"Calendar Girls - The Musical" by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth

Erewash Musical Society.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Annie's husband John dies from leukaemia at an early age. Her close friend Chris, wants to purchase a comfortable sofa for the visitors' lounge in the hospital where John was treated. She hits upon the idea of printing a calendar featuring some of the members of the Knapely branch of the Women's Institute, discreetly posing nude while engaged in traditional WI activities, such as baking cakes, making plum jam and knitting, in order to raise funds.

Her proposal is initially met with great scepticism, but she eventually convinces ten women to participate in the project with her. They enlist one of the hospital workers, an amateur photographer named Lawrence, to help them with the calendar.

Annie is played by Kathi Ludlow who puts so much passion into her vocals, especially when Annie is thinking of John. What we also see is the joy, hope and fun emit from Annie throughout, showing what an excellent actor Kathi is.

John is played by Dan Bates, or should I say the chameleonic Dan Bates, because every time I see him on stage, he seems to look really different from what he looks like off stage. This time, initially, thanks to the wig. As the first act progresses we see John deteriorate visually, and we see Dan's physical characterisation likewise.

Hayley Wood plays Chris, and again we see this fun character who, after the initial idea then goes on to have reservations after her son, Danny starts to act just as a normal teenager would act with raging hormones, and the discovery of girls! Hayley brings out both the responsible maternal side as well as the more wild side of Chris.

Chris' husband, Rod, is played by Richard Dawson. And it's good to see one of Erewash Sound's presenters back on stage, transferring his easy and natural wireless delivery to this character, who is also fun and easy-going. Perfect casting really for Richard.

Gabryl Oleshko shines as Danny, their son, and even though I've met Gabryl off stage, he still makes me believe that, on stage, he is a school boy over eager to lose his virginity to his school girl vixen, Jenny, played by Sophie Robbins. I wonder how much method acting went into the "drunken Danny" scenes?

The "school boy" pairing with Danny's best mate Tommo, played equally as sparkling by Hayden Fletcher, who I've known for absolutely ages, and still looks about thirteen, is another bout of inspired casting, especially when Tommo thinks he is being groomed by an older woman. Gabryl and Hayden bring a lot of the teenage with to this wonderful story.

Celia, the trophy wife who is extremely confident about her body, is played by Louisa Ward. One thing about this play is that each character has a share of the comedy lines and certain characteristics which women can identify with. A confident character played by a lovely confident actor.

Denis is Celia's husband, who is played by Martin Lewis, who is also the Assistant Musical Director.

Alex Tavener plays Jessie, the retired teacher, who gets to give Lawrence, the photographer a bit of a shock when he realises who she is as he looks down his lens! Always lovely to see more of Alex on stage!

Colin is played by Martin Briggs. I really enjoy Martin's voice because it's different to the other male voices on stage; there's a certain vulnerability about his voice which sets him aside from the others.

Cora, a vicar's daughter and the WI pianist, is played by Anna Fitzpatrick. I've seen Anna in several roles over the years and I love the U turn with this character, mainly due to her not wanting to rock the boat with her background, but throwing off those mental chains and the visual release was well portrayed by Anna.

Ruth is played by Megan Asher, and just like everyone else in this main ring of characters, she throws 110 % into the role.

Chrissie Oakden plays Marie, the Chairperson of the WI at Knapeley, and dead set against this particular fund raiser. Wonderfully bossy character.

The poor amateur photographer enlisted to take the photos for the calendar is Lawrence, played by James Christian, who also gets to be involved in a dance routine with the ladies, albeit seated for the majority of the routine.

A wonderful supporting cast, and I had quite forgotten just what a size the support for this show was.

Laura Dawson (Tea), Karen Robbins (Coffee), Andrea Kemish (Brenda Hulse), Tyna Burnett (Lady Cravenshore), John Fletcher (Vicar), Claire Kay (Beautician), Emma Barnes-Marriott (Police Officer), Gary Fowkes (Milkman), Laurie Fitch (Caretaker), Laurie Trott (Hairdresser), Natalie Austen and Paige Sisson (Schoolgirls), Nick Buckthorpe (Postman) and Sue Hagan (Vicar's Wife). Where would we be without superb supporting casts?

Directed by Rachel Bates, assisted by Abbi Burns, this surely had to be a labour of love because you can feel the love from the stage for this heartfelt true story, which was made into a very successful 2003 film. The inspired casting also has a lot to do with the success of this production, resulting in a complete sell out of performances. Before I saw this particular production, I had seen nothing but glowing reports, and they were all correct in their praise.

Musical Director was Peter Cook, assisted by Martin Lewis, as previously credited. The seven piece band created the perfect feel and sound for this Yorkshire based musical, recreating the sound of a brass band that you'd expect from the area. Beautifully created.

Lighting Design is by Richard Chamberlain, and there may have been just a couple of times that I noticed the spotlight not being on the character, but that could of course be that the actor was not standing on the right spot. Very minor thing that I know the rest of the audience would probably not noticed. Apart from that, beautifully lit.

Sound Design by Dave Dallard, and there's no way that I am going to critique the couple of missed cues because, with a cast this large, Dave was all over the sound, and anyway, I was enjoying this production to much to let a second late mic cue mar my love for this story and production.

The set was wonderfully created, as was the video design with the views of, I presumed a Yorkshire scene. Wouldn't matter to me if it wasn't, I believed what I saw, and that's all that matters.

Swift scene moving by the stage crew and Stage Manager, Mark Robbins.

What i also appreciated was the Yorkshire accents from everyone. I know that it's only up the road (ish) but I could hear the difference and that made me feel so much at ease with the placement of the production.

A lovely human story with some very funny lines in the script by Tim Firth. The soundtrack, by Gary Barlow, is quite forgettable but does have some catchy moments like "Yorkshire", "Scarborough", "Dare" and "I've Had A Little Work Done". That said you can really appreciate the song lyrics while the sentiment is in front of your eyes, but you may have difficulty recalling them when you leave the theatre.

"Calendar Girls The Musical" is on until Saturday 11 March but it may be worth checking first for tickets due to the sold out status. You would have to Take That chance.