Calendar Girls - The Musical

It’s only a few weeks since I saw the play based on the 2003 film, itself derived from real life events leading to a calendar for the year 2000.  I said at the time that it would be interesting to compare this musical version with its previous formats and so it was.

So, how much does the music add? Apart from the opening number (“Yorkshire”) and another (“Scarborough”), which have catchy tunes in praise of God’s own county and its leading seaside resort, I have to say that it’s not always the tunes alone you remember.  But add Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s sometimes amusing and often poignant lyrics and the sort of excellent performances heard in this production, then the whole is a very satisfactory result.  It’s quite a complicated score but the cast clearly applied themselves to their task with great success. 

Rowenna Naylor, making her debut with this company, gave an excellent performance as the young widow, Annie. Her song “Very, slightly, almost”, delivered from the rather uncomfortable settee, the replacement of which is the purpose of the calendar, provides a good example of what I mean.  The lyrics follow her ill-fated husband’s declining health and take us from optimistic reminiscences of supermarket and seaside to despair at the cruelty of the disease.  Other examples include “My Russian friend and I” in which Ruth shares with us the way in which a bottle or two of vodka can provide support for living life and the courage to take part in the calendar shoot, albeit still with some uncertainty over the month in which she would feature.  Linda Aikman combined her role as chair of the company with this part, hopefully without the need for similar alcoholic support.  In a song “What age expects” Eleanor Holroyd, in a good performance as the elderly former schoolteacher, Jessie, describes how she has become “an expert at being old”.

Annie’s life-long friend Chris is the instigator of the calendar plan, apparently the first decent idea she has had in 40 years, and this brought a confident performance with excellent comic timing from Michelle Freeman.  Grace Knill as Cora, a single parent and vicar’s daughter, showed similar skills in another entertaining and amusing performance.  Nadia Murrell as Celia, the former air stewardess, clearly considers herself a little superior to the others. Only a silk dressing gown would do for this character, who, after having had “a little work done”, is able to cover the 62 days of July and August.  Marie, nicely played by Elizabeth Watt, is the chair of this branch of the W.I. and prefers a more traditional set of views on her calendar, although her teenage daughter, Jenny, has a much more modern outlook on life, with rumours of a somewhat unhealthy relationship at a previous school.  Tea and coffee makers, the Miss Wilsons, were played by Mandy Chambers and Lesley Henderson and Jenny Mcnair combined the parts of the frustrated lecturer on broccoli with that of Lady Cravenshire, unable to detect the origin of the Victoria sponge.      

The addition of three teenagers illustrates another difference between the film/play and the musical.  This provides great opportunities for the youngsters to display their talents and Lily Aikman, as the aforementioned Jenny, Adam Naylor and Freddie Hagan all seized these with great enthusiasm. Two of them were joining parents on stage in this show. Their inclusion also allows the lyricists to have fun with new lines to illustrate the problems of adolescence, for both parent and child: “if Jesus had had teenage kids, the Bible would have been very different”. 

As for the men: Ryan Stocks gave a cheerful and very credible performance as the ill-fated John, looking on the bright side despite all that the dreadful disease threw at him. Mark Edwards, after directing the production, found himself on stage as family illness caused Steve Hibbs to withdraw at short notice. As the flower-shop owner, he is the recipient of a calendar illustrating that Amsterdam could offer more than tulips amongst its delights, thereby planting an idea in his wife’s mind.  Colin Fine played his namesake, the partner of Jessie and Richard Naylor that of Celia’s other half, Denis, whilst Richard Hawley, as the photographer, tries to hide any embarrassment at his task, especially when one of his subjects reveals herself as his former schoolteacher. 

The band provided good support with the sometimes difficult music and, whilst a simple set was all that was required, the list of props must have been substantial.  A display of sunflowers covering the stage provided a colourful and spectacular ending. I was delighted to be able to present gold long service awards to Albert and Mary Day earlier this year, but this company has also lost some stalwart members in recent years, some taken rather before their time, and this production, which may well have aroused memories of them amongst the cast, was a fine tribute. Just as one page of a calendar is of little value on its own, it takes a team effort such as this to make a more useful finished article.                    

  

 

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