Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers begins with a rousing musical number. But as a slightly hassled spectator who ran up the back stairs in order to catch the beginning of the first number, the first thing I noticed was that the acoustics favoured the band’s sound rather than the singers.
But, as Blood Brother’s is the Gladstone Theatre’s first foray into musical theatre, it is likely that this imbalance will be rectified at later shows.
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Blood Brothers
Directed by Charles McFarland
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The first musical number sets the scene and gives a little background on the story of a single mother, pregnant with her eighth child and struggling to make ends meet in London’s East End.
When her husband leaves her, Mrs. Johnston played at an almost perfect mix of sympathetic and pathetic by Emmanuelle Zeesman, goes to work as a cleaning lady for a wealthier childless woman, Mrs. Lyons, played impeccably by Margo Macdonald.
When Mrs. Lyons, whose absentee workaholic husband is away on a nine-month business trip finds out Mrs. Johnston is pregnant with twins, Mrs. Lyons begins heavily pressuring her vulnerable employee to give her one of the twins so that she can have the child she always dreamed of.
This first number was a great introduction to the story but the sound issues overshadowed the cast’s enthusiasm.
Telling the story of two twins separated at birth, who manage to find each other and become best friends despite their very different backgrounds, was no challenge for Diego Arvalo who played Eddie, Mrs. Lyons’s stolen son, and David daCosta who played Mickey, the child she kept.
The actors created an undeniable and convincing brotherly chemistry through their playfulness onstage.
Henry Austin Shikongo played Mickey’s older troublemaking brother, Sammi, with flair and likability, not an easy trait to convey when playing a character who vandalizes the neighbourhood and attacks bus conductors.
Linda, the girl who both twins fall in love with, grows up in front of the audience’s eyes and Stephanie Izsak appears to know her character inside out.
The ensemble cast was competent but the standout performances of Zeesman, Arvalo, DaCosta and Izsak frequently outshone their contributions.
The set was sparse and utilitarian. However, throughout the first and second act though the talented cast seemed to create different settings all over it, out of thin air. The highlight of the cast’s scene setting was the morphing of the set into a double-decker bus in the second act.
This musical has the distinction of being one of the longest-running productions in London. The actors tried to convey their surroundings with English accents, with limited success.
Over the course of the first and second act, the actors became more and more convincing. It was as if while the audience was settling into their seats, the actors were settling into their characters.
The play that unfolds like a crescendo, building intensity and realism as the story progressed until you believed you had somehow been transported to the East End to watch your neighbour’s personal dramas unfold with the help of a well-cast omniscient narrator, played expertly by Andy Massingham.
Overall, the production suffered from some acoustic problems, but its narrative is gripping and builds effectively to its final conclusion. The cast achieves an emotional ending and should be congratulated for an excellent production.
Blood Brothers plays until May 15 at the Gladstone Theatre.