Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Developing CALENDAR GIRLS Musical

The Daily Mail writes that composer Gary Barlow, lyricist Tim Firth and producer David Pugh are developing a musical version of CALENDAR GIRLS. Barlow and Firth have already written between 50 and 60 songs for the show, a quarter of which will be used in the final version.

"It would need to be around the town, the women and the husbands," Firth told the Mail, saying the show will be very different from the original West End play, which debuted in 2009. The story is based on the 2003 film of the same name, with screenplay by Firth.

"The first workshop for this will be in a church hall," Barlow added, "and then we'll see what will happen to it."

The story, based on real-life events, centers on a group of Yorkshire women who create a nude calendar to raise funds for Leukaemia Research in 1999.

CALENDAR GIRLS opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2008 before heading out on a national tour and finally beginning previews in April 2009 at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End. The original cast featured Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips, Gaynor Faye, Brigit Forsyth, Julia Hills and Elaine C. Smith. It was directed by Hamish McColl from an adaptation by Firth.

The show closed in January 2010 and soon left on another UK tour, which ran through December 2012.