Musical review: Calamity Jane, Bille Brown Theatre QPAC

Queensland Theatre (QT) is certainly back with some terrific and thoroughly engaging theatre. After an enormously successful, critically acclaimed production of Pride and Prejudice that opened its 2025 season, Calamity Jane has arrived to take the company to equally enjoyable heights. Following the pandemic and current depressing global issues, QT’s new Artistic Director, Daniel Evans, seems to have hit on a winning formula to attract audiences back to the theatre. Good old-fashioned musical entertainment is certainly a crowd-pleaser, especially when presented in a first-rate production with a great cast as seen here. 

According to the famous 1953 musical film, starring Doris Day, and the HBO series Deadwood, Calamity Jane was a remarkable woman who eschewed the feminine norms of her day. Seemingly ignoring both cultural identity and gender politics, her story is clearly a relevant topic today, though this production does not dwell much on these deeper issues. Rather it offers an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and deliciously wicked production with a group of colourful characters and chaotic interwoven stories. 

Originally staged by the Hayes Theatre in Sydney in 2017, this revival for its premiere season in Brisbane reunites the entire creative team. The all-Queensland cast includes two original Queensland members. Mostly set in the Golden Garter Saloon, in Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1860s, the simple yet authentic design by Lauren Peters includes a bar and piano. Period costuming by Peters sets the Wild West theme perfectly, while Trent Suidgeest’s extensive lighting rig with its masses of smaller lamps works beautifully. It is particularly effective as a starry night sky to accompany the moving ‘Black Hills of Dakota’.  

Pianist and Musical Director, Nigel Ubrihien does a splendid job, managing to play while crouching down or standing as the piano is moved around him. He plays the musical score with alacrity in recognisable period style. He also plays the character of Rattlesnake, as unpleasantly as the name suggests. Cameron Mitchell’s choreography mirrors the songs with some lively period dance numbers.   

As much a farce as it is a comedy, character development is explored through Richard Carroll’s powerful and nuanced direction. On-the-spot improvisation is clearly part of his direction, the production having a strong emphasis on audience participation and involvement. The stage area includes some limited seating for audience members and they are very much part of the action. 

Staying true to the original stage play and period, while introducing modern day ad libs and comments, is not an easy path but Carroll manages it with aplomb. While chaotic at times, this flexible approach with his dedicated ensemble works well for a piece that is as much about absurdity as straight humour.   

Carroll describes Naomi Price as a ‘force of nature’ and her Calamity Jane is extraordinary. From the first moment she enters from the auditorium, Price makes this role her own. An assured and exuberant performer, she inhabits the rough, dirt-covered, pants-wearing Calamity with non-stop energy, great style and a delightful sense of self-promotion. An excellent singer with perfect diction, she gives heart to many songs, especially the moving ballads ‘Black Hills of Dakota’ and ‘Secret Love’. Her powerful renditions of ‘Just Blew in From The Windy City’ and ‘The Deadwood Stage’ are equally engaging. All the cast interact with the audience, but it is mostly undertaken by Calamity herself with topical references to Brisbane, the recent cyclone and the Olympic Games.

Veteran actor Andrew Buchanan plays the Saloon owner Henry Miller delivering a solid well-crafted performance. His nebulous relationship to his ‘niece’ becomes the butt of his humour. As the so-called niece, Susan, Juliette Coates is a new talent to QT. She gives a strong, gutsy and believable performance offering terrific singing, dancing and dramatic skills. Her characterisation of bored music theatre star, Adelaide Adams, is excellent and good fun to watch.           

Anthony Gooley is a forthright and brooding Wild Bill Hickok, the notorious gunslinger, his deprecating ironic manner towards Calamity and his tough exterior hiding some very real feelings. His song ‘I Would Never Fall’ is delivered with great panache. 

Read: Theatre review: The Glass Menagerie, Ensemble Theatre

Darcy Brown’s amazing performance as the all-singing, all-dancing Francis Fryer, shows a fine comic actor. His imitation of a honey-bee, while dressed as a woman, is nothing short of hilarious. Laura Bunting’s Katie Brown and Sean Sinclair’s Lieutenant Danny, two of the more serious characters in the play, sing and perform well. Their duet ‘Love You Dearly’ is touchingly delivered.     

Calamity Jane, Queensland Theatre, Bille Brown Theatre
Adapted by Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park 
From the stage play by Charles K Freeman after Warners Bros. film written by James O’Hanlon
Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
Music: Sammy Fain, by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Australasia)
Director: Richard Carroll
Musical Director: Nigel Ubrihien
Choreographer: Cameron Mitchell
Designer: Lauren Peters
Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest
Sound Systems Designer and Operator: Geoff McGahan
Lighting Design Realiser: Emma Burchell
Vocal and Dialect Coach: Siege Campbell
Intimacy Coordinator: Jacqui Somerville
Stage Manager: Liam Murray
Assistant Stage Manager: Leila Marsden
Cast: Naomi Price, Andrew Buchanan, Laura Bunting, Darcy Brown, Juliette Coates, Anthony Gooley, Aurélie Roque, Sean Sinclair, Jeremiah Wray (cover)

Original Production Credits
Producer: Richard Carroll
Associate Producer: Michelle Guthrie
Assistant Producer: Virginia Gay
Head of Production: Jack Daniel Woods
Assistant Director: Dash Kruck

Calamity Jane will be performed until 17 April 2025.