Calendar Girls ***

Yet another stage version of a successful film reaches the West End as a Yorkshire branch of the Women’s Institute exchanges jam making for fundraising when member Annie’s husband dies of cancer. The fact-based story of their carefully posed nude calendar’s unprecedented success is so familiar that a box office hit is guaranteed.

A pity, then, that the plot development isn’t stronger, the quips funnier, and the staging more sophisticated. Luckily, there’s a handful of likeable performances to compensate, but nothing quite matches the fun of the first act finale when the mainly middle-aged, assorted-sized ladies of the W.I. grab iced buns, oranges and teapots and finally get their kit off - without (as Sian Phillips’ rebellious, retired teacher puts it) a single “front bottom” or naughty nipple in sight.

Noel Coward, St. Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AU, Leicester Square Tube (0844 482 5140) www.seecalendargirls.com till 19th September (£12.00- £44.00)