[NEohioPAL] Check out Mercury Summer Stock's Blood Brother reviews

[Brian Marshall]

AND COME SEE FOR YOURSELF!

Christine Howey: Rave and Pan

http://raveandpan.blogspot.com/


Aaron Krause: Norfolk Reflector

PARMA — Musical tragedy.

Now there are two words we don’t often use in the same sentence.

When we think musical theater, images of dancing chorus girls, big,  
hummable show tunes and happy endings usually come to mind.

But if we’re at all familiar with “Blood Brothers,” we know that  
musical tragedies do exist (see also “West Side Story,” a tragic  
musical based on “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, who also  
incorporated songs into his tragedies).

“Blood Brothers,” which carries some echoes of “West Side Story,”  
runs through July 26 at the Parma Little Theatre in a Mercury Summer  
Stock theater production.!“Brothers” begins with a mother grieving  
over her dead twins. A haunting chant that is somber and funereal  
fills the stage.

The story comes full circle; We flashback to the time before the  
twins are born, follow them through life and we end with their death  
on a dark street in Liverpool, England. The song at the end matches  
the opening chant in its somber quality; it is called “Tell Me It’s  
Not True,” one of the musical’s more emotional songs.

Jennifer Myor, as the mother, Mrs. Johnstone, joins the rest of the  
cast in singing a heartfelt rendition of this number. Myor scrunches  
up her face in such a way that Mrs. Johnstone suddenly looks old,  
weary and spent. It is as though the tragic and unnecessary killing  
snuffed all life out of her.

To lead up to this point, “Blood Brothers” author, composer and  
lyricist Willy Russell weaves an eye-opening tale about the rift  
between social classes, jealousy, family, fate and superstition and  
the real, often harsh, world.

Mrs. Johnstone, a single mother with many children, works as a maid  
for the upper class Lyons family. The Lyons, who tried but could  
never have children, desperately want a baby. Mrs. Johnstone is  
pregnant with what she believes is a single child; she feels she can  
still cope — albeit barely — with one more addition.

Then she learns she’s really pregnant with twins — one more child too  
many. Mrs. Johnstone, realizing how desperate her employer is for a  
child, hands over one of the pair. It is a decision she initially  
regrets, but Mrs. Lyons offers her employee no second chances. She is  
determined and desperate for a child, and makes her swear on the  
Bible never to take the child back.

Mrs. Lyons (played as a snobby woman by Amiee Collier) uses Mrs.  
Johnstone’s superstitious nature against her: She tells her a set of  
twins separated at birth must never learn they are one of a pair;  
otherwise, they’ll both die. Sometimes, the past follows you, even  
stalks you, throughout life, as Russell vividly illustrates.

Russell uses the device of a narrator, who is really a kind of  
conscience to the characters, as a reminder of the harsh, real world.  
Think of the narrator as a voice in the back of the characters’  
minds, telling them what they already know, but cringe to hear. The  
narrator is played severely with foreboding eyes by a black suit clad  
Matthew Patrick.

During the narrator’s appearances, glaring red lighting adds to the  
intensity of the scenes.

  Dan Marshall as twin  Mickey Johnstone is equally impressive,  
effortlessly conveying intense, unaffected emotion, particularly in  
the final scene. It is one of those performances in which an actor  
thoroughly disappears into a character.

“Blood Brothers” is not all depressing. In fact, a good number of the  
scenes and songs are upbeat.

We first meet the twins from the time they’re happy, innocent small  
children. We grow fonder and closer to them as the story progresses,  
so that their sudden, untimely and unnecessary demise deeply affects us.

  We feel we’ve lost a part of ourselves as well.


And Pick up the Sun Paper of West side with critic Ted Larsen.


MERCURY SUMMER STOCK

presents

Brian and Dan Marshall

In

Blood Brothers

Book, Music and Lyrics by: Willy Russell

“Their Lives Were World’s Apart. Their Destiny Joined Them Together.”


Directed and Choreographed by Pierre-Jacques Brault

Musical Directed by Evie Morris


Opening Friday July 11th, 2008

At the Parma Little Theatre

6285 W 54th Street, Parma, OH 44129


Mercury Summer Stock is pleased to present an encore presentation of  
Willy Russell’s groundbreaking musical, BLOOD BROTHERS. The epic  
tale, which is the second offering of Mercury’s 10th Anniversary  
Season, tells the captivating tale of twin boys, separated at birth  
only to be re-united by a twist of fate and a mother's haunting  
secret. BLOOD BROTHERS is the third longest running hit in musical  
theatre history, with the 1988 West End production still selling to  
capacity after a remarkable 21 years. Mercury Summer Stock’s staging  
of BLOOD BROTHERS will pair real-life brothers, professional actors  
Brian and Dan Marshall onstage as the fated twins.

The legendary BLOOD BROTHERS tells the captivating and moving tale of  
twins who, separated at birth, grow up on opposite sides of the  
tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences. The incredible  
score includes the British Billboard hits Bright New Day, Not Saying  
A Word and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It’s Not True. Few  
musicals have received quite such praise as the multi-award winning  
BLOOD BROTHERS, which, having opened in 1988 to tremendous acclaim,  
continues to enjoy standing ovations at every devastating  
performance. No wonder BLOOD BROTHERS is now ‘The musical for all time’.

Brian Marshall (Edward Lyons) was last seen in Cleveland as Man #2 in  
The Playhouse Square Broadway Series mounting of Forbidden Broadway  
SVU at the pre-renovated Hannah Theatre. Dan Marshall (Mickey  
Johnston) played right next-door as Jeremy DiMini in the long-running  
We Gotta Bingo, at the 14th Street Stage. Both are members of Actors  
Equity and have enjoyed a successful careers off-Broadway, regionally  
and in tours across the USA. With Mercury Summer Stock, they have  
been seen onstage together in numerous shows, most recently in  
Mercury’s return engagement of Honk!

Also, featured in the cast are Cleveland favorite’s Aimee Collier as  
Mrs. Lyons, Jennifer Myor as Mrs. Johnstone, Molly Richards as Linda  
and Shane O’Neill as Sammy. Duke University student Matthew Patrick  
takes on the role of the Narrator and Mercury alums Danielle Renard,  
Jon Gellott, Max Chernin, Annie Hickey and Matt Wiederhold round out  
the cast. Blood Brothers is directed by Artistic Director Pierre- 
Jacques Brault with Music Direction by Evie Morris.

Tickets for BLOOD BROTHERS are available by calling Mercury Summer  
Stock box office at (216) 771-5862.

At A Glance:

What: Mercury Summer Stock presents: Brian and Dan Marshall in BLOOD  
BROTHERS

When: July  18, 19, 23, 24, 25, & 26; All performances at 7:30PM

Where: Parma Little Theatre (Adjacent to Parma Senior High) 6285 W.  
54th, Parma OH 44129

Cost: $15.00 for Adults and $12.00 for Students (college and under) / 
Seniors (65 and up)

For reservations and more information please call (216) 771-5862 and  
visit our website at www.mercurysummerstock.com
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