What a whip cracker! What we thought of Calamity Jane at Sunderland Empire
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
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It might be The Deadwood Stage (Better known as Whip-Crack-Away!), it could be the ballad, Black Hills of Dakota but it will most likely be Secret Love, the Oscar winning show-stopper that topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic for Calamity Jane’s original star Doris Day, and has since been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to George Michael.
It is the songs that make Calamity Jane an enduring hit and the Empire audience lapped up Jamie Wilson Productions new version of the 1953 film classic, giving a standing ovation to a multi-talented cast.
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Hide AdNow touring nationwide Calamity Jane is destined for London’s West End, but you can see it right now on Wearside - if you are quick enough on the draw to snap up one of the few remaining tickets.
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Carrie Hope Fletcher is the lead. With 635,000 YouTube subscribers, almost half a million on X and a huge Instagram following, the actress, novelist and vlogger - who also has a UK top 20 album to her name - brought in a young audience to match those who came to revel in the nostalgia of such a well-loved show.
However, this is no museum piece. With new songs to complement the time-honoured favourites, and a more modern take on the female and male roles this romcom western explores, you are transported back to the 1870s where a love quadrangle is only the tip of an iceberg of concealed identities hidden within a fast moving plot.
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Notable amongst a big back-up cast is local lad Peter Peverley who starred at the Empire last year in The Sunderland Story.
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Hide AdMention must also go to Seren Sandham-Davies who as Katie Brown provides Carrie Hope Fletcher with some of her most thought provoking scenes.
This is far from the wildest western you will ever see, but while on the surface it seems a whip-crackin’ wander through a well-worn story, as you leave after a post curtain call hoedown you can be certain that this show is no calamity.
Review by Rob Mason.
*Calamity Jane is at Sunderland Empire until Saturday, February 8
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