Calamity Jane is a musical stage play based loosely on tales from the life of Martha Jane Cannary

Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...

.

The stage play was adapted in the 1960s from the highly successful 1953 Warner Brothers film Calamity Jane. It was premiered at the Municipal Theatre

The Muny

The Muny, short for The Municipal Theatre Association of St. Louis, is an outdoor musical theatre, located in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri...

 in St. Louis in 1961.

Credits

Adapted by Ronald Hanmer

Ronald Hanmer

Ronald Hanmer was a British conductor, composer and arranger of light music, who spent his latter years in Australia. He was best known for his themes to the Adventures of P.C...

 and Phil Park

From the stage play by Charles K. Freeman

After the Warner Brothers film, written by James O'Hanlon

Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

Paul Francis Webster

Paul Francis Webster was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Song and was nominated sixteen times for the award.-Biography:...

Music by Sammy Fain

Sammy Fain

Sammy Fain was an American composer of popular music.-Biography:Sammy Fain was born in New York City. In 1923, Fain appeared with Artie Dunn in a short film directed by Lee De Forest filmed in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. In 1925, Fain left the Fain-Dunn act to devote himself to...

 

Synopsis

Deadwood City's two most famous peace officers, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock, get involved in saving the neck of Henry Miller, the local saloon operator. It seems that "Millie" has been promoting a beautiful actress named Frances Fryer, but Frances turns out to be a boy, Francis. Millie's attempt to cover up is soon unmasked by the angry miners, and only Calamity can cool the crowd with her trusty pistols.
To keep the peace, Calamity sets out for Chicago to bring back the miner's real heart-throb, Adelaide Adams. In Chicago Calamity mistakes Adelaide's maid, Katie Brown, for the actress and hauls her back to Deadwood. Onstage Katie is greeted warmly, but breaks down and confesses that she is not the famous star. Calamity once more has to restore order and persuades the audience to give Katie a chance. They do, and she wins the heart of every male in town including Calamity's dashing love hope, Lt. Danny Gilmartin. Calamity reluctantly overcomes her jealousy over losing Danny and discovers her true love for Wild Bill.

Musical numbers

Act I:

• Overture
• The Deadwood Stage
• Careless With the Truth*
• Adelaide*
• Everyone Complains About the Weather*
• Men!*
• Can-Can*
• A Hive Full of Honey
• I Can Do Without You
  I Can Do Without You
  "I Can Do Without You" is a popular song, with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster.The song was included in the in the 1953 film, Calamity Jane. It was performed by Doris Day and Howard Keel...
  
  
• It's Harry I'm Planning to Marry
• Windy City
• Keep it Under Your Hat
• Careless With the Truth (Reprise)*

Act II:

• Entr'acte
• A Woman's Touch
• Higher Than a Hawk
• The Black Hills of Dakota
  The Black Hills of Dakota
  The Black Hills of Dakota is a song, written for the musical film Calamity Jane, about the singer's love for, and desire to return to, the Black Hills of South Dakota....
  
  
• Love You Dearly*
• Secret Love
• Finale Ultimo

Songs specifically added for the stage musical are denoted with *

Production history

There have been numerous stagings of the show, including British productions in 1979 with Barbara Windsor

Barbara Windsor

Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....

, the '90s with Louise Gold

Louise Gold

Louise Gold is an English singer, actress and puppeteer whose career has spanned almost four decades.From 1977, Gold was a puppeteer and voice actress for The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, and she has performed voice and puppet work on various other Muppet films and specials...

 in Haymarket and in 2003 on a UK Tour with Toyah Wilcox.

Instrumentation

The show calls for: Reed I (alto sax, clarinet), Reed II (alto sax, clarinet), Reed III (tenor sax, flute), Reed IV (tenor sax, clarinet), horn, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, percussion, guitar, piano, strings

Recordings

There is a complete recording of the entire score available made by JAY Records. It includes Debbie Shapiro

Debbie Shapiro

Debbie Shapiro Gravitte is an American actress and singer.Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, and went on to make her Broadway debut in the chorus of They're Playing Our Song in 1979...

 as Calamity Jane with Jason Howard, Tim Flavin

Tim Flavin

Tim Flavin is an American actor. He is the first American actor to receive the Laurence Olivier Award in 1984 for his performance in the musical On Your Toes.- References :* biography for "Singn' in the Rain", UK Productions....

 and Susannah Fellows.
There is also an earlier recording from the original film

Calamity Jane (album)

Calamity Jane was the name of a 10" LP album, released by Columbia Records on November 9, 1953, of songs sung by Doris Day and Howard Keel from the movie of the same name...

, sung by Doris Day

Doris Day

Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

 and Howard Keel

Howard Keel

Harold Clifford Keel , known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s...

 and released by Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

.

See also

Vocal score- "Calamity Jane (Operetta in Two Acts)" Amateur Operatic Version Warner Chappell Music Ltd copyright 2006 by Faber Music Ltd (ISBN10:0-57152792-2). Libretto- "Calamity Jane A Musical Western" adapted by Ronald Hanmer & Phil Park from the stage play by Charles K. Freeman after the Warner Bros Film written by James O'Hanlon. Licensed to Josef Weinberger Ltd, London by arrangement with Tams-Witmark Music Library NYC. (Copyright 1962 by Tams-Witmark Music Library, New York. ISMN979-0-57005-498-5)