Calendar Girls head Grand Theatre line-up

Hit show Calendar Girls will appear on stage in Wolverhampton featuring a star cast, theatre bosses announced today.

The Grand Theatre today launched its packed summer programme, featuring top musicals, murder mysteries, comedies and dramas.

Tickets for the summer season will go on sale at the Grand on Tuesday April 5.

Lynda Bellingham and Jennifer Ellison are among the stars appearing in hit West End stage show Calendar Girls, which will be at the Lichfield Street venue from October 24 to 29.

Rula Lenska, Ruth Madoc and Strictly Come Dancing star Camilla Dallerup will also appear in the show, which tells the real life tale of a group of Womens Institute members who sparked a global phenomenon by stripping off for a charity calendar.

The show has sold out in every theatre it has visited.

Duncan Preston, of Dinner Ladies fame, will be reprising his role as lawyer Atticus Finch in gripping classic To Kill A Mockingbird, which will be at the theatre from May 17 to 21, while the Harlem Gospel Choir will perform on June 6.

Maureen Nolan, former Coronation Street star Nikki Sanderson, Brookside actress Sarah White, Hollyoaks star Julie Buckfield and Olivier Award-winning performer Leanne Jones will appear in comedy play The Naked Truth.

The uplifting show, set in a pole dancing class, will be at the theatre from June 7 to 11.

Smash hit musical The Blues Brothers will return from May 25 to 28.

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends will be live on stage alongside a colourful cast of circus performers on June 8 and 9 while opera star Jonathan Ansell will be at the theatre on June 27 singing the songs of his former group G4, with whom he appeared with on TV talent show X Factor.

Singer and TV star Jane McDonald will bring her new tour to the theatre on September 10 while the stage will be transformed with corsets, killer heels and stockings for An Evening of Burlesque the next night. Hit musicals Sister Act and Footloose will also be on stage.

Grand Theatre spokeswoman Vicky Price said: "The theatre is delighted to announce its new summer season which includes top West End musicals, high quality drama and high-profile actors and actresses."