Review: Smile, laugh and have your emotions stirred - that's Blood Brothers for you
Twin boys separated at birth. Mickey leads an impoverished childhood, with few prospects, while Edward treads a very different path: wealthy parents, boarding school, university.
On opposite sides of the tracks, yet their lives become frequently, unknowingly, entwined. Ultimately, fatefully, united in tragedy as their secret is revealed.
Were they born that way or has the class system dictated how their lives played out?
That is the question posed by Willy Russell’s always excellent Blood Brothers, which opened last night at Peterborough's New Theatre.
It is a powerful, very moving and thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre which for four decades has been wowing audiences everywhere (and if you haven't seen it, what have you been doing for the past 40 years?)
Is is littered with great humour, some very funny moments - helped in part by adults playing children, of course - and a score of fantastic songs.
The music is attention-grabbing and incredibly atmospheric too.
It is a show I have seen numerous times that never fails to deliver in terms of making you smile, laugh out loud and have your emotions stirred.
Sean Jones (Mickey) and Joe Sleight (Eddie) stand out as the two very different “brothers”. Mickey's decline is again wonderfully portrayed by the show veteran Jones.
And Vivienne Carlyle excels in an iconic musical theatre role - that of Mrs Johnstone, the twins' mum with the awful secret. The big, most memorable songs are hers, and she shines.
The ensemble, switching through numerous characters, were as always on top form,
You can see Blood Brothers at New Theatre until Saturday.
Tickets at www.newtheatre-peterborough.com