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

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