STAGE REVIEW: Blood Brothers - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, September 13 to Saturday, September 17, 2016.

THERE are those for whom musicals are their everything, while others wouldn’t give them the time of day, and of course we also have the theatregoers in the middle who simply like to pick and choose those shows with a particular appeal for them.

Brothers has its cult following who have been travelling the length and breadth of the country these past three decades of Willy Russell’s emotional roller-coaster look at life as it was in Liverpool and some of them have seen it more than 100 times and still counting!

The opening night of its new national tour at the Festival was clearly dominated by the musical aficionados - including one couple who had seen the show no less than 91 times…

I’m a mere novice at just over half-a-dozen times and looking back this one probably tops the pile. No wonder the audience, a full-house, was up on its feet with rapturous applause and seven curtain calls to boot.

Had the cast not signalled their thanks it could well have gone on into double figures.

It’s not the world’s greatest story and it’s possible, if you wish to be really mean, to pick a few holes in it. But if you take it at face value, admire a number of special and compelling performances and enjoy several memorable songs such as Marilyn Monroe, Shoes Upon The Table, Miss Jones and the tear-jerking show anthem, Tell Me It’s Not True, then it’s easy to see why this is another of those enduring shows which has enjoyed year after year of unmitigated success.

Willy Russell is responsible for the lot - book, musical and lyrics and for this the nation surely owes him a debt of gratitude. But its the cast who have to deliver to make it all work and they did so in incomparable fashion.

Lyn Paul, of New Seekers fame, has returned to the role of Mrs Johnstone, the pivotal figure of the woman said to have no heart, who pays the price for the different lives her twin boys lead.

Like fine wine, she has matured well and her voice packs plenty of power as it crackled at times with raw emotion.

She first played role back in 1997 and has regularly reprised it over the past 20 years and is rightly regarded as the definitive Mrs Johnstone.

Top drawer and so too was Sean Jones, as enjoyable and impressive as ever back in the role of Mickey and Joel Benedict was also a believable Eddie, while Dave Chisnall also produced a commanding performance as the show’s Narrator.

Overall the whole cast must be commended for their sheer professionalism and enthusiasm, in particular Danielle Corlass’s Linda who provided the love interest.

Flawlessly directed by Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright the show still keeps faith with its trusted set of back-to-back houses, its central iron girder bridge and a back-drop that swiftly switches from a factory area to open countryside and the fair at New Brighton.

No need to tinker too much with a winning formula in any area of this musical.

It is fairly unique in showbiz as it gives away its highly charged finale right at the start.

However, it then cleverly manages to to make us ignore this as ill-conceived deals, fate, love, life-changing decisions and class divisions in society on Merseyside hit you squarely between the eyes.

There’s anger, and desperation but also tenderness and numerous lighter moments. The mixture is just about perfect.

There’s little doubt - BB is still going strong and everything suggests it will be staying around for a good many years yet.