This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw Calendar Girls The Musical at the invite of The Alexandra.
For Brum Radio’s Interval Theatre, Tanya Franks talked about playing Annie in Calendar Girls The Musical. Listen below:
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
This production explores themes of grief and loss.
Review: Calendar Girls The Musical at The Alexandra
⭐⭐⭐⭐”Warm and honest”
Directed by Jonathan O’Boyle Written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth
This is the story about how one Yorkshire-based Women’s Institute became a national news story by posing nude for a charity calendar to buy a sofa for their local hospital.
It features Tanya Franks, Maureen Nolan, Lyn Paul, Amy Robbins, Paula Tappenden, Marti Webb and Honeysuckle Weeks as the ladies of a small Women’s Institute in Yorkshire. (I’ve mentioned its set in Yorkshire yea?)
Tanya Franks is excellent as main character Annie, driving the narrative in this story and she gets a chance to demonstrate her West End vocals a far cry from her angry EastEnders character. three of the actors have been in Blood Brothers, Maureen Nolan, Lyn Paul, Paula Tappenden and Marti Webb and easily command the stage when they are showing their vocals off.
This restaged production is now set firmly inside the local hall that the Women’s Institute meet in regularly, it has three sides and an exit upstage with a kitchen and backroom creating exits on the one side of the stage. There are moments where the set is used to play host to other venues too and makes use of hanging signs and dark lighting to portray these.
Shifted from the rolling hills of Yorkshire (It’s set in Yorkshire!) into the hall grounds this production, but it also makes it feel more serious, there is still humour to be found throughout, and several light and fun moments.
Ultimately this production is about grief, loss and how to manage those feelings. It is thoughtful, personal and very charming. The band is great and there’s a sense of normal events with the lyrics and vocals while these are people in a challenging situation.
Warm and honest, Calendar Girls The Musical is at The Alexandra until 7th October 2023. Discover what is coming up at The Alexandra here: atgtickets.com/venues/alexandra-theatre-birmingham.
