The Girls

It was a hit film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. It then toured the country three times as a hit play. Now The Girls, based on Calendar Girls, fetches up at the Phoenix as a musical with book (yet again) by Tim Firth and music by Gary Barlow of Take That, no less.

So the first question must be: Why? Haven’t we seen enough, quite literally, of the Rylstone & District Women’s Institute who bared all for a calendar that went on to raise in excess of £4 million? Perhaps. But while this soft-centred re-tread lacks any major surprises, it will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. And, to quote the mighty meat loaf, two out of three ain’t bad.

As all the world now knows, Annie (Joanna Riding) loses her husband, John (James Gaddas), to cancer and, egged on by best friend Chris (Claire Moore), galvanises her WI buddies to disrobe in the name of sweet charity. And that’s about it. But what Tim Firth has done in this version is to leave the tastefully orchestrated nude scene right to the end of proceedings, which works much better than in the play, where it closed the first half and left a bit of a dramatic vacuum in its wake.

And then there are the songs. Joanna riding has a clutch of lovely numbers, none finer than Kilimanjaro, in which she likens climbing the stairs and sleeping alone to tackling a serious mountain (and there’s nothing to choose between them). It’s a slight mystery to me why Ms Riding isn’t a bigger star: from carousel in the 1990s through the Pajama Game and on, she is one of our very finest, a singer who can act and vice versa.

She’s well matched by Claire Moore’s ebullient Chris, an endless dispenser of Yorkshire wit and grit, while each of the other featured ladies of the WI makes her mark, with Michelle Dotrice (no singer, she) deploying an exquisite sense of comic timing and Sophie-Louise Dann giving herself a very good time as a golf club cougar.

A quick mention, too, for a sub-plot involving the next generation, with young Ben Hunter particularly catching the eye and clearly a name to watch. Not a challenging evening, then; more like climbing into a warm bath with a group of cherished friends. But none the worse for that.

The Girls is at the Phoenix Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H until 30 September: 0844-871 7627, www.phoenixtheatrelondon.co.uk