Behind the scenes at Calendar Girls: The Musical amateur premiere

It feels a bit strange to be suddenly out of the theatre bubble I’ve been living in for what seems like forever and I feel compelled to write for my own record about my personal journey through our ‘world amateur premiere’ of Calendar Girls: The Musical.

It’s been part of my life for two years. We got the news about the release for amateur license rights way back in autumn 2019 while it was still officially under wraps. Then there were a few weeks of preparation for the audition; trying to get to grips with one of Annie’s three solos -‘Kilimanjaro’. Rehearsals started in early 2020 with the first iteration of the directorial team and cast. And then suddenly the enormity of the challenge in the role hit home. I had a massive crisis of confidence and when COVID put the production on hold shortly after our first publicity photo shoot, I felt nothing but relief for the reprieve.

As the series of lockdowns pushed the show dates back further and further, I revelled in the quieter, less stressful life. I began to dread, with gut-sinking fear, the resumption of normal life and with it, rehearsals for the show. I’d committed to do it though, and with the mother-outlaw being the real Miss January, the Calendar Girls feels a bit like ‘the family business’, so I felt honour bound to go through with it. At that point mentally, it really did feel like taking on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Rehearsals re-started in small groups in late Spring this year with a few changes in personnel. I was just starting to feel a little more positive when I had my riding accident and slipped a disc in my back. Suddenly, not only were rehearsals emotionally exhausting again but also physically very difficult. But still, the show must go on.

Somewhere along the line, mercifully, I got my mojo back. And that was down to the utterly amazing people that were the cast and crew for this show. Anita Adams, our director, was a force of nature who inspired us. Mike Gilroy, our musical director, literally carried us through when the going got seriously tough. I will be eternally grateful to him for his patience and encouragement. It was a massive learning curve for all of us. Many of us don’t even read music. All the cast agreed it was the hardest show any of us had ever done – and I’ve been doing this sort of thing for 45 years!

Getting naked was seriously the easy bit. Unlike ‘normal’ musicals where you get a song and then a scene and a song and then a scene, Calendar Girls: The Musical intersperses lyrics and dialogue at breakneck speed. If you miss a line or delay by a beat, that’s it – trying to get back into it is like trying to jump aboard a moving train.

I wasn’t the only one who struggled. All of us ‘girls’ had crises of confidence at some point, each believing ourselves to be the weak link. There were A LOT of tears. Meanwhile, some endured horrendous personal difficulties in their personal lives more akin to tackling the entire Himalayan mountain range; Paula dropping out of the role of Chris in 2020 to have gruelling cancer treatment for throat cancer before making an astounding return as Cora, while the lovely Lottie lost her Mum to cancer just weeks before the show opened. They are both truly amazing. As for Jennie, playing Jessie at 77 years of age; that was an impressive feat reflected in her solo ‘never, never, never do what age expects of you’.

Just days before we opened, we met the band for the first time and had our first ‘band call rehearsal’, at which we were joined by the author Tim Firth and a film crew from Look North, and several of the ‘real’ Calendar Girls, just to add a little more pressure! Then we all had to learn very quickly to work with new tech, notably radio microphones which we had to tape to our skin because we had several quick costume changes – and anyway we couldn’t hook them on clothes for our nude scene, could we?!  The difficulty came in learning to discipline ourselves not to speak in the wings; some highly amusing backstage expletives rang out through the auditorium in dress rehearsals before we were finally shocked into attempting silence.

Somehow, against all the odds, we pulled off the show. Not only that, playing to 1680 people, we earned a standing ovation every single night of our punishing seven day run (that’s on top of doing the day job, of course). It wasn’t just that it was all our friends and family out there; visiting am dram societies came from as far away Glasgow to see how we’d tackle the show. Word spread and ticket sales rocketed as the week progressed. A substantial amount has been raised for Blood Cancer UK. All of which was a relief as I’d also been doing the PR for the show, of course!

Anita has been in the business for 20 years, performing in the West End and directing countless community shows. She has said she has never known anything like it. We nurtured each other through this show; new meaningful friendships have been forged and old ones strengthened. Penny, playing Chris alongside me, was my absolute rock. We clung to each other physically and mentally throughout the show as we each grappled for words and harmonies. And bras. It’s only fair to say, there was not much social distancing on that stage in the end.

Interestingly, we had countless people say that they had seen the show professionally in the West End, Leeds or Salford and enjoyed our show more. How come? Reflecting on this afterwards it’s clear that it’s because this is OUR story. One More Year in Yorkshire is OUR community; our dale, our river, our village halls, our institutes, our tractors, our school bus, our chip shop.  Above all, this show is based on real people who we know and love, who did an amazing thing. We genuinely wanted to celebrate that; we played it from the heart and that made it very, very special.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen and those who came to support us. Oh, and thanks for these pics, all of which I pinched as I didn’t manage to take any myself!