JODIE Prenger can’t wait to bring a little bit of the Wild West to the North West when she stars in Calamity Jane, which opens in Manchester on Tuesday.

“I’m just so excited about this show,” said Jodie, who first shot to fame after winning the BBC show I’d Do Anything, which catapulted her on to the West End stage playing Nancy in Oliver.

“There is such a buzz about this show, it is brilliant,” said Jodie who takes on the role of Calamity Jane, the tomboy-ish cowgirl who can out shoot, out ride and out probably drink any man.

“I think it has helped that the show hasn’t been over done, it has not toured that often. But it has got so many wonderful songs in it and it’s really got that feel-good factor.

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“Wherever we have taken the show so far the audiences have just loved “We’ve had people doing an impromptu hoe-down in the aisles and kids coming along dressed up as cowboys. When we’ve been leaving the theatres you can often hear people singing songs they’ve heard that night, it’s just great.”

The production also stars Tom Lister, best know for playing Carl King in Emmerdale as Wild Bill Hickok.

The show sees Calamity Jane recruiting a new star for the Deadwood Stage show only to become jealous of her new protegee. It takes her long-standing enemy Wild Bill Hickok to make her see sense, and realise her secret love.

“It’s unusual for me to get the chance to play a true life character,” said Jodie. “It has been fascinating to research Calamity Jane, this immensely independent woman who was a real diamond in the rough.”

Unlike her character Jodie could never describe herself as a real tomboy.

“I was too excited to see what new sequinned boob tubes my mum would be bringing me for my disco dancing when I was a kid,” she laughed. “I definitely wasn’t a tomboy.”

Since being chosen by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to star in Oliver six years ago, Blackpool-born Jodie, 35, has become one of the hottest properties in the West End.

She won a best supporting actress award for her portrayal of Nancy and then toured the country as the Lady of the Lake in the Monty Python-inspired musical Spamalot.

She has also shown her abilities as a comedy actress in the play One Man, Two Guvnors and appeared in TV series including Candy Cabs.

“I have just been so incredibly lucky,” she said. “I would never imagined that I would have ever been part of a National Theatre production like One Man, Two Guvnors. I’ve played so many different roles and different characters.

“I’m really like a kid in a candy store.”

From her initial appearances on TV in I’d Do Anything, Jodie’s boundless energy and sense of fun have appealed to audiences everywhere.

And in spite of facing a gruelling run with Calamity Jane, which will be stopping off at major theatres all over the UK until August, her enthusiasm remains undaunted.

“You’ve got to give it everything every night,” she said. “You can’t go into a role and half do it. The audience deserve the best performance you can give.

“With Calamity Jane it’s such fun to do it has a natural way of lifting all the performances.”

With such a demanding schedule you’d expect Jodie to have a disciplined routine to protect her voice.

“Don’t be daft,” she laughed. “I have plenty of brews, that’s the secret.

“And the good thing with a touring show is that I get the chance to come back home much more than I do with a West End run.”