First casting news for 2024 tour of Calendar Girls Musical

First casting news for the 2024 leg of the tour of Calendar Girls the musical is that it will include Laurie Brett (EastEnders)/Annie, Helen Pearson (Hollyoaks)/Celia, Samantha Seager (Coronation Street)/Chris, Maureen Nolan (The Nolans, Blood Brothers)/Ruth, Lyn Paul (The New Seekers, Blood Brothers)/Jessie and Honeysuckle Weeks (Foyle’s War)/Cora who are joined by Liz Carney (Marie), Colin R Campbell (John), Andrew Tuton (Rod), Jayne Ashley and Victoria Hay.

It restarts  at Bromley in January

Lesley Joseph to join new cast in tour of Calendar Girls Musical

Best known for playing Dorian in the TV sitcom Birds of a Feather Lesley Joseph is joining the  Calendar Girls musical UK and Ireland tour later this year.   She recently appeared in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein in the West End and is due to play Miss Hannigain the tour of Annie from 24th September-23rd November.

She previously appeared as Chris in the non-musical version of the show, also penned by Firth. And will now play Jessie joining a new cast featuring Sarah Jane Buckley (Blood Brothers) as Annie, Sue Devaney (Dinnerladies) as Cora, Julia Hills (Broadchurch) as Ruth, Judy Holt (Cold Feet) as Marie and Lisa Maxwell (Hollyoaks) as Celia. 

The new cast will begin performances in Southend on 23rd  April, and Joseph will stay with the production until 10th  August, when Ruth Madoc returns.

Cast change announced for the UK and Ireland tour of Calendar Girls

New casting has been announced for the ongoing UK and Ireland tour of Gary Barlow and Tim Firth's musical comedy Calendar Girls. Based on the true story and the award-winning play by Firth, will now star Sarah Jane Buckley (Blood Brothers) as Annie, Sue Devaney (Dinnerladies) as Cora, Julia Hills (Broadchurch) as Ruth, Judy Holt (Cold Feet) as Marie and Lisa Maxwell (Hollyoaks) as Celia. Ruth Madoc and Rebecca Storm will continue to play Jessie and Chris respectively. 

The new cast will begin in Cliffs Pavilion in Southend on 22nd  April, with Karen Dunbar returning to the show for a run in Glasgow between 11 and 22 June

Also in the cast are Phil Corbitt as John, Ian Mercer as Rod, Sebastian Aberneri as Colin, Alan Stocks as Denis, Pauline Daniels as Lady Cravenshire, Ellie Leah as Miss Wilson, Danny Howker as Danny, Isabel Caswell as Jenny and Tyler Dobbs as Tommo.

Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Calendar Girls Musical

Composer Gary Barlow and lyricist and Tim Firth, who is writer of the show Calendar Girls, have been working on a musical version of the stage show.

Firth said the new musical show will be very different: "It would need to be about the town, the women and the husbands. The first workshop for this will be in a church hall, and then we’ll see what will happen to it.".

Firth said he and  Barlow knew each other as teenagers and had already written over 50 songs ‘for women of a certain age’, with about 25% being used.