Gary Barlow shocks Lowry audience with surprise visit

Former Take That star makes appearance at The Girls musical.

Published 13th Jan 2016

Audiences watching the new musical The Girls at The Lowry last night were given a shock when Gary Barlow made a surprise appearance.

The Girls, is a brand new British musical written by Gary Barlow and Olivier Award-winning writer Tim Firth, who are both from Frodsham in Cheshire and have been friends for 25 years.

The Girls is inspired by the true story of a group of ladies, who decided to appear nude for a Women’s Institute calendar in order to raise funds to buy a settee for their local hospital, in memory of one of their husbands.

Last night saw Gary Barlow and Tim Firth join the original Calendar Girls and the cast of the musical on stage following the show for a special surprise encore. Gary led the delighted audience in a rendition of the song ‘Dare’ – one of the key numbers in the show.

Over 300 nurses from the North West were invited to this special performance, including nurses from the charity Bloodwise – the Calendar Girls chosen charity. Since the original nude calendar was created in 1998, the Calendar Girls have raised nearly four million pounds for the charity. During the run of The Girls at The Lowry, there will be bucket collections for Bloodwise following performances.