TAKE A PEEK AT "CALENDAR GIRLS"

         THE WHOLE BLOOMING CAST OF "CALENDAR GIRLS"

Calendars can feature twelve months of flowers or butterflies, sports figures or hunky firemen, cute kids or puppy dogs.  On them, we record our dental appointments and dinner parties, the kids' ball games and dance recitals, birthday parties and theater dates.  What would we do without these handy reminders?  In today's world, we might opt for the electronic versions on our computers or Smart phones, but the calendar is definitely here to stay...whether it's on the refrigerator or a hand held device.

To take a totally new and slightly shocking look at these ubiquitous recorders, stroll over to the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, June 21 for an eye opening delight "Calendar Girls" by Tom Firth.  Based on a true story, a group of women friends in the Yorkshire Dales of England band together and bond when one of their sisterhood loses her husband to leukemia.

When Annie (Jacqueline Hubbard) buries her beloved soul mate, her dear Womens Institute members want to help.  After months of sitting on the lumpy sofa in the Skipton General Hospital, they determine to replace it by holding a small fundraising project:  a calendar featuring them in tastefully executed nude poses. I guarantee you'll never look at teapots, badminton racquets, oranges, pastry buns, knitting yarn, pianos or sunflowers quite the same way ever again.

All of them loved Annie's husband John (R. Bruce Connelly) and want to celebrate his life, so best friend Chris (Beverley Taylor),and Cora (Maria Silverman), Jessie (Maggie McGlone Jennings), Celia (Katrina Ferguson) and a reluctant Ruth (Lily Dorment) sign on.  Chris organizes the troops, being careful to not disclose any incriminating details to Marie (Victoria Bundonis) their stalwart  and ultra conservative leader, even finding a modest and accomodating photographer (Erik Bloomquist) to discreetly stage the poses.  Other members of the cast (Vickie Blake, David Edwards and Sanielle Bonanno) add spice and support. 

Jacqueline Hubbard directs these brave and spirited women of a certain age as they create a sisterhood and a sensation, one that tests the bonds of friendship.

For tickets ($42, seniors $37, students $20, children $15), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.  Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.

Opening night was Cancer Survivor Night and benefited a quartet of organizations:   Little Wonder (littlewonder.org), Middlesex Hospital‘s Center for Survivorship and Integrative Medicine, Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation (terribrodeurbreastcancerfoundation.org) and the Valley Shore YMCA – Hope is Power Program (vsymca.org).  

To further support these charities, Ivoryton Playhouse is producing a calendar of the theatre’s Calendar Girls with a portion of the proceeds going to support the work of these organizations featuring the cast in their hilariously “revealing” poses!  The June 2015 – May 2016 calendars will be available for purchase from the Ivoryton Playhouse for $20.00.  Photography for the calendar was donated by Chris Devlin Photography (http://devlinphotography.com) and the calendar printing is sponsored by Essex Printing.

Come applaud these intrepid ladies at the American professional premiere of one the UK's most popular shows.