Embracing the Legend of Calamity Jane
“If a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one,” proclaimed the audacious frontierswoman Jane Canary, famously known as Calamity Jane, back in 1890. This bold statement is echoed by musical star Carrie Hope Fletcher, who takes on the role of Calamity Jane in a vibrant touring adaptation of the classic 1953 musical film. This production narrates the story of a woman who defies societal norms by dressing and acting like the male cowboys of her time. The real-life Jane Canary was notorious for her heavy drinking and wild escapades, once reportedly driving a horse and buggy 90 miles past her intended destination due to intoxication. She tragically passed away at the age of 51 following a drinking binge. However, the film version, featuring the wholesome Doris Day, portrays her as a teetotaler who only indulges in sarsaparilla.
The stage musical adaptation of Calamity Jane, written in 1961, introduces additional songs and reframes certain historical narratives, particularly by downplaying the Wild West’s glorification of violence against Native Americans. Fletcher notes with a chuckle how the narrative emphasizes Calamity’s penchant for tall tales: “She saw the men around her bragging and understood that to outshine them, she had to concoct even wilder stories.”
Minutes after a two-hour matinee, Fletcher opens the door to her Southend dressing room, clad in Mickey Mouse print dungarees and apologizes for the clutter surrounding her. “I’m like a goldfish,” she laughs, “you know how they grow to fit the size of their bowls? That’s how I am backstage!”
Best recognized for her leading roles in productions like Les Miserables, Heathers, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s short-lived Cinderella, Fletcher is also a talented author, with bestselling novels such as Into the Spotlight and When the Curtain Falls. Moreover, she is the younger sister of Tom Fletcher, the lead singer of the band McFly. At 32 years old, she often finds herself defined as “Tom’s little sister,” a label that has persisted since her brother made his mark in the industry at just 10 years old in Oliver! back in 1995. She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School following in her brother’s footsteps.
Despite over a decade of being the “internet big sister” to her numerous fans on YouTube, Fletcher has come to terms with her identity as Tom’s sibling. “That narrative of me following Tom will always be there. I am his little sister,” she acknowledges, raising her hands in acceptance. “I’ve made peace with the idea that even if I had been born first, or if Tom had pursued a different career, I would still be doing this. Should I not follow my passion just because he did it first?”
Born in 1992 and raised in South Harrow, Fletcher reflects on how both she and Tom are pursuing careers their parents would have loved to have. Her theatrical journey began early, with child roles in West End productions like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins. In her mid-teens, she and Tom collaborated on writing a musical, which led to a meeting with Steven Spielberg after Universal, McFly’s label, expressed interest. Although Spielberg was intrigued, the project eventually fell through after years of workshops.
After this Hollywood near-miss, Fletcher inadvertently launched her YouTube channel in 2011. Initially, it featured her singing musical covers, but as other vloggers encouraged her to share more personal stories, she began to explore this new avenue. Her breakthrough came when she was cast as Eponine in Les Mis a year later, shortly after the release of Tom Hooper’s film adaptation.
“When I got that role, I thought: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity to vlog about!’ If someone like Michael Ball had shared his experiences while I was a young fan, I would have loved it!” However, it took some time for the West End to warm up to her vlogging concept. “During my first year in Les Mis, the producers set strict limits on filming, allowing footage only in my dressing room. They were overly concerned about revealing plot secrets. I remember thinking, ‘Secrets? This show has been running for 30 years! There are no spoilers left!’
Eventually, John Caird, one of the show’s original directors, inquired about her growing audience, which had reached around 250,000 viewers at the time. “He looked at me and said: ‘A quarter of a million? That’s more than the population of some small countries!’ Just two days later, I was summoned to the company office and informed that I could film wherever I wanted.”
Fletcher quickly connected with a vast audience of aspiring performers. Her candid reflections on being a young woman in the spotlight led to her first book, All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully, published in 2015. Yet, looking back, she admits, “I wish I had established stronger boundaries before venturing online. I wish I had sought therapy first. When you expose yourself to the internet, you open yourself up to all sorts of people. If you tend to overshare, you become vulnerable to outside negativity. I often found myself overwhelmed by criticism, thinking about every comment that came my way.”
- Are there any particular comments that still haunt her? She shudders, “So many, it’s hard to count.”
- Fletcher recalls a time when she felt compelled to respond to every critic, often making matters worse. “You should have the right to defend yourself, but in doing so, you expend so much time and energy, giving them what they want: your attention. I’m still learning that lesson.”
While she finds that “99 percent of people discussing musical theatre online are wonderful, there’s always that one percent who are menacing.” During her tenure in Les Mis, she encountered a stalker who sent her death threats. Alarmingly, her initial reports to the police yielded no action. “They said: ‘If you put yourself out there, what do you expect?’ But isn’t every teenager with a mobile phone putting themselves out there now? Should they all be warned that this could lead to stalkers?”
“Exactly!” she responds, frowning. “I pressed them: ‘At what point do you intervene?’ They replied, ‘Only if there’s physical harm.’ It’s baffling. We witness a repeating cycle of violence in media and true crime narratives, where victims often go unheard until it’s too late. Why aren’t we learning from these incidents?”
The Stalker Incident and Its Aftermath
Fletcher’s stalker began his harassment by sending mock-up posters featuring a bikini-clad photo of her, marketing her as a sex worker, complete with her agent’s real phone number. “These letters flooded in daily, addressed to all principal cast members of Les Mis. Eventually, we were barred from opening our mail. The police claimed there were no fingerprints or identifiable information, so it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
When law enforcement abandoned the investigation, Fletcher and her friends became amateur detectives. During the pandemic, these troubling posters started arriving at her best friend’s home and others in her circle. “We created a WhatsApp group to discuss the letters, which were increasingly disturbing and aggressive. We eventually deduced that they were from someone we had previously blocked on Twitter, who had been harboring a grudge against us since then.” Fortunately, her stalker was apprehended and sentenced to prison, but she admits, “He’s out now, so I always feel like I need to look over my shoulder.”
Amid such turmoil, Fletcher finds solace in her personal life. Her relationship with her husband, fellow actor Joel Montague, has proven transformative. Their romance unfolded rapidly, with their first date in May 2022, engagement by October, and marriage the following February. They now share an 11-month-old daughter named Mabel. “Our relationship is quiet and peaceful,” she explains. “Before meeting Joel, I believed that love had to be loud and dramatic, akin to the stories I grew up with. However, when I began to experience those narratives in real life, I found myself constantly anxious and exhausted. Joel is calm and steady, providing clarity without any games. It’s a refreshing change, and I find it wonderful!”
At this point, I challenge her on the traditional gender dynamics depicted in the Calamity Jane/Wild Bill romance, where he seemingly only notices her once she adopts a more feminine appearance. Fletcher winces but quickly retorts, “True, but when he finally kisses her, she’s back in her trousers!”
Calamity Jane is touring the UK until 27 September (calamityjanemusical.com)
