Waterman Replaces Goodyear for Calendar Close

Julie Goodyear has withdrawn from her role as Cora (Miss July) in the West End run of Calendar Girls, and will be replaced by fellow former soap star Hannah Waterman.

The news comes as the show’s representatives confirmed there are “no current plans” to transfer to another West End venue after it finishes at the Noel Coward Theatre on 9 January 2010. A new national tour begins at the Chichester Festival Theatre on 27 January (See News, 6 Oct 2009).

Former Coronation Street star Goodyear, who took over the role on 3 November 2009 alongside fellow new cast members including Janie Dee and Kelly Brook (See News, 6 Oct 2009), has missed two weeks of performances due to illness. Her agent told Whatsonstage.com that she has decided to withdraw from the production following advice from her doctor.

Hannah Waterman, who takes over until the end of the current run and will also star in the tour, is best known for her role as Laura Dunn in EastEnders, which she played from 2000 to 2004. Her stage credits include The Vagina Monologues and Tom Dick and Harry in the West End.

Tim Firth’s adaptation of the award-winning Miramax film Calendar Girls, for which he also wrote the screenplay, 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. Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Penelope Wilton and Celia Imrie starred in the 2003 screen original, also written by Firth.

First seen at the Chichester Festival Theatre in September 2008, Calendar Girls broke box office records on tour before transferring to the West End, opening on 4 April 2009 at the Noel Coward Theatre. It’s produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, who have arranged for the £1.50 booking fee charged on London tickets to be donated directed to Leukaemia Research.

Calendar Girls is directed by The Right Size’s Hamish McColl and designed by Robert Jones, with costumes by Emma Williams, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth and music by Steve Parry.