REVIEW
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
Blood Brothers
Chelmsford Theatre
Tuesday 29 September 2026 – Saturday 3 October 2026
heading to
the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea from Tuesday 12 January to Saturday 16 January 2027
For tickets https://trafalgartickets.com/southend-theatres/en-GB/event/musical/blood-brothers-tickets
A thought provoking and dramatic evening’s entertainment
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
Blood Brothers
Chelmsford Theatre
Tuesday 29 September 2026 – Saturday 3 October 2026
heading to
the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend-on-Sea from Tuesday 12 January to Saturday 16 January 2027
For tickets https://trafalgartickets.com/southend-theatres/en-GB/event/musical/blood-brothers-tickets
A thought provoking and dramatic evening’s entertainment
There have been many productions of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers over the years; however, the show is still as popular as ever with sell out audiences. This production at the Chelmsford Theatre is no exception.
The show, unusually for a musical, starts with a dark scene of death that pulls you into a world of poverty, sadness and grief. Blood Brothers tell the story of twin brothers, Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Joe Sleight) and their mother, who struggling to feed her family, can’t afford to keep an extra two babies. She gives one away, and the boys are raised in different circumstances in fifties Liverpool. As time progresses the difference in their status is obvious when they meet through time, without knowing that they are really brothers.
Sean Jones is returning to a part that he has played on the West End stage and gives a highly energised performance as the boy and the man. His enthusiasm and exuberance as the child is still there but gradually declines as he ages.
The show, unusually for a musical, starts with a dark scene of death that pulls you into a world of poverty, sadness and grief. Blood Brothers tell the story of twin brothers, Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Joe Sleight) and their mother, who struggling to feed her family, can’t afford to keep an extra two babies. She gives one away, and the boys are raised in different circumstances in fifties Liverpool. As time progresses the difference in their status is obvious when they meet through time, without knowing that they are really brothers.
Sean Jones is returning to a part that he has played on the West End stage and gives a highly energised performance as the boy and the man. His enthusiasm and exuberance as the child is still there but gradually declines as he ages.
There is a nice contrast from Joe Sleight as Eddie, the twin brother, who is the repressed, priggish, alter ego to Mickey (Sean’s) exuberance. However, as Mickey becomes depressed after his prison experience, Sean’s delivery is a little too quiet. However, his performance of a man slowly deteriorating is heart breaking.
Performed with a minimalist set, the cast give strong performances as they change from hyperactive children to teenagers then to adults. All this is played in a way that suspends disbelief and at the start you could really be watching a crowd of cheeky, noisy children. It is also very clever the way that scenes evolve in a workshop fashion. Just a few chairs are moved around to become a bus or a cinema and it is most effective.
Performed with a minimalist set, the cast give strong performances as they change from hyperactive children to teenagers then to adults. All this is played in a way that suspends disbelief and at the start you could really be watching a crowd of cheeky, noisy children. It is also very clever the way that scenes evolve in a workshop fashion. Just a few chairs are moved around to become a bus or a cinema and it is most effective.
The main character of Mrs Johnson (Vivienne Carlye) who is the emotional core of the musical, requires a strong vocal performance. Vivienne is following in the footsteps of famous performers such as Barbara Dickson and even the Spice Girl Mel C. However, she did not suffer in comparison; her rendition of the songs is particularly powerful. She also gives a realistic performance of a woman dragged down by poverty and childbearing, but has the comic delivery of the natural 'Scouser' who hides her suffering with a smile. The audience immediately felt sympathy for her situation. Overtime she gradually ages, but only through characterisation, which works very well.
I also liked Tricia Adele Turner as Mrs Lyons, who begins as a kind, sad woman, who is desperate for a baby. However, once she is handed one of Mrs Johnson’s twins she becomes a paranoid hysteric.
There are also strong performances by Beth Danher as Linda, the girlfriend, both as the child and the mini skirted adult, Michael Gillette (Sammy) and Kristofer Harding as the Narrator. The latter, tells the story in both rhyme and song, foreshadowing the darker side, giving the sense that fate has something dramatic planned.
I also liked Tricia Adele Turner as Mrs Lyons, who begins as a kind, sad woman, who is desperate for a baby. However, once she is handed one of Mrs Johnson’s twins she becomes a paranoid hysteric.
There are also strong performances by Beth Danher as Linda, the girlfriend, both as the child and the mini skirted adult, Michael Gillette (Sammy) and Kristofer Harding as the Narrator. The latter, tells the story in both rhyme and song, foreshadowing the darker side, giving the sense that fate has something dramatic planned.
The show of course has the familiar songs, Marilyn Monroe, Easy Terms, and Bright New Day and of course the all-time favourite Tell Me It’s Not True. This song is the dramatic finale that everyone waits for and has become a standard.
This musical has a strong, dramatic narrative as well as memorable songs. It is amazing to realise that it started as a play performed to schoolchildren. The development of the events, carry the show along so much that the songs become incidental. Everyone knows that the show is building towards a tragic climax, but when it arrives, it is still a shock. Although there is a dark theme running through it, there is also a lot of comedy and humour.
