Calendar Girls musical falls short of masterly

THE GIRLS, Lowry, Salford

TIM Firth seems to be making a career out of repurposing his cheerfully liberating true story of the Yorkshire WI that raised millions by producing a nude calendar.

There has been the film and the stage play, and now he’s teamed up with Gary Barlow, the former Take That man, to set the whole thing to music.

The Girls plunders key scenes scattered through the familiar story, extending scenes and relationships here and shortening events there.

But while the result isn’t disappointing, neither is it quite the masterpiece. The play spends a lot of time building up to the shoot and aftermath and this one does likewise, but more so, with several scenes showing the early recovery then downward slide of John (James Gaddas) the husband who inspired the idea — though on the plus side there’s a touchingly-realised relationship with his wife Annie (Joanna Riding).

The nude shoot itself seems to go on a long time without quite the humour of the play, but with more (though slight) obvious nudity than before, which somehow cheapens the saucy-postcard nature of the original.

There are also new characters, such as the sons and daughter of some of the WI girls, whose reactions to the raucous new life in their sleepy Yorkshire town are a welcome feature. Firth and Barlow also cut out much of the material that shows the girls becoming wrapped up in their new fame.

Gary Barlow’s song are occasionally catchy but frankly there are too many of them, with too few choruses to whistle on the way out.

Set-wise, the show moves from clumsy to impressive. The back and sides of the stage are filled by cupboard doors, stacked to form windows and openings and coloured green so they double for the moors. It’s a curious concept that is heightened by large trees, an elderly van and, in the finale, a stage full of John’s favourite blooms.

Performances veer from feisty to quirky and sentimental — actually that’s a good summary of the evening.

Sara Kestelman as ageing former teacher Jessie, Claire Moore as Annie’s best friend Chris, Vivien Parry as posh Celia and young Ben Hunter as Chris’s embarrassed son Danny are standouts alongside Gaddas and Riding, in a crowded cast in which everyone works hard to send the audience out sniffing through their smiles.