Blood Brothers

musical by Willy Russell

Blood Brothers is a musical. The book, lyrics, and music were written by Willy Russell. It is one of the longest running musicals in history, with the performance running since its original 1988 West End production. It opened on Broadway on 25 April 1993 at the Music Box Theatre. It closed on 30 April 1995 after 840 performances.

Blood Brothers
MusicWilly Russell
LyricsWilly Russell
BookWilly Russell
BasisThe Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas
ProductionsWest End (1988)
Broadway (1993)
AwardsLaurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical (1983)

The musical has a main theme of nature vs. nurture; where two twins have been separated at birth. The twins different backgrounds are shown through class,wealth and social status. This continues showing the extremes in British society by one twin becoming an University graduate and the other being stuck with money and home problems. Both fall in love with the same girl, Linda, and end up dying on the same day, as the narrator tells you at the start of the performance.

Over the years the musical has been changed to suit the director. Some changes are that:

  • Micky kills Edward
  • The Police kill Micky
  • More Actors added
  • Changed songs

Musical Numbers

change

References

change
  1. Russell, Willy. Blood Brothers. London: Samuel French, 1985. 1-36.
  2. Russell, Willy. Blood Brothers. London: Samuel French, 1985. 37-70.