Calendar Girls The Musical

Firstly, I’d like to thank you for your invitation to attend your recent production of Calendar Girls. It was my first time visiting the Paignton Palace Theatre and what a lovely venue you have access to. My wife and I received a wonderfully warm reception from your chairman and was welcomed along to this lovely production.

Calendar Girls follows the true story of Annie and her friends from the local Women’s Institute as they attempt to raise money for a new sofa in memory of Annie’s late husband John who sadly passed away from leukaemia. This heart wrenching story has had beautiful music written by Gary Barlow added which draws the audience in and really helps to sell the emotion behind this sad story.

Set in the north of England in Yorkshire it is imperative that the accents were accurate and it was evident that the cast had spent a significant amount of time working on this and that showed through their performances. Accents were convincing and helped to quickly establish the setting.

Sadly, the company had some issues in the run up to show week and just ten days before opening night their original Celia had to withdraw due to personal issues. Fortunately, the Little Theatre in Exeter had recently performed Calendar Girls and so their Celia came over to Paignton and stepped in to help out at TOADS and this was seamless. If I hadn’t been told about this issue I would never have known.

The costumes for the production were simple yet effective and consisted mainly of the casts own clothing which was absolutely suitable for the setting and time period. I loved Marie’s fancy dress costume “it’s a Dickensian theme” and this had a number of people in the audience laughing away. The school uniforms for the young people in the performance helped to quickly establish their characters and relationships.

The set again was simple, as is particularly common for this production. It featured a moorland hillside complete with gate and bench. Stage right featured the flower shop and all of the other items including the furniture for the WI were moved on effectively and quickly by the stage crew and the cast. It was nice to see some of the crew dressed in costume as opposed to blacks. This can be very effective and make scene changes seem less intrusive. The use of projections was excellent and presented a real essence of the Yorkshire countryside and allowed scene changes to happen promptly.

The performance incorporated some pre-recorded elements which were generally effective. There were times however where this pre-recorded material was a little overpowering and I was unable to hear what the actors were saying onstage particularly in the Spring Fete scene. The Pit was made up of an excellent live band and these musicians played fabulously led by MD Simon Carter. The audio from the band was well balanced and not overpowering at any point.

The actor playing Chris was an excellent all round performer and provided the right level of comedy and honesty to her performance. It was interesting to note that she had previously performed the role of Annie in Exeter’s production recently. I imagine this provided a different outlook towards her character and the relationship she needed to build with Annie in this production. On that note all of the relationships Chris developed on stage were genuine and believable, particularly when it came to her family of Rod and Danny.

Annie had a strong vocal performance and sang with real emotion. The part of Annie is a tough role to play and the music that she has to sing is quite challenging making it sometimes quite hard to show your vocal abilities off which this actor managed with ease.

All of the men throughout were strong actors and there wasn’t a weak link amongst them. John has very minimal stage time due to the very nature of this story yet he certainly made an impact in his time on stage.

The young people in this cast were all excellent. The young lady playing Jenny had a stunning voice that was strong. I can see this young performer going far with her skill and vocal talent on display. The relationship between each of these characters was excellent.

The performance space was well used and I liked the idea of having Marie and Jenny walking down the steps in the auditorium when they went to the WI conference in London. This was effective and created a good illusion of a change of venue whilst using the mainstage curtains as the backdrop to the WI conference.

The biggest part of this production as anyone who knows the show will understand is the final scene where the ladies take part in the photoshoot. Hats off to all involved in this production as the courage to get up on that stage and bear all is something I don’t think I could muster up. The poses were spot on and well managed to maintain the intentions and tasteful nature of the original Calendar Girls. It did feel a little clunky however with the use of the larger photography reflectors and I feel this could have been managed as effectively more subtly with the use of the ladies dressing gowns as they moved into position.

Some of the highlights for me were Chris first trying convince the of WI women that older women could look good when Danny stumbles across them whilst skiving off school. The Miss Wilsons almost always nearly steal the show when they turn up with tea at the photoshoot. Danny’s song in “Spring Fete” is always a show stealing song filled with comedy and this was no exception. Danny and Jenny’s “protect me less” was exceptional. I could go on listing moments it was a fantastic show all round.

Congratulations on an excellent production and I hope to get the chance to return in the future and see more.

Ryan Procter

District 3 Representative

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