Cheeky, uplifting and packed with memorable songs, it’s no wonder Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls musical is continuing to do the rounds almost a decade on from its premiere.
Producer Bill Kenwright’s updated version of the musical, featuring “a re-imagined book and new music” is calling in at the Churchill Theatre this week, where it’s likely to win over audiences old and new with its cheering, saucy charm.
The plot is based on the true story of a group of women from a Yorkshire branch of the Women’s Institute.
Following the death of one member’s husband, the women bravely agree to pose for a nude charity calendar, sending the profitis to the hospital that treated him.
But the calendar, with its subverted pictures of the women baking, gardening and doing all sorts of other WI-approved activities – with their tools hiding their intimate areas – went viral, propelling the women to fame and prompting numerous copycat calendars.
The musical is not the first telling of the story. Firth first wrote the critically-acclaimed 2003 screenplay, which starred Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and was directed by Nigel Cole.
Next, Firth adapted it for the stage as a straight-up play, which opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2008 before going on a national tour and then into the West End in 2009.
Realising there was another life for it still, only this one with songs, Firth teamed up with singer-songwriter and record producer Gary Barlow to write a musical adaptation of the story, which opened to acclaim in 2015 – and continues to be the most-toured version of the tale.
Highlight hits from the soundtrack include can-do number ‘Dare’, scene-setter ‘Yorkshire’ and women-praising ‘Girls’.
The story is very much the same: set in 1998, it follows Angela Baker and her WI cronies’ mission to raise money for a leukaemia charity after Angela’s husband John is diagnosed with blood cancer.
Calendar Girls the Musical is on at the Churchill Theatre for three days until Saturday January 13 in a production directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, with a cast of familiar faces including Laurie Brett (EastEnders), Maureen Nolan (The Nolans, Blood Brothers), Lyn Paul (The New Seekers, Blood Brothers), Helen Pearson (Hollyoaks), Samantha Seager (Coronation Street) and Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle’s War).
As moving as it is funny, and as tender as it is cheeky, Calendar Girls on stage should prove just the spirit-lifter to laugh away those January blues.
Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley BR1 1HA.
January 10 – 13, 2:30pm and 7:30pm.
Admission: £22 – £56.
www.trafalgartickets.com/churchill-theatre-bromley/en-GB/event/play/calendar-girls-tickets
