Tell Me It’s Not True

The cast of Blood Brothers receiving a well deserved standing ovation after an incredibly moving performance. But we were lucky to have seen it. After an exhausting afternoon’s retail therapy, we were late leaving the hotel to head to Llandudno. Still, we should easily have been there in time to get something for tea before the show. Except that an hour later we hadn’t even got out of Chester. The traffic was horrendous and we’d had to firstly backtrack and then head off down narrow country roads before finally making it on to the North Wales Expressway - thank goodness for a bit of local road knowledge, or we might still be stuck in a traffic jam!
By dint of driving at “cough-cough” MPH, we made it to the theatre with ten minutes to spare. No time for a relaxing tea, just a service station sandwich snatched in a pit stop worthy of an F1 team!
Travel problems do seem to be a recurring theme with this show. Last time we saw it - probably about 10 years ago? - we got stuck on the M6 heading to Preston and only just made it to our seats in time. Tea on that occasion was just a bag of crisps and an ice cream in the interval, so we did slightly better last night.
I also thought that the actor playing Mickey last night looked familiar, though I didn’t recognise the name. A bit of Googling this morning confirmed I was right - Sean Jones was playing the part for the last time on this tour, having played the same character on and off for the past twenty years. I must also give praise to Niki Evans who played Mrs Johnstone. Normally the words “X-Factor finalist” in an actor’s programme notes fill you with the dread that they are just in the cast as a “celeb” to draw in the punters. But I could not have been more wrong - an absolutely superb and powerful performance. No surprise to read lower down the notes that she used to be a rock singer with the likes of Black Sabbath, and producer Bill Kenwright cast her in the role a decade ago after seeing her on the tv programme and asked her to reprise the part for this tour.
The tour continues until November - if it’s coming anywhere near you, and you like that sort of thing, I can definitely recommend seeing it.