Calendar Girls The Musical

It was fabulous to be back at Duns as they return to the stage with the new musical version of Calendar Girls.

 

With no first night nerves visible, the company pulled out all the stops to put on this fabulous show.

A great mix of female, male, young and older members, proving to be a strong cast throughout.

With clever use of projected backdrops, the scenes were clearly specific, and slick set changes was testament  to what can be done with tiny wings by an imaginative director, supported by crew and cast. 

Musical Director, Jenny, put together a fabulous wee band to support the cast throughout, making this version a hit in my eyes.

Although I have seen the play before, I was unfamiliar with the music. 

I have now purchased the CD as I was impressed by what I heard on the night. I also felt compelled to see how the music matched up with the notes I had taken during the show as their were no listings in the programme.

Opening the show to the song Yorkshire was John (Peter Lerpinier), his later demise being the reason for the amazing charity calendar. He led the introductions to the village community with great ease in a fast moving and uplifting chorus ending on Jerusalem, the WI anthem.  

The cast led by two outstanding ladies, Fiona Meaney (Chris) and Fiona Drewery (Annie), found the humour and agony in their strongly characterised portrayals. 

Chris, with her ‘idea’ produced a momentous rendition of ‘Sunflower’ and Fiona created the emotional, tearful and show stopping moments during her pensive songs ‘Scarborough’, ‘Very Slightly Almost’ ,’Time Passing’ and  ‘Kilimanjaro’. Superb!

The WI at Christmas scene was well and truly brought to life by piano playing stalwart, Cora (Lynn Gray), in the raucous, foot-tapping montage, ‘Who Wants a Silent Night’.

The gregarious Celia was perfectly played by (Rachel Gray), producing another highlight with her wordy song ‘I’ve Had A little Work Done’. Bravo!

Company stalwart (Angela Watney) proved to be the wonderfully ideal person for the role of Jessie, showing us women of a certain age, in reflection, ‘What Age Expects’.

The exploits of the WI Conference ladies, concluded in their defiant announcement in ’Dare’.

The role of Ruth (Emma Lindsay), in her initial resistance to participate in the calendar, created an emotional, drunken solo with ‘My Russian Friend and I’.

I was immensely impressed with the photo shoot scene which included ‘For One Night Only’, where the choreography of each shot was played out to perfection and sung with passion. Photographer and Hospital Porter was very ably played by Chris Drewery.

The youngsters causing a colourful stir in the story, were well portrayed by Alexa McKenzie as Jenny and Logan Robertson as Danny. Their duet with their Mum melded into an entertaining quartet. 

This small but dedicated company have without doubt burst back onto the Borders theatrical scene with sunny enthusiasm.

Every single member of the cast made a very worthy contribution to the production, regardless of the size of their role.

Huge Congratulations to Everyone! 

 

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