Original Calendar Girl wishes Operatic good luck with show

* Tricia's message of 'good luck' to the Operatic.

The woman who was the inspiration for the world-famous Calendar Girls story has wished members of Llangollen Operatic luck as they make final preparations to stage the hit show next week.

From Wednesday August 31 until Saturday September 3 at the town hall the society will present the musical version of how the ladies of Rylstone and District WI posed nude for a calendar back in 1999 to raise more than £6 million for charity.

Tricia Stewart originally came up with the idea of fundraising for a new sofa for the relatives’ room in the hospital where her friend went to wait for hubby as he received treatment for blood cancer.

And she went on to appear as Ms October in the calendar which followed.

The Llangollen show’s producer Tracey Jones recently wrote to tell her about the production and how a member of the production team had shared some words about her own cancer diagnosis and the effect the original story has had on her.

Then, earlier this week, Tricia sent a hand-written reply inside the front cover of the book, entitled Calendar Girl, which she wrote about the story.

Tracey said: “I approached Tricia via an online form to tell her about our show and also mentioned how one of our production team, Sarah Marshall, had shared some words about her own diagnosis.

“Sarah then received this book and a personal message.”

The message says: “Thank you for your wise words. Very true! Keep on keeping on and good luck with the show.”

Tracey added: “I’d love people to know that we will be collecting for the Shooting Star charity during the run of the show.”

In the Llangollen show Ms October will be played by Russ Latham, who as previously appeared with Whitchurch society.

Calender Girls will be the Operatic’s first venture back on stage since the pre-pandemic days of 2019.

They grabbed the rights for it back in 2020 thinking it would be a great smaller-cast summer show.

But, according to Tracey, who is co-producing with husband Mike, it has turned into something much bigger.

She said: "Because of Covid it's been three years since our last adult production.

"Calendar Girls is an emotional roller coaster show based on the true Calendar Girl story that has also been depicted on film starring Julie Walters, Helen Mirren and many more top British actors. 

"The musical version was adapted and written by Tim Firth with music by Gary Barlow.

"Our show is directed by Nia Pickering, with artistic assistance from Sarah Marshall and musical direction by Elen Mair Roberts."

* For ticket details, go to: www.ticketsource.co.uk/llangollenoperaticsociety