Skip to main content

Review of Calendar Girls The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre

The true story of Calendar Girls, a group of middle-aged ladies getting their kit off for a Women's Institute charity calendar became a global story and success back in 1999, and even more so when writer Tim Firth penned the 2003 film. It was inevitable that the success of the film would spur spin-offs, and in 2008 a stage play appeared, and then a few more years later, in 2015, Firth collaborated with Gary Barlow to produce this musical, first staged in Leeds. It became a success in the West End and in 2018 went on a UK tour. And now, we have a second tour travelling around the country with a slightly revised score and book. So, twenty years after the film, does the tale from Yorkshire still pull at the heartstrings?

The answer is yes, the story of Annie and her husband John's battle with leukaemia that spurs her friend Chris to come up with the thought of the calendar is still an emotional rollercoaster. However, with this mix of upbeat and gentle songs from Barlow, it is never overly dreary and sad. It helps that it has a fabulous cast of famous and less so stars of screen and theatre.

Leading the cast is a brilliantly emotional turn by Tanya Franks as Annie, riding that rollercoaster of emotion from the outset and seeking solace from her WI friends throughout. She is delightful and powerful in her solo musical numbers and fills many an audience member with a tear in the eye no doubt.

Her upbeat friend Chris is lively played by Amy Robbins and much of the energy of the group. She has the boldest singing voice of the ladies, belting out her numbers with verve. However, all of the cast of ladies are great, Honeysuckle Weeks is a delight as the more tomboy Cory, while it is also great to see stalwarts Maureen Nolan as Ruth and Marti Webb as Celia sharing the stage. Sadly Lyn Paul did not complete the trio as she was unavailable for the performance, however, understudy Jayne Ashley gave a spirited performance as understudy despite clearly not having the "years of experience" required of the character.

The show is excellently staged with a clever set created by Gary McCann and director Jonathan O'Boyle manages to keep things interesting as much as possible visually, despite the fact that it can drag a little, especially during the first half where it takes a lot of time to get going. The second half has much more pace and does eventually arrive at the calendar scene itself which is cleverly created on stage and amusingly received by the audience.

The musical direction from Jordan Alexander is impressive considering this is a small band of just five, but sound levels, especially early on were not quite right with music drowning out the lyrics of the early songs, which was a great shame. This shouldn't hopefully be an issue later in the week as it had already improved by the second act.

Calendar Girls The Musical is one of those shows that is well worth seeing, if only for how iconic it has become within our nation, despite the fact that it isn't quite up there with the very best musicals out there. It is unlikely that many will leave without having been entertained and the heartstrings tugged just a little.

Heartwarming and often very funny, this musical should appeal to all.


Performance reviewed: Tuesday 17th October 2023 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes.

Calendar Girls runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 21st October 2023.

For further details about Milton Keynes see their website at http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/

Photos: Alex Harvey-Brown



Popular posts from this blog

Review of Breaking the Code at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Breaking The Code , the opening play in the new Made in Northampton season at Royal & Derngate, is a surprisingly old and rarely seen play. Written in 1986 by Hugh Whitemore, it tells the story of legendary codebreaker Alan Turing, a man who, in the 1980s, when this play first appeared, was relatively unknown. The years since the origin of this play have been good for Turing, with his life's work finally getting the recognition it deserves, and also, very much what this play centres on, a recognition of the horrific life and end that Turing had as a result of dealing with the laws of the day. Breaking the Code has seen life before on the stage of the Royal, as back in 2003, Philip Franks took to the role of Turing in a very well-received production. So, what of this brand new version directed by the Royal & Derngate's artistic director Jesse Jones? Does it live up to Turing's legend? That is an unquestionable yes with no machines needed to crack the class behind thi...

Review of National Theatre Connections 2017 (16 Shows) at Royal & Derngate (Royal & Underground), Northampton

Alongside the University of Northampton BA Actors Flash Festival, the Connections festival at Royal & Derngate is now my joint favourite week of theatre each year. This is my fourth year at the festival and each time I have tried my very best (and succeeded) in seeing more and more of those on offer (four in 2014, ten in 2015 and twelve last year). This year I cracked sixteen shows, including the most interesting, a chance to see two of the plays by three different groups. I was able to see nine of this year's ten plays (a single nagging one, Musical Differences by Robin French was missing from the R&D line-up), and most I either enjoyed or finally understood their merits or reasons for inclusion. The writing of sixteen reviews is a little bit of an daunting prospect, however, I will do my best to review each of the plays and those I saw more than once, and pick around the comparisons. Extremism by Anders Lustgarten Performed by Bedford College Extremism was perfo...

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...