SHE brought the unruly crowd to a standstill with one shot from her gun. The smell of gunsmoke filled the air and we were off: Calamity Jane was in town.

We might have walked into the Queen’s Hall in Hexham, but two hours later we walked out of the dusty town of Deadwood in South Dakota, humming the songs we grew up with thanks to Doris Day and Howard Keel.

Yep, Hexham Amateur Stage Society was riding the Deadwood stagecoach, conveyor of big songs and two of the biggest characters in showbiz.

But seasoned thespians Clair Applegarth and Kenny Toal stepped up to the plate as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok as both actors and singers, despite the fact the former was struggling with a heavy cold. Her usual soaring notes were somewhat muted and the words often muffled, but, boy, could she still hold a tune!

A talented character actress, she was at her best as the gun-totin’, rawhide clad heroine based on the legend of real-life frontierswoman Martha Jane Cannary. Clair hit the mark as the self-proclaimed saver of stagecoaches and scourge of Wild West Indians with her outlandish tales, the veracity of which was questioned by the chorus line in the tuneful refrain ‘She’s not exactly lying, but she’s careless with the truth’.

This wasn’t the best HASS production I’ve seen, I have to say, mainly due to some pretty weak acting. If you’re going to ham it up in drag you’ve got to give it some welly and if you’re meant to be a dashing soldier winning hearts as you go, well, ditto. There were several examples of cast members not having the confidence to step fully into their roles.

Two very notable exceptions, though, were Ruby Westlake and Amanda Yates. The latter was a convincingly glamorous Adelaide Adams, the much loved music hall star Calamity Jane had promised she would bring to Deadwood.

And Ruby, as the maid Deadwood actually got, was very good indeed. Looking drop-dead gorgeous in a basque and fishnet stockings, she pulled off what was probably the hardest challenge of the night. Blessed with a nice voice in real life, she proceeded to sing off-key and dance off-beat in a scene that made the miners of Deadwood realise this was no Adelaide Adams.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the area in which HASS excels is in the big group numbers and Calamity Jane was no exception. The song Adelaide, performed by a clutch of the men, was truly excellent and the chorus lifted the roof with The Deadwood Stage, Windy City and – very clearly the audience’s favourite – The Black Hills of Dakota.

HASS always sends you off in a feel-good mood, the great songs of the past filling the air around you.

Calamity Jane was directed by Elva Mason, assisted by Mari Stewart. The musical director was Warren Smith and the stage manager Ian Cave.