'The Girls' – Musical Review
Tuesday 9th May, I took another trip to London's West End to see two shows; the first one was a matinee performance of The Girls and an evening performance of Wicked.
I managed to secure a seat in the second row of the Phoenix Theatre for The Girls. This newly opened musical comedy with music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and book by Tim Firth was a great triumph in my opinion; the show is based on the fascinating story of Calendar Girls, which was a delight to watch. I have given it a four star. The production exceeded my expectations; I was worried that certain pop style songs would potentially take the attention away from the story. However this was not the case. It was a unique authentic cross between emotional and a feel good empowering show. It had its first regional premiere in Leeds and Salford last year.
The story is set in Yorkshire and sets itself around a group of women from the local women institute, who come together in solidarity to help a grieving Annie pick up the pieces of her husband John's loss to leukaemia. Annie's life long friend Chris comes up with an idea to raise money to buy a new settee for the hospital where John was treated, by doing an infamous calendar along with the rest of the women. They are at first sceptical and nervous to bare all, but soon gain the confidence to go though with it. It reflected the grieving process very commendably.
The cast included many stage and theatre personalities such as Claire Moore, Joanna Riding, Sophie-Louise Dann, Michele Dotrice, Marian McLoughlin, Claire Machin, Soo Drouet, James Gaddas, Joe Caffrey, Steve Giles, Maxwell Hutcheon and Joshua Benson.
I found Claire Moore's performance as Chris a treat to watch, her chemistry with Joanna Riding was funny and heart-warming. The final number in Act One 'Sunflower' performed by Claire was beautiful, with vocal ability to match, a terrific performance throughout.
Joanna Riding as Annie played a grieving widow, loyal friend and member of the institute tremendously. She was superb through the performance. Her main song 'Scarborough' touched the hearts of many audience members along with myself. The pure raw emotion she put into the number is greatly admirable.
Claire Machin as Cora the organ player in the Women's Institute, took ownership of the high energy number 'Who Wants a Silent Night?' skipping around the stage whilst belting some powerful notes. She took on this role brilliantly and had me clapping away.
Like Claire Machin Sophie-Louise Dann as Celia a former air hostess had great comic humour and timing especially in her solo number 'So I've Had a Little Work Done'. Watching her actions and interactions between the women of the institute gave such pleasure watching.
Michelle Dotrice played the role of a retired headmistress named Jessie, her song 'What Age Expects of You' is targeted to the older or middle aged woman and goes against labelling. Empowering them to take on challenges with no age barrier. It felt inclusive and could be written for a younger woman.
The character of Danny played by Ben Hunter was extremely entertaining to watch along with his romantic interest Jenny played by Chloe May Jackson especially in the number 'Protect Me Less' reflecting their childhood upbringing and the divide in parenting.
The female leads are all equal in terms of their roles, though Claire Moore and Joanna Riding were the vocal powerhouses of the production.
From the upbeat opening number 'Yorkshire' the setting was clear and characters were instantly introduced.
One scene in particular stood out to me for comedic purposes was the calendar photography scene, I laughed continuously throughout.
The songs had a strong sense of musical style with a hint of popular musical underlined. It seemed that the score was written primarily to tell the story which served the purpose and worked effectively. The slower songs were not as memorable as the high energy paced numbers but together worked well within the piece.
However I found that one song in particular felt vague and was unsure of its relevance within the story the song 'My Russian Friend and I' performed by the character of Ruth.
The simplistic scenery and lighting design set the scene of a peaceful Yorkshire countryside perfectly, using wooden cupboards and drawers to represent a mountainside, though at times I was puzzled by certain pieces of set, such as the stepping stones at the front of the stage which could be interpreted as sunflowers or flower pots but later eventually became clear.
The show was very euphoric and heartfelt and a perfect balance of everything that you expect from a musical. The comedy moments of the show were equally matched with the emotion of the story and very much intersperse. The musical in itself is very authentic and unlike usual musicals with a minimalistic orchestra that made the production better in a way, as I was able to focus on the story itself rather than the songs.
A great touch at the end was that members of the cast were positioned around the foyer collecting charity donations for Cancer Research UK. This brought the topic of the show to life. I later that day learnt that staff members of the National Health Service receive discounted tickets of £5 off. I feel that people can relate to the show on a personal level with the topic is presents.
It certainly paves the way for new British original musicals to follow. The show targets a large audience demographic.
I hope the show continues to succeed with audiences and critics during its run. The show is set to close in the West End July 15th, but is speculated to begin a national tour next year.