Calendar GirlsNoel Coward Theatre, West End, Greater London
Synopsis
A group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire WI, persuade one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference - no more photos of Wharfedale Bridges or Norman churches for them. Overcoming their initial reserve, the friends drop their dressing gowns, modesty spared only by artfully placed cakes, knitting and flower arrangements. Puzzling their husbands, mortifying their children, and riding the wrath of the outraged WI, they spark a global phenomenon. But as media interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find themselves exposed in ways they’d never expected, revealing more about themselves than they’d ever planned. A very English story with a very English heart, Calendar Girls is quirky, poignant and hilarious. Adapted by Tim Firth from the Miramax film of the same name, it is based on uplifting, inspiring true events.
Date: 21 April 2009 Despite the lack of an official press night (See The Goss, 15 Apr 2009), critics have been steadily giving their views on the West End transfer of Calendar Girls over the course of the past few days. The production, which premiered in Chichester last September before embarking on a hugely successful national tour, has landed at the West End's Noel Coward theatre, where last night it hosted a celebrity charity gala night, attended by several of the original girls (See Today's Photos). Calendar Girls, adapted by Tim Firth from his screenplay for the hit 2003 film, tells the real-life story of the members of a Yorkshire chapter of the Women’s Institute who decide to pose nude for a charity calendar. The cast includes Patricia Hodge, Lynda Bellingham, Sian Phillips, Elaine C Smith, Gaynor Faye, Julia Hills and Brigit Forsyth. There was a general consensus among critics that Calendar Girls, despite its warmth and good intentions, was, in the words of The Times' Dominic Maxwell, “not quite the full monty” in dramatic terms. However, Whatsonstage.com's Michael Coveney, who also reviewed the show in Chichester, observed the production is “considerably improved” since its regional premiere, and makes for a “fairly good popular night out”. But this was about as strong as the plaudits got. For most, the “predictable” and “formulaic” structure was a problem, despite the “divine” disrobing scene and some accomplished performances from the principals. ** DON’T MISS our Whatsonstage.com Outing to CALENDAR GIRLS on 29 April 2009
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Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com (three stars) - “Hamish McColl’s production, once you’ve made a deal with the relentless coarseness of the acting, settles into a perfectly agreeable rhythm and is in fact considerably improved since last autumn. The second act has been tightened up, the shooting of the near-nude, not naked, poses at the end of the first act has acquired a fairly decent comic momentum, Robert Jones’ colourful design is cosily reassuring, and the central stand-off between Lynda Bellingham’s attention-seeking florist’s wife and Patricia Hodge’s beautifully glum widow – her husband’s demise has prompted the charity action – is now far less irritating ... It all makes for a fairly good popular night out, and I may not be in so much dread after all of the inevitable musical, probably the story’s best potential manifestation.” Dominic Maxwell in The Times (two stars) “If you can accept the overfamiliarity of Firth’s sitcom posse of squares, prudes, wisecrackers, bored beauties and sassy old ladies, then some of the comedy is pretty serviceable. It’s snappily directed by Hamish McColl, whose staging of the pivotal photoshoot – in which they have nothing but iced buns, balls of wool and marmalade-making equipment to maintain their dignity – is a delight. But once Calendar Girls has shown us its knickers, it hasn’t got much left to offer … Part of the show’s success is down to the way it raises issues – about sexuality, illness, middle age – that don’t get confronted enough on stage … As a story of Northerners finding themselves through revealing themselves, it’s not quite the full monty.” Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (three stars) - “There must be a few, odd people - I am one - who missed the film Calendar Girls and did not realise it was inspired by a few women who have raised almost £2million for cancer research since 1999. This astonishing achievement renders any criticism of Tim Firth’s stage version of Calendar Girls unkind and perhaps superfluous since this comedy of English manners enjoys more than £1.5million of advance ticket-sales. Even so, since candour should be a critic’s constant companion, I need warn that though the show is in part very good, what a small part it proves … Yet you need watch Calendar Girls with critical faculties turned off. Far too much of it sprawls in an aimless comedy-free void. Just 25 minutes of it are divine.” Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph (three stars) “When you consider from what modest beginnings this mammoth, mammary-baring phenomenon sprang ten years ago … you have to marvel … Being fascinated by the improbable chain of events, though, doesn’t mean one has to endorse this latest chapter in the story as any kind of artistic achievement. Because once you look past the originating good cause, as an evening of theatre this really is, well, pants … What does the stage version offer that a night in with the DVD and a bottle of wine can’t? Simply this: the chance to see the leading ladies gamely – and fleetingly – disrobe for those notoriously artful 'nude' poses. And frankly, that’s not enough of a selling-point. It’s not the strip-scene – carried off with teasing panache just before the interval curtain – that demeans the actresses here, it’s the script.” Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (three stars) - “While this makes it an uplifting play, it does not make it a great one. The drama is too formulaic and superficial for that, the characters’ journeys too predictable … But the heart of the story still comes over and it is hard to resist the warm, spirited performances in Hamish McColl’s production. Patricia Hodge brings grace and dignity to the widowed Annie, but also a steely determination. She is quietly touching when the letters of affected relatives drag her into another world. She is well matched by Lynda Bellingham’s caustic, ebullient Chris. There are lovely performances too from Elaine C Smith as the vicar’s daughter with the naughty tattoo and Sian Phillips as the deceptively formal ex-teacher.” - by Theo Bosanquet & Katie Blemler
