calamity, the production had enough gusto to stand as a fully fledged production. Thus, 2018 saw the first initial staging of Carroll and Gay’s collaboration and the rest, as they say, is history.
From Belvoir St, to Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre, this Calamity Jane has transformed and adapted wherever it needed to, with its key magic ingredient being the audience essentially taking on the show’s large ensemble. Now in The Studio of the Opera House, this feels right at home and the truest destination that Carroll and Gay could have envisioned those eight years ago.
Calamity Jane: Heroine, Myth, Musical Figurehead, Queer Icon
Besides being a classic musical theatre heroine, Calamity Jane was a real woman in the American wild west. Known to outshoot, outdrink and outride most men in the town of Deadwood, Calamity’s name was supposedly earned from the trouble that followed her everywhere she went. In a time when a woman could be arrested for wearing men’s buckskin gear, Calamity resisted the societal norms of her time, refuting the frilly lace dresses and gingham gowns worn by other women of the era.
Adapted by Ronald Hamner and Phil Park, from the stage play by Charles K. Freeman, the now iconic Doris Day starring 1953 film written by James O’Hanlon took this resistance of societal norms, and in the “Golden Age” of Hollywood fashion, essentially deconstructed the masculinity of Calamity. In the end, Calamity is a dress wearing woman who finds love and marriage in the arms of Wild Bill Hickok.
As time has evolved however, the queer undertones of Calamity have been cross-examined and in Carroll’s version deftly played upon. The number, ‘A Woman’s Touch’ wherein Calamity and Katie move in together is read as a distinctly gay interpretation, subverting the Paul Francis Webster’s lyrics to become queer-coded. And with Gay’s penchant for true chemistry for anyone she crosses, this reading sizzles hot and heavy throughout Calamity.
Deadwood in the Sydney Opera House
Lauren Peter’s set design brings the western wooden aesthetic of Deadwood into The Studio placing you in the heart of the Golden Garter itself, with Trent Suidgeest’s lighting design harnessing tungsten lightbulbs to adorn the space, creating warm glows, soft lighting and romantic chandeliers.
Moments of beauty come in harmonies between the ensemble where the focus is on the acapella voices under Nigel Ubrihien’s musical direction, whilst a strong yellow backlight cuts a defined shape into The Studio’s space. Moments like this are pure visual and auditory magic.
Throughout, the ensemble of eight maneuver in and out of the audience at the pre-show, interacting in character. If you want a true immersive experience, spend that bit of extra cash and get yourself a table on the floor area. Here, you’ll find yourself a patron of the Golden Garter as the action fluidly moves inbetween and around you – you may even find yourself part of the show at some point!
Calamity is part traditional musical, part immersive theatre and part cabaret bundled up into a rambunctious package of mayhem. Carroll continues the current trend of taking age-old musical classics and reimagining them for a modern audience, and with this new ensemble led once again by Virginia Gay, it’s a toe-tapping, golden time at the saloon.
The Ensemble of Eight
Gay’s Calamity feels like a well-worn suit. With her history in treading the boards of cabaret, Gay exudes charisma and has the uncanny ability to produce chemistry with anyone she comes near. She could have chemistry with a wooden chair if it were a one-woman show. This Calamity wears her armour like it’s bullet-proof, but allows the gaps to be shown when her heart wanders into the battlefield of love. It takes a certain amount of skill to command a scene on stage opposite an ensemble, let alone with an ensemble the size of the audience in The Studio, but Gay does it with a flick of the wrist, a keen smirk, and a knowing breaking of the fourth wall – if the fourth wall even existed in the first place.
Taking on a much heftier acting role than the cabaret we’ve seen her in, Victoria Falconer is having perhaps the most fun on stage as Susan. Falconer is proof of the argument that cabaret is the best place to cut one’s teeth before jumping into the modern musical world. She plays not only the violin, but the ukulele and the saw as she matches wits with the other men in the world of Deadwood.
Kala Gare continues to wow as the powerhouse voice of the contemporary Australian musical scene (Big call, yes, but don’t argue with me until you’ve seen her in My Beautiful Career) and finds every corner of Katie Brown’s yearning to truly be seen within a short space of theatrical time. Whilst Ryan Gonzalez strips off the Usnavi goatee and dons a variety of hats to go full ‘Lip Sync For Your Life’ energy as Francis Fryer.
Kaya Byrne’s Lt. Danny Gilmartin and Andrew Cutcliffe’s Wild Bill Hickok give hilarious turns as the lovelorn men of the west, with Cutcliffe shoving off his own masculine shield in a moving Act Two number before matching grit with Gay’s Calamity in the finale.
Is Calamity Jane Worth Seeing in Sydney?
Whilst the first act runs long, the second runs short and doesn’t hold up to the exuberance and high-flying fun of the former. Calamity is almost Shakespearean-comedy in its three-tiered wedding at the show’s ending and despite the queer-coded subversion that runs underneath the piece, it never eventuates into anything substantial to give a contemporary payoff.
However, this is perhaps the most fun you’ll have in a theatre where the lines of audience and performer are blurred. I think the strain in my cheeks at the end was proof I was smiling all the way through. Choose to sit amongst the action, dress in your best western attire and book yourself a seat at the Golden Garter to get the most out of this amalgamated, transformative piece of contemporary theatre. It’s an absolute hoot – whip crack away!
Tickets and Practical Info for Calamity Jane in Sydney 🎟️
Read our Quick Five Q&A with the cast of Calamity Jane here.
Calamity Jane plays exclusively at the Sydney Opera House, Studio until Sunday 19 November.
Tickets: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/musical-theatre-cabaret/calamity-jane
Sydney Opera House and One Eyed Man Productions present Calamity Jane
CAST
Virginia Gay as Calamity Jane
Kaya Byrne as Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin
Andrew Cutcliffe as Wild Bill Hickok
Victoria Falconer as Adelaide Adams and Susan Miller
Kala Gare as Katie Brown
Ryan Gonzalez as Francis Fryer
Phillip Lowe as Henry Miller
Tyran Stig Understudy
Billie Palin Alternate, appearing as Calamity Jane for Tuesday night performances from Oct 22
CREATIVES
Director & Producer Richard Carroll
Musical Director Nigel Ubrihien
Choreographer Cameron Mitchell
Set & Costume Designer Lauren Peters
Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest
Sound Designer Daniel Herten
Produced by One Eyed Man Productions in Association with Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co
