Blood Brothers - Willy Russell

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for Blood Brothers - Willy Russell

Rating Summary based on 21 reviews

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Detailed rating

Characters
How does it compare to similar works?
How does it compare to works by the same author?
Readability
Story

	4.8

	4.4

	4.5

	4.4

	4.7

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31 of 31 Ciao users found the following review helpful

hawkida

Say it's just a story 22/02/2004

User recommends the product

Advantages A great play
Disadvantages The text alone isn't enough - go and see it!

Despite how many schools insist that pupils read plays, a play is not a written work, it is intended for performance. However, the factors involved in putting on a performance are many and varied and part of the magic of theatre is that no two shows will be identical. For this reason, although a review may give a good indication of the experience of a show, it's no reliable guideline for how well the show will be received by future audiences. It is, therefore, a valid exercise to review the text objectively. Willy Russell's Blood Brothers is excellent when performed well on stage. Whilst ... more
10 of 10 Ciao users found the following review helpful

mynameisrui

Good show but know what to expect 07/07/2008

User recommends the product

Advantages Good music, good story
Disadvantages nothing really worth mentioning

I'll be honest, Blood Brothers was not what I expected and that really threw me off for the whole thing and reduced my enjoyment! After speaking to various people beforehand about it, I got the impression that it was a more serious affair than it was. I was expecting to go in and see something more like Les Miserables rather than Spamalot! The show lasts about 3 hours (including an interval) and is in the Phoenix Theatre which is located on Charing Cross Road which is placed slap bang in between Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road tube station and is very easy to find. Upon entering the ... more
19 of 19 Ciao users found the following review helpful

jeocar

Superstition mixed with humor. 21/05/2001

User recommends the product

Advantages Characters and the jokes in it.
Disadvantages Music, and some of the storyline is slightly tedious.

I went to see blood brothers at the theatre at christmas, and I thought the play was great. I had read Educating Rita in school, which I don't think is all that amazing, but I prefered this storyline. It's not only funny and amusing, but sad and upsetting. It really touches all your emotions. The basic storyline is about a women who gives up one of the twins she has to the rich women she works with. She has to give up her child, because she can't afford it. Throughout the play you follow the twins storys and love lives. The twins, naturally meet, and they fall in love with the same girl ... more
51 of 51 Ciao users found the following review helpful

LIZKEMPO

Member since 11/09/2003

Reviews written: 267

"Once is never enough" 09/01/2004

User recommends the product

Advantages An fab musical!!
Disadvantages N/A

Blood Brother’s “Once is never enough” Author: Willy Russell; Director: Bob Tomson; Producer: Bill Kenwright Ltd; Cast includes: Lyn Paul (Mrs Johnston) Philip Stewart (Narrator) Stephen Palfreman (Mickey), Mark Hutchinson (Eddie), Sarah Hay (Mrs Lyons), Louise Clayton (Linda), Stephen Pallister (Mr Lyons), Daniel Taylor (Sammy), Grant Aylward (PC/Teacher), Louis Tamone (Perkins), Louise Russell (Donna Marie), Alex Harland (Bus Conductor), Emily Buck (Brenda), James Templeton (Neighbour). Blood Brothers is an emotional, compelling musical, beautiful songs entwined with a heart wrenching story ... more
22 of 22 Ciao users found the following review helpful

ShedMonkey

shoes upon the table 06/10/2001

User recommends the product

Advantages Its fantastic, so many emotions
Disadvantages none, there are no disadvantages

"Blood Brothers" is the best play i have ever seen or read. I have seen the play performed 7 times and every time was as moving, hillarious, saddening and exciting as the last. When i saw the play for the first time, i wasn't prepared for the masive change of emotions i was about to experience. The play is about two twins seperated at birth as their mother (Mrs Johnston) cannot afford to keep them both. She sells one of the twins (Eddy) to Mrs Lyons the wealthy woman she cleans for and keeps the other (Mickey) who grows up on a council estate where he seems to make the best of his childhood ... more
27 of 27 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Vicki_ER

Did you ever hear the story of the Johnstone twins 27/01/2005

User recommends the product

Advantages Great singing, acting and of course story
Disadvantages Nothing

was first taken to see this show in London about 2 years ago as part of my drama course and after annoying my mum about how good it was and her becoming jealous we went to see it on tour first in Eastbourne then in Tunbridge Wells and I think we’re going to get tickets again for the one in London ***The Story*** The story I set in 1962 and revolves around two boys Mickey Johnstone and Eddie Lyons both from different backgrounds, one from a well off family (The Lyons’) and one from quite a poor but happy family (The Johnstone’s). The two boys become friends at the age of seven; we then watch ... more
5 of 5 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Loz

Well worth seeing 23/09/2000

User recommends the product

Advantages Incredible storyline
Disadvantages None!!!!!!

Blood Brothers is an absolutely fantastic play, it brings out all of the human emotions because it is incredibly funny but also incredibly sad. I went to see it at Milton Keynes theatre with my school drama group and so I had the opportunity to read the paly first before I saw. When you read it is very funny but the emotion doesn't come accross half as well as it does on stage. If you get the opportunity to see this play I would recommend that you go and see it. It highlights the differences between the 'upper' and 'lower' classes and covers the terrible dilemmna of a mother who gives one twin ... more
10 of 10 Ciao users found the following review helpful

bexx0907

Member since 23/06/2009

Reviews written: 629

Blood Brothers 24/06/2009

User recommends the product

Advantages The best musical I have ever seen
Disadvantages None whatsoever

Blood Brothers is a fantastic musical that has been around for over 20 years and is still as popular as ever. I have now seen it 5 times and cant wait to go again its that good. Book, lyrics and music are all by Willy Russell. Plot is centred around the working class Johnstone family with Mrs Johnstone becoming a single parent quite soon into the story as her husband leaves her with a brood of children. To feed her family Mrs Johnstone gets a job at the upper class Lyons household as a cleaner and is a big hit. Soon after she realises she is pregnant with twin boys and cant possibly afford to ... more
3 of 3 Ciao users found the following review helpful

dazzlair

Take a Letter Miss Jones...the news is good. 17/11/2009

User recommends the product

Advantages A powerful piece of live theatre
Disadvantages None

With interest in Blood Brothers revived through the canny decision to cast Mel C in the role of Mrs Johnstone, I thought I'd pen some thoughts. I've seen the West End production an embarassing number of times now (well into the double digits!) and almost always, have had every emotional button pushed. More of a play with songs, than a musical, the show lacks the gloss of Wicked or the gasp inducing sets of Phantom. But what it does have is a very big heart and a story that shamelessly manipulates your emotions - and hoorah I say to that too. The plot has been well documented in other reviews ... more
11 of 11 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Jojo14

Blood Brothers 06/08/2007

User recommends the product

Advantages Has many important themes to learn about
Disadvantages None

Blood brothers has been on the GCSE syllabus now for how many years? And that’s how I first got introduced into the play so I read it over and over and over and over again so I'd like to say I know it pretty well, and I didn't get all that bored of it. The play begins with telling you the ending, believe it or not. It tells you that there were twins, one given away and one kept yet they both died on the same day. The narrator tries to tell us that Mrs Johnstone (the twins' mother) was cruel and heartless, yet we learn throughout the play that she is a sweet and caring mother that would never ... more