The show that continues to prove that there is no such thing as an ordinary woman.
The death of a much-loved husband prompts a group of ordinary women in a small Yorkshire Women’s Institute to do something extraordinary: create a nude calendar to raise money for charity.
News spreads fast in their community and none of them expect the emotional and personal repercussions, but gradually the making of the fabulous and funny calendar brings each woman unexpectedly into bloom.
The true story of the Calendar Girls launched a global phenomenon, a million copycat calendars, a record-breaking movie, a West End play and now an award-winning musical, packed with unforgettable songs, written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth.
We’d love you to join us for a post-show talk on Tuesday 22nd September (after the 7pm performance). This is your chance to ask the cast any questions you have about the show, and should last between 20-30 minutes.
A musical by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth. Originally produced by David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and The Shubert Organisation. Based on the play Calendar Girls, written by Tim Firth and on the motion picture Calendar Girls, written by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi. Calendar Girls the Musical is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd.
The Cast
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Angela Caesar
Brenda Hulsa & Lady Cravenshire
Angela Caesar
Brenda Hulsa & Lady Cravenshire
Angela is from Manchester and trained in violin and voice at Trinity College of Music, London and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA.
Her theatre credits include: The Sound of Music (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); The Wizard of Oz, The Wicker Husband (Watermill Theatre); Rags (Park Theatre); Caroline or Change (Playhouse Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre/National Theatre); Astronaut (The Other Palace); King (Hackney Empire); Orlando and The Three Graces, Clown, Into the Forest, The Magic Paintbrush (Theatre Peckham); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Porgy and Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Phantom of the Opera (UK tour); Showboat (Raymond Gubbay Productions).
Stage/concert credits include: Roam (Shaftesbury Theatre); Protest and Struggle (NitroVox Theatre/The Box); Voices of Change (Nitrovox Theatre, Theatre Peckham); 24 Italian Songs and Arias (Royal Opera House); To Kill a Mockingbird (Bath Literature Festival); An African Cargo (Nitro Theatre Company, Greenwich Theatre).
Radio credits include: Jubilee! (BBC Radio 3); The Fiske Jubilee Singers (NitroVox Theatre, BBC Radio 4); Lost in the Stars (Southbank Centre, BBC Radio 3).
Film & TV credits include: Songs of Praise (Avanti Media, BBC 1); Anna Nicole: The Opera (Royal Opera House, BBC 2); The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (1993, directed by Trevor Nunn).
Film soundtrack credits include: Mufasa: The Lion King (Walt Disney); Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, including Oscar-nominated song Lift Me Up (Marvel Studios); Black Panther (Marvel Studios); The Soloist (DreamWorks/Universal Pictures).
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Pippa Duffy
Celia
Pippa Duffy
Celia
Pippa trained at Royal Academy of Music and Bristol University.
Her theatre credits include: Only Fools and Horses The Musical (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Mother Goose (Cambridge Arts Theatre); Spoonface Steinberg (Hull Truck); Up The Duff (York Theatre Royal); Once We Were Mothers (The Orange Tree); Tracy Beaker Gets Real (Nottingham Playhouse/UK tour); Musical Bites, The Riveters (The Other Palace); The Crocodile (The Arcola), The Infant (Gilded Balloon/Old Red Lion); Pride and Prejudice (UK tour).
Her screen credits include: Man Vs Baby (Netflix); Mammals (Amazon); Lee and Dean, Pete Vs Life (Channel 4); Alan Partridge: Mid Morning Matters (Baby Cow); Hold the Sunset, Silent Witness, Casualty (BBC); Mouth to Mouth (BBC3).
Her workshop credits include: Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, Dead Certain.
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Sarah Groarke
Marie
Sarah Groarke
Marie
Sarah trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where she was the recipient of the Peter Ackerman Comedy Prize.
TV and film include The Bay, Brassic, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, A Quiet Night In, The Shadow of the Vampire.
Theatre includes Leeds Playhouse, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Theatre by the Lake, Oldham Coliseum, New Vic, Hampstead Theatre, Peter Hall Company, Library Theatre, Nuffield Theatre, Harrogate Theatre, Watermill Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Tobacco Factory, Bristol Old Vic, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Theatre Clwyd, New Wolsey.
Roles include Mrs Driver (The Borrowers), Mrs Fairfax (Jane Eyre), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Clover (Animal Farm), Widow Corney Oliver!, Grace (Bus Stop), Ymma (Silence), Neasa (Shining City), Mother (Grimm Tales), Eunice (A Streetcar Named Desire), Mistress Quickly (Henry V), Sheherazad (Arabian Nights), Dionyza (Pericles), Elizabeth (Taking Steps), Mrs Cratchit (A Christmas Carol), Lady More (Sir Thomas More).She enjoys working with writers and has created roles in new plays including Linda Marie in Lost Boy Racer (Lawrence Batley Theatre & tour), Vera in Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Carole in Remembering The Way and Mrs Manresa in Between the Acts. Sarah has also worked on projects with the South West Scriptwriters and North West Playwrights.
