11th November 2012
Blood Brothers has closed after 24 years and 10,000 performances.
Theatre critic Mark Shenton believes the show fell victim to the Olympic Games with reduced numbers of tourists visiting the theatre.
Blood Brothers, Willy Russell's tale of twins separated at birth who are reunited by a twist of fate, has proved a success story as a stage adaptation despite a slow start in London.
Willy Russell, Playwright commented: "Blood Brothers is absolutely the musical that the people discovered. It opened up to probably the smallest advance in West End history and it was so small I charged £1 for the first preview, £2 for the second. I think we got to £10 before we opened but it was discovered by the public."
"When you get to year 10 or year 15, believe me you're probably thinking this will go on forever. But nothing goes on forever, even Phantom won't go on forever."
Blood Brothers started as a play in Liverpool before becoming a musical, but after 24 years and 10,000 performances here in the West End it appears it was the greatest show on earth - the Olympics - that caused its demise.
Mark Shenton, Journalist and Theatre Critic: "This last summer was a really, really catastrophic one for many shows in the West End, particularly the long runners. Chicago also closed this summer after a 15 year run. One of the reasons the Olymics particuarly hurt the theatre is that the tourist audience on which these shows rely was completely empty. No tourists arrived in the summer apart from those coming to the Olympics."
Blood Brothers was up there with Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables as the longest running shows in Theatreland
Two of Blood Brothers' longest serving stars returned to perform for the final two weeks.
Actress Lyn Paul who played Mrs Johnson remarked: "16 years I've been coming in and going out and I get the odd email from Bill saying you couldn't just do me six months could you love and I say yes, I can, yes and it actually is the only musical that I would ever go back to. The set hasn't changed in twenty odd years, the costumes haven't changed, it just stands up, it's just the most incredible piece of work."
Mark Hutchinson, who played Eddie said: "Since we've been back for this week and a half we've had a standing ovation every complete show and it gets to everybody, men, women and children."