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In the quarter century since it was premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse, Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers has been polished and honed until it returns shining bright.
 
It was always a big show but now it is spread out like an epic with an overture, opening tableau and scene-setting all taking time before the tale itself gets under way.
 
Of course it deserves the big build up and there is no doubt Russell's music and story work as well as ever, an explosive mix of drama, comedy and song.The Liverpool skyline backdrop tells us where we are - and effective it is, too, if slightly peculiar for those with a knowledge of city architecture - and a terraced street with Kop and Everton chalked on the walls underlines that setting.
 
It is Liverpool in the 1960s where money was tight for many and Mrs Johnstone, working as a char, can feel the financial pinch so much that she can give away one of her newborn twins to her employer just to save expense.
 
The twins grow up and as many who know and love the show so well will already understand, it all ends in bitter tragedy.
 
But the journey there is what makes the show work, drama indeed when the debt collectors come calling on Mrs Johnstone but comedy too as the kids play cops and robbers in the street.
 
And there are always Russell's magnificent songs, here sung by a company who have worked the show before and know just where to place the emphasis.
 
Lyn Paul is a glorious Mrs Johnstone, almost ageing before our eyes as troubles take their toll, but always able to deliver in a strong voice numbers like the moving ballad Easy Terms and ultra-catchy Marilyn Monroe.
 
Sean Jones goes on an emotional roller coaster ride as the working class twin Mickey, while Mark Hutchinson plays posh twin Eddie with deadpan ease and a sense of comic timing. The narrator of Keith Burns is pretty frightening these days, delivering his prophesies of doom with an exaggerated stage echo, and Vivienne Carlyle does a nice line in inner torment as the posh woman who brings up another woman's child, always fearful of discovery.
 
The music, directed by Tom de Keyser, is dramatic and often loud, while the musical still conquers all and last night received its now regular standing ovation.
PHILIP KEY
Liverpool Daily Post

A Knockout - 20 years On

When Willy Russell's musical paid its only visit to Bath, in June 1984, tickets were hard to sell because, despite winning awards in London the year before it was relatively unknown. Even the dubious attraction of former world boxing champion John Conteh in the cast did not bring the crowds flocking.

But, more than twenty years on, such is the enduring appeal of the work that there was standing room only at this week's first night. In fact by the end of the performance most of those sitting were also on their feet - applauding.

This comic/tragic tale of twins separated at birth when their mother gives one away to her posh employer has matured with age particularly in the slickness of presentation.

Linda Nolan gives an emotional performance as the desperate mother and the strongest musical moments come in her harmonies with Keith Burns as narrator.

Sean Jones and Drew Ashton are well cast as the brothers, first as seven year olds and moving through to ill-fated adulthood in convincing style and Linzi Matthews is the ideal foil as Linda, the girl they both love.

ALAN KING
Bristol Evening Post

Black cats, shoes on the table, a lone magpie, a smashed mirror; if these things make you feel uneasy then you will love Blood Brothers.

The opening line "Have you ever heard the story of the Johnstone brothers?" makes the audience inquisitive from the start, and what a story it is.

The Johnstone brothers, Mickey and Eddie, are Blood Brothers in every sense. It is a story of an impoverished mother who reluctantly gives away one of her twin boys to live a privileged life with a well-to-do lady who can't have kids herself.

But it is really the story of the threat of a curse, if the twins ever meet and find out that they are brothers, they will both die. A story centred around the bonds of human nature, between mothers and children, brothers and lovers.

Set against the backdrop of '60s Liverpool, with "Everton" and "Linda 4 Eddie IDST" written on the red brick terraced walls, and the lights of the liver birds building twinkling in the background. The script and sets encapsulate the dichotomy of rich and poor.

Playwright Willy Russell, of Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine fame, once again captures both humour and emotion. His 'salt of the earth' and 'down to earth' way of writing endears him to just about everybody and the audience instantly empathize with his characters.

Blood Brothers is no exception, from the moment the mother starts her first song, to the climax of the play when the twins lie dead, the audience hang on his every line; a storyline that captures the passion of the people of Liverpool, the wit of "our kid" and 'real' dialogue. These characters are believable and immediately likeable.

The actors playing the kids growing up to be adults have a tricky job on their hands, but successfully pull it off. We see the twins (the Blood Brothers) at various ages: eight, 14 then 18.

