What a year we have planned!
Music, Theater, Comedy, Opera, Dance.
The Theater you know and love is here for you.
City Theater - the Heart of the Performing Arts
Tickets are available for purchase online!
Directed by Linda Sturdivant
Fridays and Saturdays July 17th through August 1st at 8PM
Sunday Matinee, July 26th at 2PM
All seats $15.00
By line: Cassandra Sturdivant
The first time I saw Blood Brothers was in London's West End. I had arrived a week early for my semester abroad, and I was determined to see a show in London. I'm not sure what twist of fate led me to it, but in my second night in the city I found myself holding a single ticket for Blood Brothers.
I will not soon forget how gorgeous this musical was nor my reaction to it. I was laughing and crying, all by myself in this huge theater full of people. I was literally on the edge of my seat until the very end, when I and four-hundred other audience members rose to our feet in unison, hooting and clapping with enthusiasm.
I have since had the pleasure of sitting in on one of the rehearsals for Biddeford City Theater's upcoming run of Blood Brothers (July 17-August 1). What struck me is that whether watching the West End run, where Blood Brothers has been playing for the past twenty-two years, or watching City Theater's rehearsal, I have had the same reaction.
In Biddeford, I was also laughing and crying, but this time with the director and the producers sitting next to me as I wiped away the same tears of laughter and of sorrow.
Blood Brothers is at once a tragedy and a comedy, where fate plays an integral and often tragic role. It opens with the Narrator unfolding the entire story beginning to end – a reminder that HE, as Fate, is the true protagonist in the story.
The show starts
So Did Y' Hear The Story
Of The Johnstone Twins?
As Like Each Other As Two New Pins
Of One Womb Born, On The Self Same Day,
How One Was Kept And One Given Away?
and then moves quickly into an up-tempo yet gripping "Marilyn Monroe," about how the twins' mother found herself a single parent of eight children.
However, for me, it is "On Easy Terms," where Mrs. Johnstone laments needing to separate the twins, that the full force of the show hits me.
She sings,
Living on the never, never
Constant as the changing weather
Never sure
Who's at the door
Or the price I'll have to pay
Should we meet again
I will not recognize your name.
I could never quite describe how gorgeous this musical is, nor how compelling. It brings up basic questions about our society, about nature versus nurture, about how our wealthiest class treats our working class and about how some circumstances lead to inevitable ends, when second-chances are not given, when all we need is taken away.
But Blood Brothers also tells the story of love, of boy meets girl, or happiness being taken from simple pleasures, like a true and unbreakable friendship.
The people of Southern Maine have a wonderful opportunity to see a magnificent show. Blood Brothers will be playing at Biddeford City Theater from July 17-August 1. Fridays and Saturdays, 8:00 p.m. Sunday matinee July 26th, 2:00 p.m. All seats are $15. Tickets are available on line www.citytheater.org or call 282-0849 to make a reservation
Sponsored by:
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