Date: 21 April 2009 Last year’s Chichester Festival stage version of the plucky Brit flick about the ladies of a West Yorkshire Women’s Institute doing their own “Pirelli calendar” to raise money for leukaemia research has been a sell-out success on tour and has opened in the West End to a record-breaking advance. The cast come bellowing on to the stage - why are they shouting at us, you wonder? - being outspoken and cheeky, exhaustingly full of character and bonhomie. But Hamish McColl’s production, once you’ve made a deal with the relentless coarseness of the acting, settles into a perfectly agreeable rhythm and is in fact considerably improved since last autumn. The second act has been tightened up, the shooting of the near-nude, not naked, poses at the end of the first act has acquired a fairly decent comic momentum, Robert Jones’ colourful design is cosily reassuring, and the central stand-off between Lynda Bellingham’s attention-seeking florist’s wife and Patricia Hodge’s beautifully glum widow – her husband’s demise has prompted the charity action – is now far less irritating. Tim Firth’s play – based on his own Miramax film script with Juliette Towhidi – makes more theatrical impact in the proscenium arch, so that the opening and closing Tai-chi routines on the hillside have a complementary physical dimension to the fluttering down of the letters of support and the sun flower motif of seeds in a packet and stalks on the stage, popping up like magic in a blaze of sunlight at the end. The photo-shoot is elegantly and amusingly done, dressing gowns whipped off among the iced buns and tea cakes after Sian Phillips’ regal, retired school-teacher stipulates “no front bottoms.” Julia Hills’ reluctant Ruth – whose husband’s “playing away” is neatly tied into the plot late on – springs her own special surprise on top of the piano, where Elaine C Smith’s rather magnificent outsized Cora bares her back for the cause. Cutest of all, Hodge pops up in the kitchen hatch carefully displayed behind a tea pot while husky-voiced Bellingham risks most by flashing a fleshy backside draped in what looks like a red floral tribute stolen from the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Brigit Forsyth as the chairwoman makes the most of her priggishness and snobbery, and Gary Lilburn and Gerard McDermott are still suitably meek and mild as the menfolk reps. It all makes for a fairly good popular night out, and I may not be in so much dread after all of the inevitable musical, probably the story’s best potential manifestation.
- Michael Coveney
NOTE: The following TWO STAR review dates from September 2008 and this production’s original run at Chichester Festival Theatre, prior to its national tour and West End transfer.
It’s five years since Nigel Cole’s warm-hearted movie about ladies “of a certain age” stripping for charity hit the large screen, and now playwright Tim Firth has adapted his own script (co-written with Juliette Towhidi) for the large stage. The film straggled badly in the latter part, with an outing to Los Angeles in search of show business big time. That’s all gone now, mercifully, and the new stripped down, nearly nude (not naked), naughty-but-nice version, directed by Hamish McColl of the Right Size, gained the approval of an indulgent Chichester opening night audience, which included the original calendar girls themselves, smartly turned out in black cocktail dresses with sunflower lapel badges. Personally, I find the whole enterprise faintly nauseating and too cute by half, but the charm of the cast goes a long way to neutralising my grumpiness. Annie (Patricia Hodge, sexiest of all the dames) loses her husband to leukaemia and the girls at the Women’s Institute in a Yorkshire village, led by Lynda Bellingham’s raucous Chris, decide to raise funds for cancer research by posing bare-assed for the calendar. As in the film, the comic highlight is the sequence of snapshots among the iced buns and tea pots in the village hall, though I rather miss the lovely counterpoint of timid husbands gathering in the pub like expectant fathers. The girls manage to be cautious and coy while claiming to be outrageous, a clever trick that never quite compensates for the sneaking desire for one of them at least to simply throw all decorum out the window. So we have Gaynor Faye as Celia juggling her appendages behind the iced buns with cherry nipples, Elaine C Smith as Cora exposing an upper torso rear view while seated at the piano and Julia Hills’ nervy Ruth lying like an odalisque among a tub of oranges. The trouble is that everyone’s taking so much trouble to cover all angles that you give up expecting the worst, or indeed the best. The show turns into Nell Dunn’s Steaming without the honesty of careless rapture. Perhaps it should have been a musical. The best moments belong to Bellingham sporting an outrageous floral thong at the end, just before designer Robert Jones floods the stage with sunflowers on stalks. And there is at least plenty to relish in the sharp, stylish performances of Sian Phillips as the elegant Jessie and Brigit Forsyth and Joan Blackham as disapproving WI stalwarts. Calendar Girls is a good story, but isn’t it now over-familiar? - Michael Coveney
| Score | Comment | Date |  | Don't waste your money. Most of the cast are mediocre. Kelly Brook, Arabella Weir, Janie Dee etc., although thought Rosalind Knight as Jessie was believable. None could follow Helen Mirren or Julie Walsh. The play itself didn't transfer well as it was a shadow of the original story. Very disappointing birthday treat! - Evelyn | 20 Dec 09 | | a great night out, it makes you laugh and cry in equal measure, and kelly brook looks absolutely stunning - couldn't take my eyes off her for the whole 2 hours! - Jim | 14 Nov 09 | | Go and see just to see Anita Dobson giving one of the most mind-numbingly awful performances EVER!
