Calendar Girls go back to where it all began

Mon 7 May 2018

The cast and writers of the new Calendar Girls musical - with us in September - went back to the village where the story started to launch the new show.

The new cast of Calendar Girls: The Musical met for the first time with the original Calendar Girls themselves in the beautiful village of Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales and the original Calendar Girls couldn’t be happier with this new cast.

The new tour will star novelist and television presenter Fern Britton, returning to the stage for the first time in 30 years, as Marie, Anna-Jane Casey (Billy Elliot on tour, Stepping Out in London’s West End, title role in Annie Get Your Gun at Sheffield Crucible) as Annie, Sara Crowe (who has appeared in West End shows including Bedroom Farce, The Real Inspector Hound & Black Comedy and Hay Fever) as Ruth, Karen Dunbar (sketch shows The Karen Dunbar Show and Chewin’ The Fat (BBC1 Scotland), Shakespeare Trilogy and Henry IV at the Donmar Warehouse & St Ann’s Warehouse, New York, The Guid Sisters for the National Theatre Of Scotland, Men Should Weep at the National Theatre London, Mary, Queen Of Scots) as Cora, Ruth Madoc (Hi-De-Hi, Little Britain and Gypsy) as Jessie, Rebecca Storm (discovered by Willy Russell and cast as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers, her handprints are part of the Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre Walk of Fame) as Chris and Denise Welch (The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice, Coronation Street and Waterloo Road) as Celia.

Also joining the cast will be Phil Corbitt as John, Ian Mercer as Rod, Sebastian Aberneri as Colin, Alan Stocks as Denis, Pauline Daniels as Lady Cravenshire, Ellie Leah as Miss Wilson, Catherine Digges as Miss Wilson, Danny Howker as Danny and Tyler Dobbs as Tommo.

The critically acclaimed and award-winning musical comedy by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, which is based on the true story, the film and the award-winning play by Tim Firth, played a six-month London season at the Phoenix Theatre last year, and, before that, sold-out seasons in Leeds and Manchester.

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth grew up in the same village in the north of England and have been friends for 25 years. With Take That, Gary has written and co-written 14 number one singles, has sold over 50 million records worldwide and is a six times Ivor Novello Award winner. Tim has won the Olivier Award and UK Theatre Award for Best New Musical, and the British Comedy Awards Best Comedy Film for Calendar Girls.

Calendar Girls: The Musical is inspired by the true story of a group of ladies, who decide to appear nude for a Women’s Institute calendar in order to raise funds to buy a settee for their local hospital, in memory of one of their husbands, and have to date raised almost £5 million for Bloodwise. This musical comedy shows life in their Yorkshire village, how it happened, the effect on husbands, sons and daughters, and how a group of ordinary ladies achieved something extraordinary.

Bloodwise, the UK’s specialist blood cancer charity, will continue to receive monies from this production.

Calendar Girls: The Musical: Wednesday 5-Saturday 15 September.