HERE come the girls…or The Girls, to be precise!
I winged it all the way from Los Angeles to the bright lights of London’s West End to see The Girls – the hot new stage musical which is earning awards and rave reviews.
It’s been co-written by Take That’s song-writing supremo – and my old chum/best man – Gary Barlow, along with Tim Firth.
He took a break from his busy schedule and kindly gave me a personal tour round the set of the musical at the Phoenix Theatre last week.
I can exclusively reveal without a hint of bias that the show is brilliant, and if you’re in London then check it out.
Alright, that’s not true – I am biased! But really, though, this musical makeover of the movie Calendar Girls is massively enjoyable.
Gary’s looking on great form at the moment despite being busy with the show, Take That’s new album, and them being on tour again.
We chatted on the stage in the moments after the show and Gary was, frankly, glowing!
“I’m so proud of all this,” he grinned. “You’ve seen all the wonderful actors and actresses tonight. The one thing you realise with theatre is it’s a company.
“It takes everyone to be great day in, day out for it to be a success.”
I wondered if musicals was something Gary grew up with at home.
“When I was eight my school announced we were going to put on a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
“I told my mum, ‘By the way I’m going to get that part’. She said that I couldn’t think like that and I’d need to audition.
“I got the part and spent all summer learning it. Ever since then I’ve loved musicals – but it was 30 until I actually saw a musical.
“It was Les Miserables. It blew me away!
“When I watch other people’s musicals I know the pain they’ve gone through to make them!”
This is the second musical Gary’s written after the success of his musical adaptation of Finding Neverland.
“I started writing this before Neverland, this took five years. You learn a lot along the way.
“With all the experience in the world the true king in the theatre is the story. The story has to be great – and this is a beautiful story!”
It really is – go and see it!
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