Calendar Girls

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward Theatre in London previewed 4 April 2009, opened 13 April 2009, closed 9 January 2010.

A group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire Women's Institute or WI, spark a global phenomenon by persuading one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference! As interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find themselves revealing more than they'd ever planned...

"One of the most enjoyable evenings recent theatre has produced" The London Evening Standard

A very British story, with a very British heart, Calendar Girls is based on an uplifting and very inspiring true story that is quirky, poignant and hilarious.

"A show whose feelgood factor is sky-high" The Guardian

The cast for Calendar Girls in London from 28 July to 31 October 2009 features Gemma Atkinson, Jill Baker, June Brown, Richenda Carey, Sara Crowe, Anita Dobson, Jill Halfpenny, Jerry Hall and Jack Ryder. The cast from 3 November 2009 to 9 January 2010 features Kelly Brook, Hannah Waterman (from 1 Dec 2009) , Janie Dee, Helen Lederer, Arabella Weir, Debbie Chazen, Jan Leeming and Rob James Collier. All casting is subject to change. Unfortunately Julie Goodyear has had to withdraw from this production due to ill heath.

"A marvellous, uplifting night at the theatre" The Daily Mail

Calendar Girls comes into London's West End following a hugely successful UK tour. The stage play is written by Tim Firth and is directed by Hamish McColl with a set designed by Robert Jones, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, costumes by Emma Williams and music by Steve Parry.

"I didn't think I'd like this show... I was wrong... Firth's writing is blunt and deeply felt, sometimes soppy and spiked with juicy Yorkshire jokes: the language of a quality soap, which, like it or not, is part of the backbone of our cultural life. Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge and Sian Phillips lead an energetic cast who know that sending yourself up is still part of the English character. There's a smell of success about this show." The Sunday Times

"Without wishing to sound unkind, I have to say I found Calendar Girls a distinctly lumpy experience, and I'm only partly referring to one or two of the actors. The other lumps come in the form of Tim Firth's clunky adaptation of his film and in Hamish McColl's production, which encourages semaphore and shouting rather than subtlety... Not great theatre, but uplifting nevertheless." The Mail on Sunday

"Tim Firth's stage adaptation of Calendar Girls - the story of Women's Institute members who stripped off and got photographed to raise money for a cancer ward - is already a commercial success. It's sold out at Chichester and bookings are terrific for the whole tour. But it's a weedy thing... Hamish McColl's perky production is founded on the (by the way lying and sexist) notion that no woman over 40 takes her clothes off in front of her lover/husband. The best shots in the play - women posing in front of cupcakes (with cherries) or balls of wool - rely on a completely inane idea of niceness and of naughtiness." The Observer

The original First Cast cast for Calendar Girls in London from 4 April 2009 to 25 July 2009 featured Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Siân Phillips, Gaynor Faye, Brigit Forsyth, Julia Hills and Elaine C. Smith along with Joan Blackham, Abby Francis, Gary Lilburn, Gerard McDermot and Carl Prekopp. The Second Cast, from 28 July to 31 October 2009 featured Gemma Atkinson, Jill Baker, June Brown, Richenda Carey, Sara Crowe, Anita Dobson, Jill Halfpenny, Jerry Hall and Jack Ryder.

Calendar Girls in London at the Noel Coward Theatre previews from 4 April 2009 and opened on 13 April 2009 and closes on 9 January 2010.