Poster for the original run at the LyricThough it's nearly two weeks since we saw Blood Brothers at the Arts Club on Granville Island, the memory of that great production remains fresh.
This tragicomic musical was created originally as a school play in 1981 for the Merseyside Young People's Theatre. Blood Brothers, by Liverpudlian Willy Russell, was first performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983. From there it went on to become one of the longest-running musicals in London's West End.
When I first saw it in 2008, it had clocked over 20 years. A wealthy childless woman persuades her poor housekeeper, newly abandoned by her husband, to give her one of her newborn twins to raise. Though both mothers forbid it, the boys become friends.
In the second act, their lives diverge. While Eddie goes to university, Mickey starts work after a shotgun wedding to Linda, a girl Eddie is also sweet on. Class difference sunders friendship when a layoff from hia factory job pushes Mickey to the edge; his life spirals out of control before the brothers learn, too late, that they're twins.
Having enjoyed the show so much in London, I knew I had to see the Arts Club version, even though a part of me feared it might disappoint. It didn't. My daughter and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Terra C. MacLeod was a lovely Mrs. Johnstone, mother of the twins. Shane Snow realistically played Mickey, the rough and tumble housing estate boy, and Adam Charles was a creditable Eddie, fortunate to be raised on the right side of the tracks.
The supporting cast played well, and the songs were funny, poignant, and rousing. This Arts Club Production was also enhanced by the chilling and prophetic narration of John Mann, lead singer of Spirit of the West.
No comments:
Post a Comment