After auditioning over a thousand young people, Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, the creators of the new musical, The Girls based on the true story, the film and award-winning play by Tim Firth, Calendar Girls, have finally found their three stars-to-be.
Gary and Tim said, “We knew there was talent ‘up North’, we just didn’t realise how difficult it would be to choose from such a wealth of it.” To play the parts of Danny and Tommo, two Yorkshire lads, will be Ben Hunter and Josh Benson. Ben is 17 and from Hull. Josh is 18 and from York. To play the part of Jenny, the Lancashire girl who moves to Yorkshire and falls in love, is 17 year-old Chloe May Jackson from Blackburn, who studied musical theatre at Pendleton College in Salford.
Tim Firth went on to say, “This musical is about life in the village, so I very much wanted to include the affect the calendar had on everybody – the characters of Danny and Tommo are sons of two of the Calendar Girls, whereas the character Jenny is the mystery teenager who turns up out of nowhere and affects the boys in her own particular way.”
Since being offered their roles, Ben, Josh and Chloe have been working extensively in London with Barbara Houseman. It was Barbara who was responsible for training Daniel Radcliffe when he made his stage debut in London’s West End in Equus.
The world premiere of The Girls will be at the Grand Theatre Leeds from Saturday 14 November to Saturday 12 December and at the Lowry Salford from Wednesday 13 to Saturday 30 January 2016.
The girls is inspired by the true story of a group of ladies, who decide to appear nude for a Women’s Institute calendar in order to raise funds to buy a settee for their local hospital, in memory of one of their husbands. This musical comedy shows life in their Yorkshire village, how it happened, the effect on husbands, sons and daughters, and how a group of ordinary ladies achieved something extraordinary.
Gary Barlow and Tim Firth grew up in the same village in the north of England and have been friends for 25 years. With Take That, Gary has written and co-written 14 number one singles, has sold over 50 million records worldwide and is a six times Ivor Novello Award winner. Tim has won the Olivier Award and UK Theatre Award for Best New Musical, and the British Comedy Awards Best Comedy Film for Calendar Girls.
The Girls will be directed by Roger Haines and Tim Firth, designed by Robert Jones,with comedy staging by Jos Houben, lighting design by Tim Lutkin and sound design by Terry Jardine and Nick Lidster.
