If you like Eastenders then you will love Blood Brothers. At a certain point some booming drumbeats even sounded almost like those iconic opening bars in the theme tune to the (disputably) best British soap opera. Family matters and excessive emotion, 2 ingredients in any soap opera, are the bare bones of Blood Brothers: a play in which family matters will make you feel excessive emotions.
So often touring musicals can lose some of their magic because they have to downsize sets and cost-cut on special effects like lighting or pyro-technics so as to be able to tour affordably. Blood Brothers is perfect for touring though, because the plain, suitably dour set doesn't really matter to us all that much and the magic really comes from the writing, something which can be taken all over the world without any edits needing to be made. Willy Russell's writing is what forms the characters and binds them to their fate. It is what makes our eyes well up and sends shivers down our spine throughout the first act and then by the end tips us, and the accumulation of salty waters in our eyes, over the edge.
The writing does not only create the comedy and drama, it also includes lots of entertaining rhyming verse, obviously in the songs, but also some of which is spoken too. Mickey's monologue I Wish I Was Our Sammy and the Narrator's spoken Summer Sequence are both standalone poems within the lyricism Blood Brothers delights with. Delight comes on a double-edged sword with the tragedy being what ultimately makes Blood Brothers memorable and affecting.
A couple of casting choices seemed ill fitting, or perhaps just lazy. Mrs Lyons, played by Tracy Spencer, was more witchy and hysterical than she need be played. With her sleek, black hair and pale face from which broke her piercing shrieks, she came across a little over the top compared to Maureen Nolan's more muted Mrs Johnston. Edward Lyons was also strangely cast with Mark Hutchinson appearing far too old for the final age his character reaches in the play. If you won an award playing a young man in 1993 you probably shouldn't still be playing the exact same young man 20 years on. A bit of fresh blood might be needed for this brother. Sean Jones, as cheeky chap Mickey, got away with being too old for his role though. He had great physicality and was wonderfully comical as the young Mickey. Jones also did a great job of Mickey's difficult transition to adulthood. It is by far the most drastic character transformation and was well done, gradually and subtly.
Something I particularly like about Blood Brothers is the repetition and reprise of music. The tunes are very melodic and the familiarity of a returning harmony is comforting. It also seems makes the lyrics more accessible as you become used to the rhythms and rhymes.
Big musicals nowadays (particularly those on clunky national tours) can sometimes feel quite stale and archaic; they end up being mere presentations of song and dance, which involve admirable and exceptional skills but don't ring true any more. Thankfully, Blood Brothers doesn't feel outdated yet. And long may stay it so, the standing ovation said as much.
- Jobs
- What's On
- Property
- For Sale
- Bikes
- Boats
- Books, CDs, Videos, DVDs
- Cars, Motorbikes & Caravans
- Children's Things
- Clothes & Accessories
- Computers
- Electric & Electronic
- Free Stuff!
- Furniture & Bedding
- Gardening
- Kitchen & Domestic Items
- Lifts, Journey Shares, Tickets
- Lost and Found
- Musicians, Instruments & Kit
- Other Sales
- Pets
- Phones
- Sports Equipment & Players
- Wanted
- Services
- Tuition
- Oxford Guide
- Food & Drink
- Reviews
- Blog
- About