Blood Brothers on the West End

[EZEtoGRU]

I'm on a quick trip to London and upon arriving yesterday learned that the long-running (25 years?) West End Musical Blood Brothers will be closing in the next 2 weeks. Whilst I've seen it several times before, I rushed out to get a ticket for Saturday night's performance. I'm so happy I got to see it again before it closed. What a simple yet wonderful musical. No dance numbers or big production numbers to see in Blood Brothers. Really more of a play with singing (does that make sense?) than an out and out musical. The story draws you in (poor woman in Northern England gives birth to twins and gives one away to a wealthy family as she cannot afford to keep both) and keeps you involved.....and also it contains some quite catchy musical numbers. The finale is a West End classic with the stunning number of "Tell me it's not true" which the main character of Mrs Johnstone sings when her Twin sons die on the same day. The ending challenges the audience to not have a dry eye or lump in throat........and it is a guaranteed standing ovation at every performance (that I have seen at least).

 

Blood Brothers is most well-known in the UK although it did also play in the US (broadway and touring) and Australia. Over the years, the role of Mrs Johnstone has been played by a who's who of 70's, 80's, & 90's pop singers including Petula Clarke, Kiki Dee, Carol King, Helen Reddy, Melanie C (spice girl) and also some lesser known ladies. In the original UK production, Mrs Johnstone was played by Barbara Dickson. I have attached a youtube clip of her singing the signature number on a UK TV show. This performance does not really capture the emotion one is feeling by the end of the show when this number is actually performed. However, I could not find any good quality videos of the actual number being performed on stage. Enjoy.