An experienced voice-over artist with her own voiceover studio, she has provided voices for various projects and is an established audiobook narrator, with titles available on Audible and iTunes. She is a Lecturer in Acting at Leeds Conservatoire and also works as a Voice and Presentation Coach: groarketalk.co.uk. Sarah runs Kickstart Drama clubs for primary children, and, having a MA in Music, and is a highly regarded brass band conductor and adjudicator.
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Rachel Hammond
Mrs Wilson Coffee
Rachel Hammond
Mrs Wilson Coffee
Rachel trained as an actor musician at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Her theatre credits include: Underneath a Magical Moon (Tutti Frutti USA tour); Joy Unspeakable (Ordinary Glory); Climax (Close to Home;, My First Panto: Rapunzel (The Garage); Pulse (Bamboozle); Twitchers and A Force to Be Reckoned With (Mikron); Give it Back Mack (Riding Lights); The True Adventures of Marian and Robin Hood (Barn Theatre); Swallows and Amazons (York Theatre Royal); Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Broadsides),; Babe, The Sheep-Pig (Mercury Theatre).
Rachel is also a writer and theatre maker. Her debut show Joshua (and Me) opened at The Hope Theatre, London in 2021, and went on to tour in theatres across the UK (and Norway!).
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Matt Heslop
Lawrence
Matt Heslop
Lawrence
Matt trained at the Drama Centre London and Rose Bruford College.
His theatre credits include: Peter Pan (international tour); To the Moon and Back (UK tour); 2065 (UK tour); Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Christmas Carol (New Forest Open Air Theatre); The Adventures of Pinocchio (Goblin Theatre); Away with the Circus (Royal Albert Hall).
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Karen Holmes
Chris
Karen Holmes
Chris
Karen trained at Guildford School of Acting.
Her theatre credits include: Uk tours of Greatest Days, Grease, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Pirates of Penzance; Les Misérables (West End); Blood Brothers (English Theatre Frankfurt).
TV includes: Peak Practice (ITV).
Karen has also toured extensively with her one-woman show.
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Matt Ian Kelly
Rod, Colin & Denis
Matt Ian Kelly
Rod, Colin & Denis
Matt trained at ALRA.
His theatre credits include: Brassed Off (Theatre by the Lake, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Bolton Octagon); The Importance of Being Earnest (Chelsea Theatre); What’s Wrong with Angry? (BAC); I am Star Trek (Hackney Empire). Matt has worked extensively with Les Enfant Terribles: UK/international tours of Immaculate, originating the role of Lucifer, and the original cast of The Terrible Infants (Lowry, Arts Theatre, London, Oxford Playhouse, Esplanade Theatre, Singapore and Holden Street Theatre for the Adelaide Festival). For Greenwich Theatre he has played Bob Hull on the UK tour of The Temperamentals (Dublin Festival, Courtyard Theatre, Hereford, Greenwich Theatre) and co-wrote and devised Jennifer Skylark and the Seagull’s Handbook, a site-specific children’s piece, also for Greenwich.
Matt has also appeared in several in pantos for Camberley Theatre including Cinderella,’Beauty and the Beast and Jack and the Beanstalk.
TV and film includes: Breaking the Band (ITV) and voicing the role of Ulme in the children’s animated film Vik the Viking and the Magic Sword (Amazon Prime).
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Annie Kirkman
Ruth
Annie Kirkman
Ruth
Annie trained in Musical Theatre at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre includes: Sleeping Beauty, Noises Off, Beauty & the Beast (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Love’s Labour’s Lost (more or less) (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Shakespeare North); Dracula: The Bloody Truth (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Octagon Bolton); Perfect Pitch, Shakers (John Godber Company); Ladies Down Under (New Vic Theatre); Ladies’ Day (New Vic Theatre, Octagon Bolton); The Hound of the Baskervilles, Frost Hollow Hall, Sparrow, A Christmas Carol (East Riding Theatre); 71 Coltman Street, Leftovers (Hull Truck); Beryl (Arcola Theatre); Red Riding Hood (Nottingham Lakeside Theatre); The Butler Dresses Again, Oliver Twist (LAF, New Zealand).
Annie is a Co-Artistic Director of She Productions where she has co-written and performed in 12 original shows; she also works as a producer for the charity.
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Alicia McKenzie
Cora
Alicia McKenzie
Cora
Alicia Mckenzie is a multi-faceted performer from Darlington. She trained at the Identity School of Acting and National Youth Theatre.
