Gary Barlow often turns up at premiers of his musicals. He should have popped along to Aberdeen Arts Centre to see what AOC Productions has done with his Calendar Girls. He would have rather enjoyed it.
And no doubt he would have been clapping extra hard at just how deftly this gifted cast of amateur north-east performers brought his uplifiting, joyous and moving work to life.
It must have been a daunting prospect for AOC to tackle Calendar Girls: The Musical. After all, it wasn’t that long ago it was selling out main stage theatres with a professional cast – His Majesty’s included – picking up critical accolades.
But AOC didn’t miss a beat with their production – hitting all the right notes not just in the superb songs, but also in the light comic touches the show demands and the tearjerking moments it creates.
Calendar Girls is packed with great musical numbers
The true story itself is so well-known, it has almost entered national mythology. A Yorkshire WI branch create a nude calendar to raise funds to buy a settee at a local cancer ward, after one of their much-loved husbands passes away. They end up raising millions for Blood Cancer UK.
Gary Barlow worked with Tim Firth – who penned the hit play and film – to create this stage musical and it is packed with more great numbers than you shake a Yorkshire pudding at.
AOC handle all of them with a skill and verve, but above else a real warmth, that makes this a joy to watch, from the actors on stage to the simple but oh-so-clever staging to the flawless band.
Calendar Girls delivers emotional heft at Aberdeen Arts Centre
From the anthemic opening number Yorkshire, through to the knockabout fun of After Silent Night – an alternative Christmas carol – the ensemble work together like a well-oiled machine.
But it’s in the quiet moments that Calendar Girls really delivers its emotional heft, such as Scarborough, when soon-to-be widowed Annie quietly realises what life would be like without her husband who is battling leukaemia.
And her desperation at life alone in the haunting Kilimanjaro is grief personified in song. Â Both these haunting ballads showcase the vocal range and acting depth of Leanne Craggs as Annie, who is at the heart of the work.
Matching her in both singing and acting is Leigh Benzie as her madcap best friend Chris, who comes up with the idea of the nude calendar. Leigh captures the soul of Chris and delivers the standout earworm, Sunflower, as an upbeat hymn to finding the light in life, no matter what.
AOC deliver THAT Calendar Girls photoshoot with wit and verve
One of the joys of Calendar Girls is how it crosses the generations and the young cast members more than hold their own against the adults. In fact, they almost steal the show, especially Max Paterson as Chris’s son Danny and Orla Woods as Jenny, the daughter of fierce WI chairwoman Marie.
Of course, at the core of the Calendar Girls story is THAT photoshoot.
AOC essay it with wit and verve, with just props and drapes to preserve modesty, while ramping up the sense of fun and daring the scene needs.
Certainly, it had the audience cheering and clapping during the whole dare-to-bare sequence – and quite rightly so.
How to get tickets to see Calendar Girls at Aberdeen Arts Centre
In fact, they didn’t really let up from that point through to the triumphant finale when the new sunflower-bedecked settee is revealed – along with the hospital wing the Calendar Girls funded.
As standing ovations go, AOC thoroughly deserved theirs. Even Gary Barlow would have been on his feet.
Calendar Girls: The Musical, presented by AOC Productions, runs at Aberdeen Arts Centre until Saturday June 4. For information and tickets go to aberdeenartscentre.com
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