“People need a bit of fun and joy in their lives and Calendar Girls provides that, so if you want to laugh until you cry, and cry until you laugh, come along,” Nicola Jones of OXOPS says.
Yes, Calendar Girls the musical is hitting the Oxford Playhouse next week with a cast of 50, music by Gary Barlow and a well known story, as immortalised in the 2003 film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.
Performed by OXOPS (Oxford Operatic Society), which now mainly specialises in musical theatre, get set for a night of fun, frolics, emotions and a poignant story-line.
As for the nudity, choreography and tactical props make for a hilarious evening. So how do the cast feel about it all?
“Gary Barlow has written all the songs so they are brilliant and very funny. What can I say? It’s unmissable”
“We have a fantastic group of women performing the leads and have always been very open about their roles, but its all very light-hearted,” Nicola adds, “And felt like the prefect show for the summer.
“But we also chose Calendar Girls because it’s all about family, friendship, community and bringing people together, and we hope that really comes across to the audience.
“Gary Barlow has written all the songs so they are brilliant and very funny. What can I say? It’s unmissable.”
The original Calendar Girls set a target to raise £5000 through sales of the infamous WI calendar in Yorkshire which raised more than £300,000 before the year was over, and to date those inspirational girls have raised well over £6m! In memory and celebration of all those lost to cancer, OXOPS will be collecting for seven local and national cancer charities
“Cancer touches everyone’s lives so we will have collection buckets at the end for people to donate or to the Just Giving page,” Nicola adds.
Chosen charities are: Prostate Cancer UK, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research, Blue Skye Thinking, Lymphoma Research Trust, ALK-Positive Lung Cancer Research, Macmillan Cancer Support.
Calendar Girls is at Oxford Playhouse from Monday 11 – Saturday 16 July. Book here: https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/calendar-girls
