Calendar Girls the musical (was: The Girls)

There is no van sadly

I saw this in Leicester last night, having not seen the play before... it was a good night out. Funny, unashamedly popular, a nice set, and some strong performances.
It has some good songs... a bit generic musical theatre, maybe. However, some are simply filler: plastic surgery song, the crowbarred Russian friend song (and alcoholic character twist).

I seem to remember the West End set having some cupboards on it from production photographs I saw. Where was the van?

Saw the tour yesterday afternoon for the first time since it closed in London and this sums up my thoughts entirely. Most of the first Act is unrecognisable now as it has been chopped and rejigged, and the cast don’t shine in quite the same way as the original ladies. The set is dull and the changing of locations is very lazy. I know this is a tour so it can’t be exactly the same but the first half feels like a completely different one to the production I saw five times between Leeds and London. If you loved the show as much as I did, then resist revisiting it on tour, as it pales in comparison. As said upthread, the second half is more familiar, but I was very sad to discover the gem I once knew has lost its sparkle.

Shes ok, but she’s pretty much playing Fern Britton. Ruth Madoc is lovely.

Booked for this when it’s in Dartford. Not too expensive so if I don’t like it as much as the West End version not all lost.

I agree with pretty much everything you say! Reminded me I meant to post a review on this. I went last week in Southampton (happened to be on a course there). Had seen the original run at the Lowry in Salford and then the West End run a couple of times.

So there is scaled back and there is scaled back. And the set for this was virtually non existent. Made worse I felt by a very dark and dingy lighting design. I mean this looked like a Kenwright tour quite frankly.

The cast I thought were great though and all did a good job. I thought A-JC was good (and has a great voice) and was fabulous to see Rebecca Storm again - last time I saw her was in Chess at the Bristol Hippodrome when I was a teenager.

My biggest gripe of all though - the new orchestration. The music sounded SO thin was so disappointing. Oddly they had gone for a 5 piece (keys, guitar, drums, trumpet and I think horn) but the brass were used very sparingly. Meaning most of the time it was just a three piece and you could tell. I am not a musician and I understand the economies of touring - but if you can only pay for a five piece, surely make it TWO keys, guitar, bass and drums and have it heavily synthesised. The quality of synthesised sound has come on leaps and bounds in last 30 years and you could have a MUCH fuller sound that was achieved here.

One thing I must mention despite my disappointment though - the midweek (full ish) Southampton audience LOVED it and there was of course the obligatory standing ovation at the end. They lapped it up.
So maybe (like Kenwright) the producers know exactly what they are doing for the audience they are aiming for.
Nonetheless it upsets me that so many tours do the minimum they can get away with. These people need to see more Cam Mack tours!

Amazing that the hugely talented Rebecca Storm is staying. Will be great to see the new cast, especially Sarah Jane Buckley in a leading musical role.

Indeed she has, although I don't class Mrs Lyons as a leading musical role and I believe Sarah was only understudy to Mrs Johnstone and only got to perform a handful of times?

Yes I am sure touring is not easy at any age, but at 75 deserves a special mention. From whenever I have seen Ruth being interviewed it is clear she still loves what she does. Not bad at 75!

And we should remember that this is proper touring, too, not four weeks in the Home Counties prior to a West End run.

Denise Welch said on Loose Women that when she was performing her song "So I've Had a Little Work Done" earlier this month during the show, an audience member yelled to her "well you should have gotten your money back"!

Saw this last night - and for the most part I've come away a little... disappointed?

I think this is largely the cast's fault if I'm honest. None of them are a patch on their London counterparts. Anna Jane Casey does her best to pull it through with her big numbers and she does ok with them, but nothing show stopping. Rebecca Storm, for me, was very hit and miss. I was never confident she was going to hit any of the money notes at all... Denise Welch cannot sing, which is problematic in a musical and I'll leave it there. The other three were alright I guess. Oh and Fern Britton just played Fern Britton and didn't act at all, which was weird.

It just felt incredibly stripped back and, lifeless? The London production had so much heart and warmth! The photo shoot is still the best part of the show and was quite funny and well done.

I don't know what I expected, but it just felt very forced and naff, which the London production didn't. 2 stars is probably accurate, maybe 3. It was a 5 star show originally, and now just... isnt.