Calamity Jane: a whip crackin’ good time!

Posted on 9 August, 2018

Yeehaw cowgirls and boys! The best rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ musical event of the year is loading up the stage coach and heading our way to ye olde Canberry! So grab your lasso and saddle up for Calamity Jane…

Fans of classic musicals will know this one already. Starring Doris Day in buckskins and fringes, the 1953 film is very loosely based on the real life Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, who were stars in an Old West travelling show. Fans of the HBO show Deadwood (which set the bar for Games of Thrones for graphic violence and nudity) will be familiar with them too. Calamity was known as a teller of tall tales, and it was only after Wild Bill died that she claimed they were married.

Even taking that with a grain of salt, there’s not a lot of similarity between the real life personalities and the characters in the musical. Honestly though, this is one time I’m more than happy to let historical accuracy go and just hang on for the ride.

And what a ride it is! Calamity is a rough and tumble gal, who likes to talk up her daring exploits, and frenemy Wild Bill enjoys calling her out on them. The Deadwood townsfolk are desperate for a bit of feminine entertainment and are excited that a proper performer, Frances Fryer, is coming to town. Except Frances turns out to be Francis—a man–so Calamity promises to go to the big city and bring back a genuine star, Adelaide Adams. Wild Bill doubts she can do it, but is forced to apologise when she returns with the beautiful Miss Adams in tow.

The only problem is poor old Calamity is the victim of a case of mistaken identity and has brought back Adelaide’s maid Katie Brown, who is also desperate to be on the stage. When that lie is exposed, Calamity champions Katie and they head to her ramshackle home. They set about fixing it up, thanks to ‘a woman’s touch’, and soon Wild Bill and Calamity’s crush Lieutenant Danny fall for Katie’s charms. Will Calamity get her heart broken or will she realise love is worth the chance?

You’ll find out when Virginia Gay, the utterly delightful and charming star of TV show Winners and Losers and a regular guest on the First Tuesday Book Club, brings Calamity Jane to life at the Canberra Theatre Centre.

I was very lucky to talk to Virginia over the phone, and we laughed and sang our way through the entire conversation!

Virginia, I’ve drawn up some bar stools and poured us a couple of glasses of sarsaparilla, so welcome to the Virtual Saloon Bar!

Oh I can tell you’re a real Calamity Jane fan!

 I only have to feel a gust of wind and I burst out singing ‘I just blew in from the windy city. The windy city is mighty pretty…’

 I would love to see that!

I’ve heard you describe this as a ‘gender progressive hootenanny’.

I’d forgotten I said that, but yes it’s true. It has so many layers, there are so many set pieces and slapstick routines, and there’s the ‘hidden’ love story between Calamity and Katie and so many of the characters are challenging gender roles. We’re also respecting what makes it so timeless. It’s bold, fearless, and courageous. It’s full of bizarre and beautiful frontier people, who might not be matinee idols but are wonderful regardless.

On a scale of grittiness from 1953 technicolour Doris Day to Ian McShane swearing in Deadwood, where is this version of Calamity Jane?

We looked at Deadwood a lot when we were planning this and there’s a lot of its look here. Calam’s not wearing fringes like in the 1953 film and is dressed more like the Deadwood. We’re using the text from the film but I can tell you whenever she’s saying, “gosh darn it” she’s saying something MUCH stronger in her head. Something that would fit in a lot with the Deadwood TV series.

There’s actually a framing device in our production. We’re a ragtag bunch of actors putting on the show Calamity Jane, and every night it’s a bit different. There is such a thrill about live theatre, anything can happen. This is the only long show I can see myself doing. It’s a real challenge because you have to pay attention and always ask yourself “where is this going now?”. No two shows are exactly alike. We have a team of seven actors, musicians and extraordinary comedians, and we perform everything ourselves, including all the musical numbers.

What’s your favourite song from the show?

It’s so hard to go past Secret Love, it comes from such a beautiful part of Calamity’s soul, her chest opens up and this thing of beauty is let out.

I’m also the biggest fan in the world of Rob Johnson, who plays Francis. He performs A Hive Full of Honey that is so sly and suggestive, considering he has to pretend to be a woman. He also does a routine not in the film, Everyone Complains About The Weather, that he does as the world’s worst audition song. It takes incredible skill to be deliberately bad with such precision.

I have to be honest, I’m having a hard time with anyone but Howard Keel being Wild Bill, will I be convinced?

I love that you love Howard Keel so much, but don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed. Anthony Gooley brings extraordinary flair to the role. He makes him a complex character and the perfect foil for Calamity.

I never really bought that she had a crush on dull-as-dishwater Danny, when she and Wild Bill seem to spend an awful lot of time singing to each other about how they hate the other.

 Their relationship is such a classic romantic trope, from the moment you see them together the sparks are flying. Calamity is such a modern women, she learns how to love truly. Her crush on Danny is like a teenager, she has a lot of love to give but doesn’t know where to put it.

She meets Katie, who shows her tenderness and kindness for the first time and her life changes. In 2018 she and Katie would absolutely be a couple, I mean “with a rub, rub here and a rub, rub there..”? Girl, please! That subtext is what makes it so delicious.

What’s been the audience reaction to the show?

When Calamity sees Katie and Danny kissing I can honestly feel hundreds of hearts breaking along with her. It’s such a human story and you can’t help but feel such sympathy for someone who has let herself be vulnerable.

And there are so many laugh out loud moments. There is no way I was going to be able to do Doris Day’s dances, but I can’t tell you the joy I had in sitting down with our choreographer and coming up with dance routines for our Calamity. Doris did these amazing flips and tumbles all in one take for the ‘The Windy City’, but ours is very different. Our Calamity is someone who went to Chicago once and saw one dancer and is now convinced she knows exactly what dancing is. It is terribly and wonderful all at the same time.

I’ve always enjoyed your appearances on the First Tuesday Book Club. If you could travel back in time, what book would you take to a Deadwood book club?

I LOVE that idea! I think I’d take Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, that Apocalypse Now is based on. I have a suspicion Calamity thinks she’s the hero but I love the idea that she’s actually Lucille Ball who has somehow ended up in Apocalypse Now.

What book would you bring?

Without a doubt, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…

I am going to have to get that now in preparation for our Deadwood book club!

The essentials

What: Calamity Jane
Where: Canberra Theatre Centre
When: 15-19 August 2018
How much: $59-$79; under 27 $39-$49. Ticket available online.