Theatre credits include: Jack and the Beanstalk (Scarborough); Christmas Carol (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Small Island (National Theatre); Quality Street (Northern Broadsides); A Christmas Carol (Northern Stage); Bleak Expectations (Watermill); Jekyll and Hyde, The Wind in the Willows, The Crucible, Blonde Bombshells of 1943, Summer Holiday (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); The Wind in the Willows (New Vic); Women in Power (Nuffield, Southampton and Oxford Playhouse); Whisky Galore (Oldham Coliseum, Hull Truck and New Vic); Peter Pan (Mercury); Cinderella (Octagon Bolton); In the Night Garden Live (Minor Entertainment); Macbeth (Infinite Jest); Fuse (Satellite) (Sheffield Theatres); The Life and Death of Martin Luther King (American Drama Group Europe); Muscovado (Burnout); Rapunzel (Tutti Frutti); The White Witch of Rose Hall, In a Pickle (RSC); Ring a Ding Ding (Oily Cart).
TV includes: Eastenders; The Thief, his Wife and the Canoe.
Short film includes: Parents Together Forever; In a Rush.
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Chrisina Meehan
Annie
Chrisina Meehan
Annie
Christina is thrilled to join the cast of Calendar Girls the Musical and hopes you enjoy it as much as she relishes sharing the remarkable story of these incredible women.
Her theatre credits include: Rosie in Mamma Mia! (RCCL); Mavis in Stepping Out (Brockely Jack Theatre); Swing/Understudy for four roles in Fat Friends the Musical (UK Tour); Miss Flannery/Ruth in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Landor Theatre); Cybil/Ensemble/Associate Director & Choreographer in Around The World In 80s Days (Grand Theatre, Blackpool); Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty, Mrs Darling/The Mermaid in Peter Pan (UK Productions); Mother Hood in Robin Hood (Big Adventure Productions); Pavalonia in The Revellers Society (UK tour); Tori in Unraveling (New Union Theatre); Patrica in Fatbusters the Musical (St Giles in the Field Church); Ensemble in Silent Voices – The Doris Stokes Musical (Tristan Bates Theatre); Ensemble in Spend Spend Spend (Union Theatre); Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors (King’s Arms Theatre); Vocalist in Time and Music (tour).
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Neil Moors
John
Neil Moors
John
Neil trained at Birmingham School of Acting and the Royal Academy of Music.
His theatre credits include: Rebecca the Musical (Charing Cross Theatre, London); Mamma Mia! (Novello Theatre, London); Heaven on Earth (arena tour); Great Expectations (Grand Theatre, Blackpool); Out There (Union Theatre); Blondel (Union Theatre – Offie-nominated for Best Actor); Jesus Christ Superstar (UK and German tours); All Male Pirates of Penzance (Hackney Empire, UK tour); Shrek the Musical (UK tour); All Male HMS Pinafore (UK tour); Jesus Christ Superstar (world arena tour); Rent 20th anniversary concert (UK tour); Pirates of Penzance (Sydney Theatre, Australian tour); Magic Tenors (European tour); Carmen (Stephen Joseph Theatre); The Sound of Music (UK tour); Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat (UK tour); Beowulf (Cockpit Theatre); Blaze the Musical (Bridewell Theatre); The Good Person of Sichuan (Birmingham Rep); Misalliance (UK tour); The Devil’s Disciple (Shaw’s Corner).
Television includes: Coronation Street (ITV); Life is not Loose (ITV Loose Women) Lockdown Day Job (BBC News); Morning at the Musicals (ITV This Morning).
Pantomime includes: Beauty and the Beast (Victoria Theatre, Halifax, Cymru Theatre, Llandudno, Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford); Cinderella (Shaw Theatre); Sleeping Beauty (Key Theatre, Peterborough).
Live performances include: Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant 2022, West End Live (2018-2022).
Short films include: Howdy Mr Kid.
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Fenella Norman
Jessie
Fenella Norman
Jessie
Fenella grew up in Hull, before studying Drama at Birmingham University. She has since worked extensively in the theatre. Recent work includes Ladies Unleashed for Hull Truck Theatre and she is about to put in her fourth appearance in Casualty for the BBC, this time as Linda Owens, a lady with a very unpleasant leg injury!
Theatre includes: The Lady in the Van (Hull Truck/national tour); Noises Off (Derby Playhouse); Harvest in the North (Oldham Coliseum); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret (Chester Gateway); King Lear, Talent (Leicester Phoenix); The Accrington Pals (Bolton Octagon); Into the Woods, It’s a Girl (York Theatre Royal); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Sheffield Crucible); School for Wives (Manchester Library Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Young Vic); It’s a Girl (West Yorkshire Playhouse).TV includes: Coronation Street, Brookside, Hetty Wainthrop Investigates, Monsignor Renard, Casualty, Truckers, FortySomething, All Creatures Great and Small.
Film includes: The Gathering.
Fenella has read the Morning Story twice on BBC Radio 4 and has been heard in many radio plays.
Production Images by Tony Bartholomew
'6 stars! The most joyful celebration of life... a must-see of must-sees.'
'Heart, humour and humanity in abundance.'
'All of the cast members deserve the standing ovation that followed.'
'Outstanding production has crafted an irresistible blend of humour, life and, unfashionable as it is, kindness.'
'Heartfelt and hilarious.'
'Tugs on your heartstrings without being schmaltzy.'
'The best version of Calendar Girls yet.'