In rehearsals with Gary Barlow and The Girls

We were invited into rehearsals for Tim Firth and Gary Barlow's The Girls, which opens at the Phoenix Theatre next month.

The Girls is a new musical by Barlow and Firth which charts the true tale of a group of ladies who decided to pose nude for a Women's Institute calendar to raise funds to buy a sofa for their local hospital.

A film was released in 2003, starring Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, before a play, Calendar Girls, also written by Firth, was staged in 2008. The West End run of The Girls follows the show's earlier run at The Lowry and Leeds Grand.

The West End cast includes Claire Machin, Sophie-Louise Dann, Debbie Chazen, Claire Moore and Joanna Riding.

Click here to buy tickets for The Girls

The Girls opens at the Phoenix Theatre from 24 February 2017, with previews from 28 January.