Both Sean Jones (Mickey) and Drew Ashton (Eddie) are thoroughly convincing at every age. From over enthusiastic nippers to young adults, swapping sweets for porn mags and substituting free time for hard toil and work.

Other great performances come from Linzi Matthews as she transforms from cheeky Linda, saucy Linda to long suffering wife Linda, and Barry Sloane who is fantastically believable as dysfunctional adolescent Sammy.

But the actress holding the play together is Rebecca Storm who plays Mrs Johnstone. Her acting and singing are faultless and this evening she is most definitely the matriarch of Blood Brothers.

The songs, including 'Marilyn Monroe', 'Easy Terms' and 'Shoes upon the Table', are as touching as the script. Russell frequently repeats sections of the songs throughout the show rather like a rock opera.

Blood Brothers is a musical that would appeal to anybody, even those sceptics who aren't superstitious.

Blood Brothers runs at The Lyceum in Sheffield between Monday, 24 February and Saturday 5 February, 2005.

ALI DAVIES
BBC South Yorkshire Online/Sheffield Lyceum

TWENTY-ONE years after its debut, Willy Russell's musical tale of love, laughter, tears and tragedy has lost none of its power or pathos - as an unrelenting standing ovation which almost took the roof off the Empire Theatre can attest.

The story of the poor but loving working class mother, Mrs Johnstone (Barbara Dickson), who is forced by poverty to give up one of her twins to her manipulative rich employer, Mrs Lyons (Karen Barnes), is still passionate.

Yet a wicked sense of humour, marvellously hummable songs belted out by a top-class orchestra, an outstanding ensemble cast of strong characters, slick direction and fluid set changes ensure that there is plenty of sweetness to go with the sour as the action fairly zips along with a solid self-assuredness.

Stinging themes of class, poverty, superstition, and ultimate tragedy are still as potent as they were when Russell first penned them.

Barbara Dickson is mesmerising as she returns to reprise the role of Mrs Johnstone - one she originally made famous - provoking real sympathy for her plight she makes the transition between care-free young girl to care-worn, anxious mother seamless.

Her husky and amazingly powerful voice giving added resonance and heart to songs like Easy Terms and Bright New Day and had the hairs on the back of the audience's neck stand up with a rousing version of Tell Me It's Not True.

Liverpool-born Keith Burns appears as the Narrator - the unrelenting voice of fate/doom that the audience comes to dread almost as much as Mrs Johnstone and the conniving Mrs Lyons (Karen Barnes).

The boys themselves, played by a brilliantly amusing Sean Jones (Mickey) and sweetly straight-laced Drew Ashton (Eddie) throughout their lives, are both superb, especially in the first act playing children of seven (nearly eight).

The scene in which the boys become blood brothers is still a tremendously powerful one, the visual image of the boys emphasising the difference between them as well as their obviously unbreakable bond.

They are totally believable and a joy to watch, capturing childlike innocence and humour effortlessly.

This emotional investment makes the body blow to the audience all the more potent as they are forced to watch as the harsh realities of life and fate conspire to crush and destroy the twins as adults.

Blood Brothers is as powerfully bitter-sweet now as it ever was.
GAIL CAMPBELL-THOMSON
Liverpool Daily Post

After a three-year absence Blood Brothers has made a triumphal return to the Bristol Hippodrome and a full house gave it a genuine standing ovation.

The fact that musical director Richard Beadle allowed the orchestra to be a little too dominant at times and sound engineer Ben Harrison often 'cranked up' narrator Keith Burns' heavily 'scouse' accented voice so high it became indistinct made no difference to this principally young audience. They just adored Keith's powerful sexy delivery and appearance.

There is humour, especially when Sean Jones and John Cusworth portray the doomed twins Mickey and Eddie when they were young school boys. And from Nikki Davis-Jones as she tries to educate the boys in the ways of adults.

But compared to many previous productions Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright's production is heavily weighted on the dramatic side of the tragic tale. This gives Linda Nolan and Kim Bretton every chance to wring the last drop of pathos and pain out of the roles of the two mothers. It's a challenge they rose to very readily in a production full of raw power and deep emotion.
GERRY PARKER
Bristol Evening Post
A dramatic production, be it a play, an opera, a ballet or a musical succeeds when it connects with and moves an audience. At The Empire last night a full cast fully connected with a full house, to such an extent it ended in a standing ovation with several members of the audience literally in tears.
 
