Tim Firth and Gary Barlow with (back, left to right) Rebecca Storm, Fern Britton, Sara Crowe, Denise Welch, Ruth Madoc, Lorraine Bruce and Anna-Jane Casey. Picture: John Swannell
Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical comedy, Calendar Girls The Musical, is returning home to Yorkshire this year opening at the Leeds Grand Theatre on 16 August ahead of a new UK and Ireland tour.
The new touring production of the award winning musical version of the story of the ladies who disrobed in the name of charity will star novelist and television presenter Fern Britton who will return to the stage for the first time in 30 years, to play Marie. She will be joined by Lorraine Bruce (Kay Mellor’s The Syndicate and theatre credits including Piaf ) as Cora; Anna-Jane Casey ( Stepping Out, Annie Get Your Gun) as Annie; Sara Crowe (West End roles include Bedroom Farce and Hay Fever) as Ruth; Hi De Hi’s Ruth Madoc (The Wedding Singer and Annie on tour) as Jessie; Rebecca Storm (Blood Brothers, Evita) as Chris; and Loose Women star Denise Welch (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Steel Magnolias) as Celia.
Following the Leeds run, the tour will visit Canterbury, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Leicester, Llandudno, Salford, Stoke, Hull, Liverpool, Southampton, Dublin, Norwich, Aberdeen, Dartford, Sunderland, Woking, Sheffield and Oxford. Further dates will be added.
The Take That star’s musical version of the inspirational story of the Rylstone Women’s Institute members’ headline grabbing fundraiser co-written with his childhood friend, Tim Firth, the writer of the original award-winning stage and film productions of The Calendar Girls premiered at the Leeds Grand Theatre in November 2016 before its West End unveiling at London’s Phoenix Theatre last January where it played a six-month season.
Commenting on the return of his musical, Firth said: “To be given a chance to revisit Calendar Girls The Musical is a unique opportunity. Gary [Barlow] and I have been working away and, as the great Stephen Sondheim said, ‘musical comedies aren’t written, they are rewritten’.”
Barlow added: “What a phenomenal new cast we have. Tim and I sat in – and indeed played – on the auditions and have been so lucky to have put together such talented ladies.”
Both multi award-winning talents, Barlow and Firth grew up in the same village in the North of England and have been friends for 25 years. The Take That star has written and co-written 14 No.1 singles, has sold over 50 million records worldwide and is a six-time Ivor Novello Award winner. Firth has won the Olivier Award and UK Theatre Award for Best New Musical, and the British Comedy Awards Best Comedy Film for Calendar Girls.
Produced once again by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, the show will be directed by Matt Ryan and designed by Robert Jones, with comedy staging by Jos Houben, movement by Lucy Hind and casting by Sarah Bird.
Bloodwise, the UK’s specialist blood cancer charity, will continue to receive monies from this production.
www.calendargirlsthemusical.com
https://youtu.be/-86Ix4rRb48
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