1 post tagged “blood brothers”
Wow!
WOW!
I saw Blood Brothers again on Monday night, and am still thrilled from it.
It's a show I've seen on stage several times, in different theatres, with various different casts, and this latest performance probably tops all of them. My ticket was a thankyou present, for helping my parents move house a couple of months ago, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford to go.
The first time I saw it, Kiki Dee and Con O'Neill were the stars, they were both stunning. Kiki's voice was fabulous, and yet she was very able to play the downtrodden mum convincingly, and Con played Mickey with enthusiasm and energy, making the childhood part utterly believable, yet able to carry the depressed adult part with conviction too. I honestly didn't think that pairing could be matched and until Monday, they hadn't been.
The show has been tampered with, since the last time I saw it. There are a number of additions to the musical numbers, and a change in the way the affair, and the 'secret', are finally outed. Some of these additions work really well, others are not quite as positive.
Stephen Palfreman plays Mickey. He isn't someone I've ever heard of before, but he was brilliant. The idea of having a hulking great adult playing a seven (nearly eight) year old child, sounds ridiculous, but it works wonderfully well. The mannerisms, the way of standing, the speech, all create the illusion of a young boy. There's no thought of the adult playing a role, there's just a group of young kids playing kids games. Linda Nolan is Mrs Johnstone this time, her voice is wonderful, and she too, is very convincing.
It's a very emotional show, laughter throughout the first act, and through the first part of the second act too, and then the seriousness of reality, life on the dole, etc. By the end, most of the audience were in tears, and what made it all the more amazing, was that most of the cast were too. 'Mrs Johnstone' joined the two brothers' hands in death, and was quite literally sobbing, no pretence or acting.
