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Familiarity,
it's claimed, can breed contempt - unless we're talking about one
of my all-time favourite musicals. I simply can't get enough of
it!
I first
"experienced" Blood Brothers" at the Nottingham Playhouse
back in 1983. I've since seen it on another five occasions and now,
21 years on from that first viewing, it still continues to tug at
the emotions. At the same time it haunts the audience with memorable
music and succesfully counter-balances the darker moments with some
great, arch-typical Scouse humour. The only thing that ever differs
is the cast and the director's interpretation.
This
latest incarnation by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright is not the best
I've seen, but it is nonetheless moving and engaging. Needless to
say it was given the warm approval of a full house at the Hippodrome,
with a now-standard standing ovation. Well deserved too.
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| Linda
Nolan on stage |
Blood
Brothers was last in town two years ago. On that occasion, the lead
role of Mrs Johnstone, the down-trodden single mother of plenty
was taken by Denise Nolan. This time, they've kept it in the family,
with younger sister Linda donning the apron and worn-out overcoat.
She makes a decent job of it but I found her to be too clean and
polished, with barely a hair out of place. The role demands the
sympathy of the audience - I would like to see a grubbier, earthier
and pitiful Mrs J. Linda Nolan. She sang her part well, but that
after all, is her forte...
Sean
Jones makes a splendid return to the Hippodrome as the rougher half
of the Blood Brothers having enjoyed success as Mickey two years
ago. This time I found him even funnier, and certainly even sadder
as he battled forlornly - and tragically - to overcome the ravages
of life that had been thrown at him.
Against
him, Joe Fredericks makes a near-perfect Eddie: the clean-cut, well-educated
half of the twins separated at birth by a combination of rich desire
and abject poverty. Together they provide the greatest humour, and
ultimately the rawest of emotions.
Between
the pair of them comes the love of their lives, Linda, perkily played
by true Scouser Linzi Matthews. She brilliantly transforms from
the teasing teenager to the suffering wife, mother-to-be and grieving
widow; grieving over the one brother she married; the other she
loved but couldn't marry.
The
glue to the whole performance is the role of the narrator, played
this time by Keith Burns, no stranger to the part having played
the part both in the West End and on previous tours. It may sem
churlish of me, then, to say I didn't warm to his rather stilted
performance. He hovered around the stage like the Ghost of Christmas
Past in a natty suit, uttering rhyming cuplets with a nasal intonation
that, frankly, grated. Sorry Keith, but you wouldn't make my all-time
best Blood Brothers cast list.
Talking
of which it set me thinking of previous performances, and previous
casts I've seen. Top Mrs Johnstone would have to be Barbara Dickson,
followed closely by Rebbeca Storm, while Mark McGann, Con O'Neill
and Peter Capaldi would have to battle it out for the lead roles,
with Joe McGann winning a comfortable race for the part of Mickey's
elder, naughtier brother Sammy. It's a great parlour game for Blood
Brothers fans, of which there were plenty in evidence at the Hippodrome.
If
you聮ve never seen Blood Brothers, then please take my advice,
and get along to the Hippodrome before the end of the month - after
all, you don聮t want to be waiting another two years, do you?
Written
by Andy Knowles
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