Make a date with the Calendar Girls

THE award-winning musical Calendar Girls, by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, is heading to Llandudno this month This new tour will star novelist and television presenter Fern Britton, returning to the stage for the first time in 30 years, as Marie, Anna-Jane Casey (Billy Elliot on tour) as Annie, Sara Crowe (West End roles include Bedroom Farce) as Ruth, Karen Dunbar (BBC1 Scotland’s sketch shows The Karen Dunbar Show and Chewin’ The Fat) as Cora, Ruth Madoc (Hi-De-Hi) as Jessie, Rebecca Storm (discovered by Willy Russell and cast as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers) as Chris and Denise Welch (Coronation Street and Waterloo Road) as Celia.

Tim Firth said: “To be given a chance to revisit Calendar Girls The Musical is a unique opportunity. Gary [Barlow] and I have been working away and, as the great Stephen Sondheim said, ‘Musical comedies aren’t written, they are rewritten’.”

Gary Barlow added: “What a phenomenal new cast we have. Tim and I sat in - and indeed played - on the auditions and have been so lucky to have put together such talented ladies.”

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth grew up in the same village in the North of England and have been friends for 25 years. With Take That, Gary has written and co-written 14 No.1 singles, sold over 50 million records worldwide and is a six times Ivor Novello Award winner.

Tim has won the Olivier Award and UK Theatre Award for Best New Musical, and the British Comedy Awards Best Comedy Film for Calendar Girls.

Calendar Girls The Musical is inspired by the true story of a group of ladies, who decide to appear nude for a Women’s Institute calendar in order to raise funds to buy a settee for their local hospital, in memory of one of their husbands, and have to date raised almost £5million for Bloodwise. This musical comedy shows life in their Yorkshire village, how it happened, the effect on husbands, sons and daughters, and how a group of ordinary ladies achieved something extraordinary.

Bloodwise, the UK’s specialist blood cancer charity, will continue to receive monies from this production.

This new production, which will tour almost every theatre in the British Isles, is already breaking box office records with tickets selling like hot buns. Don’t miss this glorious musical when it opens at Venue Cymru from Tuesday, October 23, to Saturday October 27.

Tickets are on sale now from www. venuecymru.co.uk or via the Box Office on 01492 872000.