Following a sell-out Autumn tour and sensational reviews, the hit show Calendar Girls is set to do the same when it visits Cardiff from Monday 9 to Saturday 14 March prior to its West End run. With just under 9000 tickets sold across the week, Calendar Girls is the New Theatre’s highest grossing drama ever.Based on the hit film with an all-star cast, this stage version boasts an equally impressive line up with Lynda Bellingham, Siân Phillips, Patricia Hodge, Gaynor Faye, Brigit Forsyth, Julia Hills and Elaine C Smith taking the roles of the WI ladies made famous in the film. A very British story with a very British heart, Calendar Girls is based on an uplifting and inspiring true story. A group of extraordinary women, members of a very ordinary Yorkshire WI, spark a global phenomenon by persuading one another to pose for a charity calendar with a difference! As interest snowballs, the Calendar Girls find themselves revealing more than they ever planned. The Calendar Girls, as they became to be known, dedicated the calendar to John Baker who had died the previous year in 1998. John's wife, Angela (Miss February) and friends were members of the local WI. At one meeting Angela's friend Tricia Stewart (Miss October) suggested that they do an alternative WI calendar - in the nude. The Girls initially aimed to generate funds to buy a new sofa for the hospital where John was being treated. To date, they have raised more than £1.5 million for Leukaemia Research, have been the subject of the smash hit Hollywood film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and filled more column inches than they can count and now their story is re-enacted in a hit stage show. Leukaemia Research will also benefit from the Cardiff perfomances of Calendar Girls where they will have stalls set up in the New Theatre foyer. In 2005 the Calendar Girls were thanked personally by the Prince of Wales for their amazing achievements at a reception at Clarence House. Angela sums up the extraordinary story of the Calendar Girls: “I think that we’ve all coped really well with what has happened. We’ve done the most amazing things but we’ve kept our feet on the ground and we’ve never forgotten why we did what we did. We didn’t do the calendar because we wanted to be famous but because we wanted to raise money in John’s memory. It has been the most marvellous experience.” Calendar Girls is at the New Theatre, Cardiff from Monday 9 – Saturday 14 March. Anyone without tickets is recommended to check with the Box Office for returns on 029 2087 8889. Ends Calendar Girls New Theatre, Cardiff Monday 9 – Saturday 14 March 2009 Evenings 7.30pm; Thursday & Saturday Matinees 2.30pm Tickets: £8 - £30 Box Office: 029 2087 8889 |
| New Theatre Cardiff web site: www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk |
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Friday, February 20, 2009 |
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