Mighty fine way to spend a night at Hippodrome

It was the most believable kiss I’ve seen on stage, actors Carrie Hope Fletcher and Vinny Coyle convincing me that we were in the gold rush town of Deadwood and that these two had been on the slow burn for years.
I'd sat beside a nan and her granddaughter on the train on the way in, talking about the 1953 Doris Day film and wondering how well Carrie would portray the character we'd all loved for so long.
The answer turned out to be really, really well. From her first gun-toting entrance, hot off the Deadwood Stage, to the final curtain hoedown, she captured everything I adored about Calam.
The balance between annoying little fibber and good-natured girls’ girl is a delicate one, something Carrie portrayed perfectly with cheely little side glances and subtle physical comedy.
The rich baritone voice of Howard Keel’s Wild Bill Hickok is stuck forever in my heart and while Vinny didn't sweep me away in the same way, I believed him as he slowly opened his eyes to love.
Perhaps even more wonderful than all of that was the way in which the company both acted and played the instruments.
In the Golden Garden saloon, they played banjos and trumpets and guitars and piano. I felt like I was really there, in the midst of it all, a Gol...