Four-minute ovation on first night of Calendar Girls musical in Leeds

The cast of the musical based on the story of Yorkshire’s Calendar Girls were given a four minute standing ovation as the show opened at the Leeds Grand Theatre this weekend.
The Calendar girls meet Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, after the Rehearsals of the Girls musical, London..SH100142371a...20th October 2015 ..Picture by Simon HulmeThe Calendar girls meet Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, after the Rehearsals of the Girls musical, London..SH100142371a...20th October 2015 ..Picture by Simon Hulme
The Calendar girls meet Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, after the Rehearsals of the Girls musical, London..SH100142371a...20th October 2015 ..Picture by Simon Hulme

The Girls, created by Take That star Gary Barlow and award-winning writer Tim Firth, tells the story of the adventure that saw a band of close friends create a now infamous risqué calendar in 1999 to raise funds for charity.

The exploits of the group dubbed the Calendar Girls were made into a feature film starring Julie Walters and Helen Mirren in 2003 and have raised around £4 million for leukaemia charity Bloodwise.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The show, which runs in Leeds until December 12, was aired to a crowd of specially invited carers and nurses on Saturday afternoon before the public launch the same night.

Its official Twitter account posted a message on Saturday night saying: “We did it. We opened. We got a four minute standing ovation. Thank you.”

Before the performance, Mr Barlow tweeted: “Good luck my super talented friend Tim Firth! 4 years work have led us to here !!!!”