Fort Collins – “Blood Brothers” is a complex, epic play that hardly needs to be set to music. By tracing the life trajectory of twins separated at birth, British author Willy Russell spins a melodramatic human yarn about fate and destiny within an angry condemnation of economic inequalities. The last thing such an engrossing tale needs is a coda.
Mrs. Johnstone, a single, destitute housekeeper already the mother of seven and now pregnant with twins, makes a desperate deal with her wealthy, childless employer: Each will raise one. They take an oath that the boys will never learn the secret of their parentage, just as the boys later take a blood oath to remain best friends for life. But time, superstition, economic realities and the boys’ mutual affection for the same girl all conspire to sabotage their blood right to simply be together.
Just who has won and lost this birth lottery is never obvious (neither is why Mom didn’t simply give away both babes so they could stay together). Mickey (Kurt Terrio) is the “chosen one” who remains home with his natural mother (Kimberley Tedder-Hernandez), while Eddie (Mark Giles) is claimed by the rich loon Mrs. Lyons (Alison Mueller).
While Mickey has the love of his natural mother and the camaraderie of his siblings, he grows up hungry and penniless, and is eventually drawn into a life of crime by older brother Sam (Seth Caikowski). Eddie has all the creature comforts, but he is a lonely, spoiled kid until he accidentally meets Mickey and they become pals.
Mrs. Lyons is so paranoid over this friendship she moves Eddie to the country. Yet almost insidiously, larger forces conspire to keep the boys in proximity, allowing all manner of nature-versus-nurture questions to unfold.
By the time the boys are young adults, their circumstances could not be more different. Mickey is a despondent ex-con; Eddie a councilman. And yet, to the very end, Russell asks, “Do we blame superstition for what came to pass? Or could it be what we have come to know as class?”
This massive effort is just the latest “first” for the fearless Carousel Dinner Theater, which becomes the first dinner outfit in the country to stage a musical that has been a London staple for two decades.
It’s a reasonable fit. With one of its best sets to date (by Eric Corneliuson), a golden-voiced ensemble, a four-piece band and a state-of-the-art sound system that’s the pristine centerpiece of a recent $50,000 renovation, the Carousel is mostly up to the challenge.
If only it weren’t for that insipid music. Russell’s repetitive score stretches a reasonable evening interminably. There are two catchy lyrics – one about Marilyn Monroe and another about the devil having your number – but they are repeated so many times it may not be safe to leave customers with cutlery in hand.
The lead performances are all strong. The night belongs to young Tedder-Hernandez, whose piercing, melancholy characterization of the baby-popping mum more than makes up for her lack of years. Heather Larson makes an impact as Linda, a loyal girlfriend caught between brothers. And rappin’ Mark Johnson is an engagingly repressed bogeyman of a narrator – think Che from “Evita” in a suffocating tie.
Terrio and Giles, a good match for fraternal twins, are called upon to play the boys at 8, 15, 18 and 24ish. Giles makes it look easy at every age, but Terrio has the greater challenge and far wider arc to construct, collapsing as he must into an ex-con hooked on tranquilizers. Terrio, the theater’s co-owner, makes his Carousel debut, and anyone who has sat through his necessary but platitudinous opening remarks will be pleasantly surprised to discover he can dig so deep. Still, as an actor, he should turn the glad-handing duties for this show over to an associate.
Director Scott Wright wisely softens the scripted opening, which calls for an elaborate pre-enactment of the ending. Though the twist is a foregone conclusion, his vision allows the play’s final moments to carry far greater consequence.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
*** | “Blood Brothers”
MUSICAL|Carousel Dinner Theater, 3509 S. Mason St., Fort Collins|Written by Willy Russell|Directed by Scott Wright|Starring Kimberly Tedder-Hernandez, Kurt Terrio and Mark Giles|THROUGH NOV. 5|7:45 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 1:45 Sundays (dinner 90 minutes before)|2 hours, 55 minutes|$34-$38|970-225-2555
