GARY Barlow and Tim Firth went back to where it all began to talk about Calendar Girls - the Musical which is set to come to the Lowry later this year as part of the show’s first full UK tour, writes JOHN ANSON.

With Take That, Gary is used to playing some of the biggest stadiums in the country but it was the intimate surroundings of Burnsall Village Hall in the Yorkshire Dales that was the setting for the launch of the show.

Calendar Girls - the Musical will be the second coming for the show which, as The Girls, delighted audiences in Leeds and Salford in 2016 before heading into the West End.

The first rehearsals for the musical were held in the village hall.

Based on the story of the members of the Rylstone Women’s Institute who posed for a naked calendar to raise money, initially for a new sofa at the hospital where one of their husband’s was treated for leukaemia, the story of the Calendar Girls was first a successful movie starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and then became a hit play - both written by Tim.

“We have been given the gift of being able to return to the musical,” said Tim, whose friendship developed with Gary when they were both teenagers growing up in Frodsham.

The most obvious change for the new tour is the name. Gone is the title The Girls.

“We felt that we should change the name the first time round because the play had been out there and everybody knew it and the film had also been so successful,” said Tim.

“We thought maybe we should change the title to tell people ‘this is a musical.’

“But there are some times in life you realise that maybe you make the wrong choice. What we should have done was call in Calendar Girls - the Musical in the first place which we have now done.”

“I just think that illustrates we don’t know what we’re doing,” joked Gary.

Despite the huge success of the initial run for The Girls and also being heavily involved in The Band, which had its world premiere in Manchester before going into the West End and is now on a nationwide tour, Gary reveals he had never planned to write a musical.

“When Tim came to me with the idea for a Calendar Girls musical probably about seven years ago now, to be honest it was never on my list to do a musical,” he said.

“People always said to me ‘don’t do a musical because they are a nightmare’ so when Tim first came to me I said no.

“But he told me ‘it doesn’t have to be like that - if I feed you some lyrics over time, we will get it.’ He made the whole process very painless for me.”

Gary admits that it was visiting the village hall in Burnsall for the first time which convinced him that a musical version of the Calendar Girls would work.

“I can’t tell you how much it all made sense once I’d been in this room and met the original Calendar Girls here,” he said. “All of a sudden you know what the heart of the show is.”

The new version of the musical will star Fern Britton, Ruth Madoc, Rebecca Storm, Denise Welch and Anna-Jane Casey; rehearsals started in earnest in July.

And Gary warned them that he and Tim will be continually working on the show.

“We don’t know how to stop,” he laughed. “But we are never happy - we want to keep pushing and pushing to make it better, to make the audience experience better and make it sharper and tighter as a show.

“I think you are always working on that even when you have been on for a while. After all Andrew Lloyd Webber is still tinkering with shows that have been on for 30 years.”

Calendar Girls - the Musical will still be instantly recognisable to anyone who enjoyed The Girls albeit with a totally different set and the addition of a new song.

“It is the same story,” said Tim. “We have been given the luxury of being able to stand back and take a look at it and perhaps just tell that story a little more tightly.”

Initially the Calendar Girls hoped that their exploits would raise around £3,500 for their local hospital. To date they have actually raised more than five million pounds for Bloodwise which carries out research into leukaemia. At every performance of Calendar Girls - the Musical collections will be held for the charity.

In spite of his initial reluctance to write a musical it would seem that Gary has now become a convert.

“I think we’d love to do more,” he said.

“There’s no point stopping,” added Tim. “It is a lot of work but if you are prepared to put in that work, standing at the back of the theatre when the show is playing is the best place to be.”

Calendar Girls - the Musical, runs at The Lowry, Salford Quays, from October 30 to November 10. For further information telephone 0843-208-6005 or go online at www.thelowry.com.