Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers is a hugely successful piece of modern musical theatre and one that continues to work its particular and peculiar magic on audiences over and over again. I first saw it in 1983 in the West End with Barbara Dickson, George Costigan and Andrew C Wadsworth. It was a starker entity back the new, the score and arrangements were spikier, sparser than they are now. Of course it did not, on that outing run and run, and after a short season it was pulled. A few years later Bill Kenwright brought it back, rescued it, the same show and the same songs but with a fuller soundscape and more approachable arrangements – and it worked. It ran and ran and then it toured and ran again.

Much as I love the original I am now a convert to the newer version and this is in part, a great part, due to the extraordinary performance given by Lyn Paul as Mrs Johnson. The role is demanding, both musically and emotionally, but Lyn Paul is more than up to the task. Her voice is fine, powerful when needed and soft at other times, and she does not mess with the melodies as so many former pop performers tend to do. Here we get the tunes as they are meant to be heard. We get the lyrics too and this is where the work stands head and shoulders above so many modern musicals. Every word is important, every phrase is there for a reason and the reason is to progress the narrative and colour the story. Not one song is a filler, each has a legitimate reason for being there and each serves that purpose well. It is also necessary to say that Willy Russell is a skilled lyricist, master of both rhyme and meter, not afraid to have fun and equally not afraid of wringing out those emotions – and most of them are sad, even the laughs in this work are pulled from adversity.

Blood Brothers is a timeless tragedy, an unapologetic attack on 20th century class barriers and the plot is Shakespearean in its intensity – dark, brooding stuff that is undeniably moving. 

Of course to pull this off you need a company that can work together as a fine ensemble as well as in the solo roles. The current tour is first class, not a weak moment or person amongst them. In particular Alison Crawford who plays the role of Linda, back street urchin to unfulfilled wife, delivered with real heart. Mark Hutchinson is terrific as Eddy, a role that he has made his own over many performances. Joseph Capper is heartbreaking as Mickey, innocent, shy and ultimately doomed. Dean Chisnall is broodingly dark as the narrator, stalking Mrs Johnson and the excellent Sarah Jane Buckley as Mrs Lyons like the angel of death, his lines delivered with a precise Liverpudlian twang, his harmonies as precise and his rounded voice, when fully unleashed, shaking the stage.

Finally back to Lyn Paul and her final moments on stage where she displays the full range, not only of her voice it her skill as an actor, fragile now, brittle even, then rising to a powerful final chorus where, backed by the entire company, it soars in heartbroken anger above the throng in a display of heartfelt grief that stirs the entire theatre to stand and cheer. This is quite simply unmissable theatre and the proof of why this is such a successful show.

Theatre Royal Brighton

28 November

Andrew Kay

5 stars