GARY’S DATE WITH NORTHERN GIRLS

WITH his first musical The Girls opening tomorrow night, Gary Barlow admits the project is close to his heart.

Gary, 46, says: “The show is very much our childhoods, that is a northern town and the people within it – especially the women. They are our mums.”

The Take That singer collaborated on the project with screenwriter Tim Firth as they grew up together in the small Cheshire town of Frodsham.

The musical is based on Tim’s 2003 film Calendar Girls and it is inspired by the true story of a group of ladies who appeared nude for a Women’s Institute calendar in order to raise funds for their local hospital.

The Girls is at The Phoenix Theatre in London until April 22.