Blood Brothers tragic story of twin brothers separated at birth whose lives and loves are linked through a friendship formed in childhood innocence but challenged by the class divide. The twins grow up on Merseyside, one in abject poverty, the other - given away to an infertile rich couple - with all the upper middle class trapping's wealth and privilege can bring.
 
One envies the other and their blood brother relationship - the fact that they are twins - only emerges when it is too late, with tragic results. The performance last night struck a combination of chords so much in tune with the collective sensibilities of the audience it had to be seen to be believed.
 
There was laughter, as well as tears, sympathy with and empathy for the characters, excellently portrayed by each individual performer. The musical score was superb, the scenery sensational and the story line so, so powerful.
 
And throughout it all there was one constant; the twins natural mother Mrs Johnstone, played by Linda Nolan, whose stunning performance provided the strong thread that linked all the component parts.
 
If there is one musical at The Empire you must see this year, it is this one. It is, quite simply, the best musical I have ever seen in my home city.
PATRICK LAVELLE
Sunderland Echo
If there is a more moving story in London right now than Willy Russell's tremendous epic of Liverpool life, I wish you'd lead me to it. For shining all the way through his big, gutsy musical Russell manages to instill the magic ingredients missing from most of the West End blockbusters-decency, humanity-and almost unbearable pathos.
 
Stephanie Lawrence is a wonderful revelation. Whether bawling out her brood or reflecting quietly on the body blows life has dealt her, she ditches all the glamour she is known for and is sheer magic in the part. Then there's the voice...from the haunting Marilyn Monroe to that anthem of grief Tell Me It's Not True, this extraordinary powerhouse of musical energy spills over the footlights and into the hearts and minds of the audience. There is not a dry eye in the house.

Carl Wayne, ex-lead singer of the Move, is the second surprise. As the sardonic Narrator he is judge and jury of the impending tragedy and the chiseled cheek bones stare impassively through the highs and lows of the unfolding lives. The chilling Shoes Upon the Table is sung with power and frightening intensity...and then reprised through the show as the years roll by. Macho and mesmerizing, he is the Greek Chorus on the Mersey.
It opened in the West End several years ago, but there was no sign at the Regent last night that this marvellous show, arguably the best British musical since Oliver!, has lost any of its power to move.
 
Playwright Willy Russell is a shrewd observer of working class foibles with a genius for dialogue that can move audiences to laughter and tears. With this musical he proved himself a songsmith of equal stature. Melodramatic it may be, but this simple moral tale of a destitute Liverpudlian mum who gives away one of her new-born boy twins to a wealthy, childless woman packs a massive emotional punch.
 
In a series of co-incidences worthy of a Shakespeare plot, the lives of the two boys are spookily intertwined. Although growing up on the opposite sides of the social divide, they become best of friends, ritual blood brothers, and eventually fall for the same girl. Neither knows, until it is too late, the other is his brother.
 
Observed by Keith Burns' sinister narrator, the two boys' progress from seven year olds playing cowboys and indians to teenagers wrestling with acne and adolescence is brilliantly captured by Christopher Warburton as Mickey, the cheeky scouse scallywag, and Daniel Fine as the well-spoken public schoolboy Eddie. Their earlier scenes - before class distinctions drive them apart - together and with their friend Linda, (a sweet and touching performance from Nikki Davis-Jones) crackle with comic energy.
 
On a versatile set, two rows of terraced houses and a skyline dominated by the famous Liver Building, the whole cast sing and act with tremendous gusto. At the centre of the drama is the gentle, stoical Mrs. Johnstone. As played by Denise Nolan, she is no downtrodden martyr, but a proud woman who wants nothing more than a few bob in her purse and a decent roof over her children's head. With her strong voice, she can sing in a whisper and the audience hangs on every word, and as the final tragedy unfolds, her resilience finally broken, she delivers the famous closing song "Tell Me It's Not True" with raw, heart-rending intensity.
 
An outstanding performance in an unmissable show.
JAMES HAYWARD
Ipswich Evening News
 
I envy anyone who has a ticket for 'Blood Brothers' during it's run at the Mayflower. The musical is one of the best shows that I have seen for a long time. Blood Brothers is not one of those shows where you know all the words to all of the songs and have seen the ending a thousand times, but that makes it all the more entertaining.
 
