‘Calendar Girls’ is one of my all time favourite films, so this new musical adaptation had a lot to live up to…and boy did it deliver! It is full of joyous, toe tapping tunes and songs, which recount this story with plenty of fun and great empathy. It is a feast for your senses and the messages within will stay with you for a long time.
This production is written by award winning Gary Barlow and Tim Firth and the director is Paul Robinson. It is a fantastic collaborative production between the Stephen Joseph Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre, Octagon Bolton Theatre and Theatre by the Lake. The music is outstanding and the cast are superb. Christina Meehan, who plays Annie, and Karen Holmes, who plays her feisty friend Chris, lead a multi talented group, acting, singing and playing an amazing variety of instruments.
Friendship, grief and courage in one story
This is a deeply emotional story of the enduring strength of friendship, through unforeseen grief and when there is a passion to achieve a goal, coupled with the courage that can be found when risks are taken and fears overcome.
The first half of the show focuses on the ‘rules’ of the WI (and the breaking of them!), the women’s friendships, and the death of John, Annie’s husband. His illness is portrayed with heartrending sensitivity. He was a cherished member of the community, a gardener that loved the miracle of growing flowers from seed:
The flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire. Every stage of their growth has its own beauty but the last phase is always the most glorious.
The hospice needs a sofa, so the women decide on a calendar
In memory of John they decide to produce a different style of calendar to their usual, a ‘Pirelli’ style, to raise money to buy a sofa for the hospice he attended! There is considerable resistance at first and the back stories of the women are revealed in heartrending solo performances but persistence pays off….
The second half sees the women skilfully creating the calendar with humour and sensitivity. Watch out for the tea ladies’ appearance! What followed was the global phenomenon we know today, the true story of a group of ordinary Yorkshire WI women achieving the extraordinary.
A 5 star show, funny and touching
At the end of the show there was a well deserved standing ovation which the cast clearly appreciated, but I suspect not as much as the audience appreciated and admired their hard work. This is a 5 star show that will make you laugh out loud while surreptitiously wiping away a tear. It is truly a must see show!
Photos credit and copyright Tony Bartholomew.
‘Calendar Girls the Musical’ is showing at the Theatre by the Lake from Thursday August 6 to Saturday September 5.
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