Calendar Girls the Musical

I was looking forward to this show with much anticipation, having appeared as part of the Company in a production last November, I only really knew the parts of the show that I appeared in as for some reason all the men in the cast were banished for most of the Time. Now in March I could see and appreciate the show in all its glory.

This show revolves around the spiritedness of the ladies of the WI, their courage, friendship and support and the need to do ’something’ in support of Annie and in memory of John. The way the ladies performed this show gradually brought these three elements together, through song, dialogue and drama to provide an outstanding show. The show needs the relationship of Annie and Chris to work and both Kerry Casey and Claire Lilley respectively proved that they were more than capable of reflecting and projecting this friendship, little glances, subtle supporting actions and nods and bringing John into this friendship grouping.

The support and encouragement came from their fellow ‘WI members’ the raucous joker Cora, Gemma Phillips, the dependable Jessie, Marian Savill, the rebellious Celia – Eleanor Pettet, the emotionally abused Ruth, Amy Carter, who flowers into self-confidence. These six ladies brought us excellent vocals whether individually or as a group with numbers such as Mrs Conventional and Dare. Cora’s Who wants a Silent Night, Annie’s Kilimanjaro and Scarborough. Chris’s Sunflower, Celia’s So I’ve had a little work done, Jessie’s What age expects and of course Ruth’s My Russian friend and I. All excellently putting across the characters and emotions so believably.  

The character of John was sympathetically portrayed by Stewart Bettles, from his opening number as he walked through the audience to his passing from view. A nicely performed Lighting the Sunflowers was fun but encompassed the tenderness that came out in his scene planting the Sunflowers seeds with Annie

The Six ladies were ably supported by the efficiently portrayed and controlling Marie – Hannah Furlong, I much admired her portrayal. The Misses Wilson Remke van der Velden (Tea) and Rachel Forbes (Coffee) a light hearted touch employed by both and they too had their moment in the lime light. The husbands were good with their comic touches and their brief scene together Girls (Village Green) Derek Wisbey, Alex McAdam and Roy Double as Rod dealing with a rebellious Son and a carefree Wife. Damian Donovan gave a solid performance as the rather nervous photographer Lawrence. I much enjoyed Barbara-Anne Pepper in her cameos as Brenda Hulse and particularly Lady Cravenshire.

We then come to the ‘teenagers’ initially a little difficult to envisage David Miles as Danny, Della-Marie Read as Jenny and Caen Lowley as Tommo, however these three grew on me through their performance, they brought out the humour of their characters, good solid singing and performances, two versions of Danny-Festo, 1 and 2, After who wants a Silent Night and despite losing the naivety of genuine teenagers a great Girls/ hello Yorkshire I’m a Virgin. In the company numbers I could really hear Caen singing out. The company number were really good so John Stevens should have been really proud of the singing.

Technically this was a good show, sadly let down by the lighting on the built-out stage down stage right where often the characters were out of spot. The small Yorkshire scene was excellently designed and painted, setting the Yorkshire scenescape immediately, which reversed for the WI Meeting Hall. Props were well made and sourced and costumes were excellent. The whole show benefited immensely from live music so much so that at one time I really thought that Cora was playing the keyboard.

This was a really great show, congratulations to all but particularly to Claire for her vision and direction. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.