Jill Baker & Sara Crowe save it being touching and funny, but this is a piece of fluff with a central performance that is jaw-droppingly awful. - Quentin | 04 Oct 09 | | I went to see this with my Mum on Sat and we both thought it was a very entertaining show. The only thing that let it down was Anita Dobson. She was so over the top she would have fitted in at our amdram village panto!!! The one thing i thought would have made it better was if they had microphones, i think that this would have helped the performance rather than the not so good actress shouting the whole way through!! - Amy Wiseman | 14 Sep 09 | | I returned to Calendar Girls after having seen it earlier in the year.The new cast is more of an ensemble and one grows to love this show the more you see it. The adorable June Brown is dry and very funny and Jill Halfpenny sings Jerusalem at the start. She is a huge improvement on her predecessor since she is utterly believable as the vicar's daughter, which certainly could not be said for Elaine C.Smith. Anita Dobson's performance will divide audiences depending on whether you can take to her larger-than-life live wire but Helen Baker nicely tempers the pivotal relationship so Miss Dobson's abundant enthusiasm is reigned in by the close. The surprise of the night was Jerry Hall who gets a standing ovation by merely walking on stage with a golf bag and bottle of vodka. Wonderful stuff and a worthy edition to the West End which needs big hits like Calendar Girls to ride out the credit crunch. Ignore the critics and enjoy! - DJ | 07 Sep 09 | | It's difficult to be too critical of a play which raises money for a cause which is so close to my heart, but Calendar Girls is no better than a run of the mill screen to stage transfer. The first half, leading up to the famous photo shoot, is quite amusing but the second half's attempt to create drama from the minor disagreement between two ladies is pretty much a waste of time. The replacement cast are mostly excellent, including Jery Hall who basically plays herself and even Gemma Atkinson who, in a remarkable career change, keeps her kit on. Some of the accents are awful but June Brown is better than I expected and the hugely underrated Jill Baker (who looks like a softer more attractive Helen Mirren) is excellent as the dignified widow whose husband inspired the calendar. However, Anita Dobson produces one of the worst "look at me" performances I have ever seen in the West End. The show is hugely popular with ladies of a certain age but anyone else should approach with caution. - David Baxter | 03 Sep 09 | | Calendar Girls is not a great show but it's very funny and, most importantly, getting bums on seats (excuse the pun) and raising a lot of money for a very worthy cause. Patricia Hodge, Lynda Bellingham and Sian Phillips are quite wonderful and Robert Jones's gorgeous set of sunflowers makes for a poignant, wistful ending. The much-lauded nude scene is not the funniest moment. That honour goes to the divine Miss Phillips when she informs a crass beautician that she is just popping out to score some crack! One slight complaint is the officiousness of the staff at the theatre. Anyone who dares to pop to the loo at the interval needs to use the ones located in the Upper Circle (there aren't any in the Balcony)and I wouldn't advise forgetting your ticket! Offenders are liable to shot for disobedience... - DJ | 24 Jun 09 | | HURRAH :-) What a fun couple of hours, very enjoyable, entertaining and thought provoking. Well, OK, maybe not thought provoking in any way at all actually but still, it's fun.
Despite earlier reviews I thought the ladies all acted just fine, but then don't go expecting Shakespeare, if you go just wanting to be entertained then it'll do the job.
- Tom Murray | 21 Jun 09 | | A wonderful night out - light and humerous. With brilliant ladies. The Noel Coward Theatre is a fine place for this production. Do not expect discussion, lots of deep thoughts, but just real good entertainment. You won't be dissapointed. - Peter, Germany | 24 May 09 | | Awful Just awful. It looks like the Loose Women Christmas panto. Only Pat Hodge and Elaine C Smith bother trying to actually act, the others pout and squawk and jostle for centre stage. Lynda Bellingham gives a truly horrid, self-congratulatory performance. And please don't get me started on the awful Yorkshire accents, the tatty sunflowers at the end, the ghastly plinky-plonky piano music... oh I could go on. ANd on. The script lurches from wan sentimentality to hen party, lascivious humour. It will run and run and is another sign of the desperate state of the West End. I'm not a snob, I am all for popular theatre, but not this bag of toot... - daithi | 22 Apr 09 | | | Click here for more user reviews and to post your own |
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