Calendar Girls the musical (was: The Girls)

Oh I haven't seen it yet... I will be seeing it in London. I saw the film recently and absolutely loved it so I have high hopes for the musical. I know that the producers, Gary and Tim have been really hard on this since a transfer was announced (you can tell via their Twitter!) so I  they are certainly serious about it. They've written new music I think and have re designed the set. 

I just hope it does well

Are we also slightly overestimating the power of Gary Barlow as the composer regarding tickets at the box office? I mean, the musical Never Forget was the most obvious Gary Barlow musical project and (correct me if I am wrong) it only ran for 6 months in London. So unless it was always meant to be a limited run, it really didn't do that well.

I don't think Gary Barlow actually had any involvement with Never Forget (other than writing the music and lyrics for the Take That songs used!), hence why he is now creating his own one - Let It Shine.

In fact, from Wikipedia: "In April 2006, EMI licensed the Take That songs to be used in Never Forget. At the time, Take That had not performed together since the 1990s. Soon thereafter, however, the band re-formed. In 2007, Take That posted the following statement on their website: "The band would like to state categorically that this production is being undertaken with neither their involvement nor their endorsement. They would wish their fans and the general public to know that this production is absolutely and 100 per cent nothing to do with Take That."

As for how The Girls does, who knows. Out of the two, I'd be much more inclined to see Finding Neverland - I really, really love the OBCR (minus Matthew Morrison's horrendous Scottish accent!). Elaine Paige has played Yorkshire from The Girls a couple of times on EPOS. All it keeps reminding me of is Mr Blue Sky by ELO. Nice enough song, but doesn't get me rushing to see it. Then again, I don't particularly think I'm the main demographic the show aims at. And I've not seen the film or play of The Calendar Girls, either!

I know he didn't have direct connections to Never Forget, I was referring to the name and brand of Gary Barlow as an individual when it comes to Box Office and getting people in the seats rather than his direct links to the shows.

Well that probably didn't help haha. I think it will just be a case of seeing where it goes. If both Finding Neverland and The Girls are around at the same time, it will be interesting to see which he puts more attention on, that's for sure!

Had Gary been a judge on the X-Factor or whatever it was by that point though? Because I think that kind of relaunched his career.

If we have already had one take that musical that did not work do we really need another? Juke box musicals are getting a bit old and tired now we need new fresh shows ( possibly like the girls) . If Gary Barlow insists on writing musicals , then he should stick to new things. 

True. I can't remember the last big British musical that wasn't an adaptation of a film or novel.

The basis could be the writers' own imagination! 

I think they'll go for a mix. Celebs to bring in the bums on seats and MT names to be able to sing it properly.

I don't think the show (especially the title) or Gary Barlow (as a musicals composer) are enough to sell it on it's own.

I feel like the show can sell itself, if we're not all SICK TO THE BACK TEETH of Calendar Girls by now (though it's interesting that they're distancing it by calling it The Girls rather than picking up the established audience with a title like Calendar Girls The New Musical), and it calls for a less cookie-cutter selection of body types, so... hell, could go either way. Bet you 50p there's at least one Loose Woman in the cast.