Blood Brothers /Willy Russell/ Part 1 The Great Idea

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 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


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