Review: Calendar Girls The Musical (Touring)

Tuesday, 7th November 2023 at Leeds Grand Theatre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

With the hit film reaching its twenty year milestone this year, it’s a fitting time to have Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s musical adaptation of Calendar Girls return to the stage. It’s a famously heartfelt piece, based on a true story in which a close-knit community come together to commemorate a beloved husband, friend and neighbour… in an unexpected and witty way. The show puts the friendship of ordinary Yorkshire women front and centre and takes a good long look at the importance of being brave in the face of life’s brutal realities, and being fearless in the name of friendship and compassion.

Half the fun of Calendar Girls is seeing the friendships and frictions grow as these very different women navigate one of life’s greatest cruelties. The latest cast of fearless ladies is very starry. Led by Tanya Franks as the bereaved but undefeated Annie, we have Maureen Nolan as the gentle soul that is self-conscious Ruth, Lyn Paul as Jessie, the retired teacher with a playful but sharp edge, and Amy Robbins as the classic rebellious spirit that is Chris. It’s really the credibility of the decades-long friendship between Franks’ Annie and Robbins’ Chris, along with Paul’s talent for landing one liners that stand out in this production.

Paula Tappenden is stick-in-the-mud Marie, Honeysuckle Weeks is the well-intentioned but slightly tormented mum, Cora, and at this particular performance, Liz Carney is the archetypal social diva with appearances to upkeep. And aside from the sisterhood at the heart of this piece, we have Colin R Campbell who is great as John: other half to poor Annie, he’s an instantly amiable sort who takes everything in his stride and manages to find the beauty of life even in the darkest of circumstances. Graham Macduff completes the cast as wry nature photographer Rod, finding easy laughs in the art of wordless reactions.

And Barlow and Firth’s score and lyrics place this story firmly in Yorkshire, with a love of Yorkshire firmly evident in songs like, well – “Yorkshire” and “Sunflower”. But northern wit and resilience are also channeled into the music and lyrics, finding particularly moving material in the detailing of daily life and what happens to it when our world is torn apart by illness and loss. It’s not necessarily music you’ll be humming on your way out, or singing along to in the car maybe, but it serves the story and seeks to flesh out the characters we meet.

The overall impression of this revival, directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, is that it is more of a simplified, slimmer and more static version than previous renditions. This somewhat comes down to Gary McCann’s set, which places us in a classic village hall space with high ceilings, visible rafters and a teensy kitchen area just about visible. It’s a fine and versatile space which instantly creates the right ambience for sparsely populated Women’s Institute meetings. But for the most part, the cast stand around in little gaggles or sit in a semi-circle of chairs in this bare space, which feels like many a wasted opportunity for something sparkier to be happening. There are some beautiful backdrops of God’s Own Country and fields of sunflowers to enjoy, which do offer some brightness, but as it is, it feels very close to a concert staging of a musical at times and I think the cast have the clout to deliver more.

Ultimately, this production of Calendar Girls The Musical embraces the touching, inspirational true story as the rightful cornerstone, but doesn’t go out of its way to offer theatrical frills along the way.

Calendar Girls The Musical is at Leeds Grand Theatre until November 11th 2023 – more information and tickets can be found here. The show then continues to tour until December 2023 and more information and tickets can be found here.