Calendar Girls The Musical – New Theatre, Oxford and Touring

Calendar Girls The Musical was reviewed at the New Theatre, Oxford and is currently touring until 9 November 2019.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls The Musical has a similar ambience to their collaboration on The Band, particularly in the opening scenes, but once the grit of the storyline takes hold, the writers sail into previously unchartered waters and raise the bar above and beyond expectations.

One realises as the show progresses that the dreariness of the opening song ‘Yorkshire’ intentionally represents the middle-class monotony of life in the Yorkshire town of Knapely where the golf club and Women’s Institute are the two main barometers of society.

The spirit lifts with each musical number incorporating some powerful solos including Denise Welch’s gutsy ‘So I’ve Had a Little Work Done’ to Anna-Jane Casey’s heart-rending sincerity as Annie in ‘Kilimanjaro’.

Sixteen years after the original film, the story of Chris Harper’s inspiration to do a nude W.I. calendar to raise funds after the death of her best friend’s husband from cancer is equally as moving as it was then. The resilience and determination of the women as they fight their inhibitions and stand up to not only their own demons but also the disdain of the local socialites show huge strength of character that everyone can learn from.

There are some tremendous performances from the cast including Casey as the newly widowed Annie, Nikki Gerrard as single mum Cora (understudying the role usually played by Karen Dunbar), Sara Crowe as the strait-laced, furtive alcoholic Ruth, Rebecca Storm as the risk-taker Chris and Fern Britton as the self-important matriarch Marie.

All of the women succeed in creating a real maturity to their characters while the various men in their lives purposely play the supporting roles.

The young residents of Knapely are entertainingly played by Isabel Caswell as Jenny (covered at this performance by Michelle Whitney), Tyler Dobbs as Tommo and Danny Howker as Danny, each of them personifying the inevitable teenage embarrassment caused by the adults who they are meant to respect and look up to.

Matt Ryan directs with sensitivity and humour.

Julie Watterston