Blood Brothers

Synopsis

Musical melodrama set in Liverpool about twins separated at birth and the effects on their personalities as they grow up of 'nature' and 'nurture'. A poor family, already with kids, is blessed with twins, but they can't cope. The mother cleans at a `posh' house where they are desparate to have kids but can't and a deal is struck which no-one must know about. Despite the efforts of the new family the boys paths cross time and time again as they grow and one becomes `bad' while the other is 'good'. Eventually they clash with tragic consequences. The musical is un-usual in having a "narrator" who helps to move the plot along.

Our Review:

John Dixon - 1 February 2012

When a show regularly tours you often see the cracks starting to appear as the production values are cut or the latest cast fail to live up to predecessors. But in this production of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers the exact opposite is true, as this latest tour has the strongest overall performances I have seen in the musical. An instant standing ovation proved I was not the only person thinking along those lines.

At the heart of its success is a strong story, with songs that actually add something to the show rather than stop it in its tracks. Blood Brothers is an emotional rollercoaster that gives its terrible heart wrenching ending away right at the start. But part of its pulling power is because the story is not just about love, it’s about class divisions, making life changing decisions and fate.

The mix of these factors make it riveting as we follow Mrs Johnstone, already the mother of several children, as finds she is pregnant with twins she cannot affo...

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Latest User Review

May Paton - 12 July 2012:

Saw this on Wednesday 11th July, it was superb, funny one minute sad the next. Marti was terrific, his familiar big smile at the end had the Glasgow audience screaming. Maureen was brilliant, when she was crying for her boys it was so real I could feel her pain, people were in tears. The comedy was first class, I will be going to see this again....

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