Willy Russell’s worldwide smash-hit show Blood Brothers, which premiered nearly 40 years ago, makes a triumphant return to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

The dramatic musical, familiar to countless pupils who have seen it during school theatre outings over the last four decades, remains fresh and topical as it returns to the Midlands.

Willy Russell (Educating Rita), who wrote the book, lyrics and music for Blood Brothers, must be a very happy man indeed as his legendary work – which was first showcased in London’s West End in 1983 – continues to engage and delight audiences in 2022.

Despite being written nearly 40 years ago the show deals with current issues such as poverty and inequality

The tear-jerking plot about Liverpudlian twin brothers Mickey and Eddie being separated at birth, in tragic and heartbreaking circumstances, is poignant and topical in the current era where the cost of living and the rise of fuel and energy prices is forcing families to make drastic – and sometimes tragic – sacrifices.

Blood Brothers highlights social injustice and the chasm created by class division as the two brothers grow up on opposite sides of life, one rich and affluent and the other poor and destitute.

Poverty-stricken Mrs Johnstone, mother to the twin boys, is forced to give up Eddie to her rich employer Mrs Lyons who yearns for a baby of her own but is unable to conceive. Single-mother Mrs Johnstone, who already has seven children, makes a heart wrenching decision and agrees to part with one of her twins.

This desperate act of giving up her child, due to extreme poverty, triggers a chain of fateful events which will echo through the years and culminate in tragedy.

The show begins and ends with heartbreak as a mother weeps for her sons

Russell’s emotional musical tugs at the heartstrings as the twins grow up and the fractured pathways of their lives intersect.

However, despite being drawn towards each other through their natural blood bond, the division of class and economics ruptures their natural love and affection for each other.

The cast for this production of Blood Brothers is absolutely riveting and deliver performances which stir the senses.

The love, sacrifices and strength of a hardworking mother are celebrated in the show

Niki Colwell Evans (X-Factor) is emotionally electrifying as the beleaguered Mrs Johnstone. Evans is strong and resilient as the mother who has been abandoned by her husband for a younger and prettier woman.

Evans lifts the character of Mrs Johnstone from the slums of Liverpool and transports her into the palace of the human heart. She makes the audience feel the pain of a mother having to part with a child in order to feed the rest of her children.

It would have been so tempting for a lesser talent to resort to melodramatic gimmicks to highlight the various hues and tones of Mrs Johnstone, but Evans goes in the opposite direction. She goes inwards, and uses subtle body language and vocal nuances to suggest the advent of age and the pain she nurses deep inside her soul.

Evans uses her incredible singing voice to powerful effect, and in the closing stages of the musical her voice becomes a tempest of emotions which reduced many people in the audience to tears.

Themes of injustice, inequality, and class divide permeate the drama

The two talented artists – who took on the roles of the twins – were perfectly in flow, emotionally and dramatically, throughout the entire running time of the show. Sean Jones, as the younger twin Mickey, and Jay Worley as Eddie the elder, were very effective in conveying their transition from friendship to alienation, and then to a fatalistic conclusion as their lives collide. Their chemistry, and the social contrast between their characters, is so real and palpable.

Paula Tappenden took on the role of the rich, yet emotionally cold and callous, Mrs Lyons. Tappenden’s masterly of the character of Mrs Lyons was so effective that there were moments where she only had to appear in a scene and she instantly gripped the attention and held the audience captive with her presence.

The intriguing part of the mysterious Narrator was performed with gleeful zest by Richard Munday. He peppered the role of the Narrator with the ominous darkness of the Grim Reaper.

Willy Russell's award-winning musical is playing at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre — Willy Russell’s award-winning musical is playing at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

Director Bill Kenwright ensures the action moves along briskly, while the atmospheric sound design by Dan Samson is so visceral and compelling that there were moments when the audience physically shook as waves of sound flooded the intimate space of the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

Nick Richings poetic lighting heightened the changing moods and highlighted the shifts in time. The metaphorical tones of the lighting remained in tune as the musical surged from light comedy and hurtled towards its bleak and heartrending climax.

The audience gave a well-deserved standing ovation to this beautifully nuanced production. This gritty musical still has the power to make people weep after all these years as was evidenced during this performance where members of the audience could be seen wiping away tears as they clapped. This was a truly special night at the theatre which reached deep into the hearts of the audience.

Blood Brothers is more than a musical, it’s a story that uncannily echoes our desperate and economically uncertain times, and in this production the songs it shares seem to ring with our melodies.