Set in Liverpool. the Willy Russell musical tells the tragic tale of twin brothers who were separated at birth and brought up in very different ways. They meet up and become the best of friends, despite their mothers best efforts to keep them apart for fear of the consequences. Sean Jones and Daniel fine are fantastic as twins Mickey and Eddie, and did a wonderful job of making the audience believe they were only seven years old during part of the production. I'm sure most people forgot, like I did, they were watching two grown men playing cowboys and Indians.
 
Denise Nolan is perfect as Mickey's long suffering mother and has found a far better platform to showcase her talents than her sister Coleen, who was last seen presenting ITV's 'This Morning' A special mention must go to Adam Watkiss whose amazing voice kept reminding the audience of the shows ominous climax in his role as Narrator. Blood Brothers has everything, while dealing with a very serious and harrowing issue, it manages to keep you in stitches of laughter throughout and there was hardly a dry eye in the house as the show reached it end. It may be one of the lesser known musicals, but Blood Brothers has certainly become one of my favourites.
EMMA BARNETT
Southampton Daily Echo
Willy Russell is a playwright who divides opinion. For many he's one of Britain's leading lights; For others he's merely a peddler of trite, sentimental, one-theme nonsense.
 
For those who last month who visited the Hippodrome to see Russell's near legendary Blood Brothers, you get the impression he is definitely the former rather than the latter. The story of twins separated at birth who grow up in different social circumstances only to find their lives are inextricably and tragically linked, Blood Brothers is a play with music and one that has been pulling at the heartstrings of its legion of fans for almost more years than anyone cares to remember.
 
This latest production is, of course, little changed from previous incarnations - it'd be folly to meddle with a winning formula, after all - and is presented by a cast who clearly have an enormous passion for their work. And even after all these years, the show remains impressively charged with energy.
 
With Denise Nolan excellent in the pivotal role of Mrs. Johnstone and Adam Watkiss performing admirably as the narrator, Blood Brothers makes for as powerful an evening of theatre as it has ever done.
PETER JOSHUA
Birmingham
By all rights, Willy Russell's "Blood Brothers" shouldn't work. A contemporary prince-and-pauper musical tragedy set in Liverpool, it's overlong by a fourth, boasts two songs worth a damn, no dancing, grown actors playing children, shuddery portents of doom, rhyming verse monologues and enough shmaltz to keep the Carnegie Deli in chopped liver well into the next century. It also wipes me away, without fail, every time.
 
Judging from the damp Kleenex count in the audience by the curtain call, I'm in good company. Regrettably, new audiences cannot revel in departed British cast members Stephanie Lawrence, Mark Michael Hutchinson and Con O'Neill, whose vivid performances camouflaged a multitude of blemishes. There are a number of consolations in the revised cast, not the least of whom is Petula Clark, who makes her Broadway debut in thrilling vocal form as a working-class mother who gives away one of her twin baby sons to a wealthy housewife out of economic necessity. Clark's dramatic range has always been somewhat limited, but she throws herself body and soul into the part with ultimately affecting results.
 
The gimmick of casting real-life brothers Shaun and David Cassidy as the. brothers Johnstone garners mixed rewards. If Shaun is no great shakes as a youngster, he grows in credibility as the privileged brother ages. David, by contrast. is a gutsy revelation as the poor but plucky Mickey, navigating the path from exuberant youth to depressed adulthood with a depth of feeling we never knew he had in him. The price of David Cassidy's hard-earned maturity is that it makes us feel oh-so old. Whenever Petula Clark sings with that precious Surrey lilt, however, we're younger than springtime.
New York Times
Willy Russell's 'Blood Brothers' which sails into the Lyric from the Liverpool Playhouse, is brilliant melodrama. Indeed it owes less to the modern British musical than to The Corsican Brothers or The Force Of Destiny. But it is melodrama done with such power, such intense belief in itself and, above all, such a wealth of good music, that it carries one along with it in almost unreserved enjoyment.
 
The achingly romantic songs...tell of grief and loss rather than the usual musical trivialities.
Many of these fall to Barbara Dickson as the mother, a riven figure in a headscarf rendering the lyrics with stunning clarity.
 
But there is good work from the whole cast, including Andrew Schofield as the hawk-like chorus and George Costigan as the deprived Mickey.
MICHAEL BILLINGTON
Guardian
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