Blood Brothers /Willy Russell/ Part 1 The Great Idea

-


 In 1993 everybody noticed that DC again looked..different. On July 12th on the Today Show he wore a white shirt and  dark jacket. Yes, he played the guitar, but he left a rock singer image behind. DC was slimmer, had shorter hair, looked at least 10 years younger and much more vulnerable. He was to return on Broadway for the third time in his life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LphhCMAbrC4&t=186s

In June DC got a call from a  British producer Bill Kenwright, who asked David to fly to New York to see a musical called Blood Brothers on Broadway. It was opened in April with British actors (among them Stephanie Lawrence, DC's co-star in 'Time') but they had to be replaced by American cast, and also box office sales weren't very good .Kenwright wanted David to take the part of Narrator, but DC from the start knew that there was only one part for him, and he convinced Bill that he  should play Mickey Johnston. And it was a great idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu2MDK86Gqg

Blood Brothers was written in 1983 by Willy Russell, a very well known English dramatist, lyricist and composer. From 1991 the play was performed at the London's Phoenix Theatre (till 2012). It's a kind of a prince and a pauper story. Bill Kenwright found real  stars for the Broadway production, but first of all those stars were great singers and fine actors , Petula Clark and David Cassidy . Petula , a multi talented singer, was a global star in the 60s, she was also a tv, film and stage actress. Like DC she was a pro and a perfectionist. David and Petula liked each other from the start, even more , there was a mutual admiration and a true friendship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0vm8hynEQw

So David got the role of Mickey and the role of this other twin Eddie, was given to another Cassidy, his real step brother, Shaun. It was the first time they were to work together.

Shaun, after being a teen idol for a while, worked in the 80s as tv, but mostly as a stage actor, in the 90s he just started another (very successful) career as a screenwriter and producer. He also had a difficult time because of a very painful divorce..so at first he refused David's proposition.It turned out that it was his final stage appearance. Shaun :'..David and I went off this Blood Brothers adventure, which ended up being amazing in every way.(..) It was great working with him.I think the reason it was so successful was the fact that we were actually brothers.(..) The characters were as different as David and I are, although neither of us are like those characters.'(David Cassidy :Could It Be Forever?, 2017)


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Music_Box_Theatre_NYC_2007_Deuce.jpg


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robyn Millan

-
Image
  I learnt yesterday that Robyn Millan died last year. Someone published a post about the TPF's episode where she'd appeared as a guest star, 'Dora, Dora, Dora', Season 2 episode 1, aired 50 years ago, on September 17, 1971..And there was a comment about that episode that the script was poorly written, sexist etc. Maybe, no one would dare write something like that now, but the world looked different half a century ago..And I really felt sad yesterday because of Robyn. She started her short career in 1965, 33 credits, mostly tv roles - Mission:Impossible, The F.B.I, Hawaii 5.0, Ryan's Hope..But we would remember her as Dora, the girl Keith fell in love with, and Robyn, the girl David dated for a while.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZnk9RFKm0&t=1s  In December 1971 on Photoplay Magazine an interview with Robyn was published :' He is just marvellous and really knows how to handle his success.(..) We hit it off from that first day six months ago.(..) I resp...
Read more

Love Is All That I Ever Needed. A David Cassidy Biography. Chapter 1

-
Image
  Chapter 1 The Divorce David Bruce Cassidy was born on April 12, 1950 in New York City. He was born into show business, it was running in his blood. His parents were young and glamorous working actors. Jack Cassidy was 23 years old, Evelyn Ward 3 years older, both very busy with their career, frequently touring and absent. David spent his early years with his maternal grandparents in West Orange, New Jersey, just 20 miles from New York. He felt he was different from other kids, didn’t exactly fit in, his school friends’ parents didn’t look like his, they had ordinary jobs, like his grandfather, Frederic Ward, who all his life worked as a utility meter reader. David was a small child, slightly built, and had to wear glasses. During his life he underwent 5 eye operations. It wasn't easy to be the youngest, and not to have a brother or a sister. Someone to fight with, but also to play with, and to share love, good and bad experiences. He was a lonely child, brought up by honest,...
Read more

'He Was So Pretty You Couldn't Look Away..'

-
Image
'and sexy in a way that is timeless.' It's from Kevin Fallon's article published on www.thedailybeast.com on November  22, 2017.  Maybe it's not the smartest thing to do, but the newest article about David Cassidy on Record Collector Magazine, and first of all different pointsview of it, made me have a look on some articles published after this horrible day,  November 21, 2017. But first a song. We experience another heat wave here in Poland, I haven't seen a rain in many days, which is scary, so maybe a song about a rainy day. We miss David on any day, and this is one of his best songs. And amazing, very moving tribute video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ6qjfK72L8 We have 42 web articles from November and December 2017, on the website, and I can't see Kevin Fallon's on the list, even that I'm sure I sent it Jane last year, because this is not the first time I'm writing about this article. I'm a former librarian, I believe everything sho...
Read more