Award-winning Blackburn Musical Theatre Company will be back at the Empire Theatre next month with their production of the classic Wild West musical, Calamity Jane.

The production comes 70 years after the movie Calamity Jane – starring Doris Day – was released, and features all the favourite tunes The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away!), Just Blew In From The Windy City, Secret Love and The Black Hills Of Dakota.

BMTC chairman and co-director Gary Worthy said: “Calamity Jane is a very different show to last year’s production – it is a true feel-good musical.

“It’s full of wonderful, familiar songs, and is a real whip-crackin’ Wild West adventure. Audiences will definitely leave the theatre feeling uplifted and with their spirits raised.

“The most common thing people say when you mention Calamity Jane is ‘Oh, I love that film’, or ‘I remember loving watching that with my nan’. It creates so much warm nostalgia for so many people.”

And BMTC members are hoping to recreate the magic of last year’s production of Fiddler On The Roof, which went on to win a host of awards at this year’s East Lancashire NODA Awards – including best musical and best overall production.

Other trophies included best director for Tony Fry and Gary Worthy and best choreographer for Katie Fry, who all return to the team for Calamity Jane.

“We were delighted to be honoured with our East Lancashire NODA Awards earlier this year and we’re working hard to live up to the standards we set with our production of Fiddler On The Roof,” Gary added.

For ther new production, leading the cast, as Calamity Jane is Lucy Roberts, with Jason Shields as Wild Bill Hickock, Jennifer Whiteside as Katie Brown, Alex Laing as Lt Danny Gilmartin, Ged Case as Francis Fryer, Martin Cottam as Henry Miller, Charlie Dearden as Adelaide Adams and Anna Cryer as Susan.

Calamity Jane is at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn from Monday, May 8 to Saturday, May 13. For details, visit www.blackburnempire.com