Blood Brothers is known as ‘the standing ovation musical’ and in typical fashion, the emotional wrench at the end brought the audience to their feet to applaud this heart rending and show stopping performance.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
This musical has a strong, dramatic narrative as well as memorable songs. It is amazing to realise that it started as a play performed to schoolchildren. The development of the events, carry the show along so much that the songs become incidental. Everyone knows that the show is building towards a tragic climax, but when it arrives, it is still a shock. Although there is a dark theme running through it, there is also a lot of comedy and humour.
Blood Brothers is known as ‘the standing ovation musical’ and in typical fashion, the emotional wrench at the end brought the audience to their feet to applaud this heart rending and show stopping performance.
Review: Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
Performances continue:-
Tuesday 29 September 2026 – Saturday 3 October 2026
Recommended age 12+
Group Booking discount available (one in every ten free)
Concessions £2 off Bands A and B (Tue to Wed only)
Contains gunshot sound effects, strong language, mild sexual references and adult themes, low smoke, haze, strobes, and flashing lights.
Thursday 1 October 2.30pm will be captioned.
Wheelchair accessible and essential companion tickets must be booked via our Access Scheme
Prices subject to change
Box Office -01245 606505
Tour Continues:-
Autumn 2026 Tour29 Sep – 3 Oct CHELMSFORD Chelmsford Theatre
6 – 10 Oct GRIMSBY Grimsby Auditorium
13 – 17 Oct CHESTER Storyhouse Theatre
20 – 24 Oct BIRMINGHAM Hippodrome
27 – 31 Oct LEICESTER Curve
10 – 14 Nov CRAWLEY The Hawth
17 – 21 Nov MALVERN Malvern Theatre
24 – 28 Nov NORTHAMPTON Royal & Derngate
Spring 2027 Tour12 -16 Jan SOUTHEND Cliffs Pavilion
19 -23 Jan SOUTHAMPTON Mayflower
26 – 30 Jan DARTFORD Orchard Theatre
2 – 6 Feb SHEFFIELD Lyceum
9 – 13 Feb NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion
16 – 20 Feb CARDIFF Wales Millennium Centre
23 – 27 Feb EASTBOURNE Congress Theatre
2 – 6 Mar WOKING Theatre
9 – 13 Mar BLACKPOOL Winter Gardens
16 – 20 Mar NORWICH Theatre Royal
23 – 27 Mar BILLINGHAM Forum Theatre
31 Mar – 3 Apr SKEGNESS Embassy Theatre
6 – 10 Apr TORQUAY Princess Theatre
13 – 24 Apr MANCHESTER Palace Theatre
27 Apr – 1 May CROYDON Fairfield Halls
4 – 8 May BATH Theatre Royal
11 – 15 May LEEDS Grand Theatre
18 – 22 May SHREWSBURY Theatre Severn
Autumn 2027 Tour14 – 18 Sep NOTTINGHAM Theatre Royal
Tuesday 29 September 2026 – Saturday 3 October 2026
- Evenings 7.30 pm – Mat Wed, Thurs and Sat 2.30 pm
- Duration: 170 mins
- Tickets: £29.00 - £54.00
- Venue: Chelmsford Theatre
Recommended age 12+
Group Booking discount available (one in every ten free)
Concessions £2 off Bands A and B (Tue to Wed only)
Contains gunshot sound effects, strong language, mild sexual references and adult themes, low smoke, haze, strobes, and flashing lights.
Thursday 1 October 2.30pm will be captioned.
Wheelchair accessible and essential companion tickets must be booked via our Access Scheme
Prices subject to change
Box Office -01245 606505
Tour Continues:-
Autumn 2026 Tour29 Sep – 3 Oct CHELMSFORD Chelmsford Theatre
6 – 10 Oct GRIMSBY Grimsby Auditorium
13 – 17 Oct CHESTER Storyhouse Theatre
20 – 24 Oct BIRMINGHAM Hippodrome
27 – 31 Oct LEICESTER Curve
10 – 14 Nov CRAWLEY The Hawth
17 – 21 Nov MALVERN Malvern Theatre
24 – 28 Nov NORTHAMPTON Royal & Derngate
Spring 2027 Tour12 -16 Jan SOUTHEND Cliffs Pavilion
19 -23 Jan SOUTHAMPTON Mayflower
26 – 30 Jan DARTFORD Orchard Theatre
2 – 6 Feb SHEFFIELD Lyceum
9 – 13 Feb NEW BRIGHTON Floral Pavilion
16 – 20 Feb CARDIFF Wales Millennium Centre
23 – 27 Feb EASTBOURNE Congress Theatre
2 – 6 Mar WOKING Theatre
9 – 13 Mar BLACKPOOL Winter Gardens
16 – 20 Mar NORWICH Theatre Royal
23 – 27 Mar BILLINGHAM Forum Theatre
31 Mar – 3 Apr SKEGNESS Embassy Theatre
6 – 10 Apr TORQUAY Princess Theatre
13 – 24 Apr MANCHESTER Palace Theatre
27 Apr – 1 May CROYDON Fairfield Halls
4 – 8 May BATH Theatre Royal
11 – 15 May LEEDS Grand Theatre
18 – 22 May SHREWSBURY Theatre Severn
Autumn 2027 Tour14 – 18 Sep NOTTINGHAM Theatre Royal