Blood Brothers

[Gothampc]

Meagan Hilty as Mrs. Johnstone

Katharine McPhee as Mrs. Lyons

It could happen, right?

[Mark_E]

Erm... no

Too young

[Musicaldudepeter]

Mrs J needs to be at least 40... So no

[Patash]

Uh-oh. Are we about to be bombarded by a ton of posts suggesting shows for the stars of SMASH?

[AC126748]

Mrs J needs to be at least 40... So no

Just read the lyrics:

By the time that I was twenty-five
I looked like forty-two
with seven hungry mouths to feed
and one more nearly due.

She doesn't have to be "at least 40" at all.

[Gothampc]

I'm not saying immediately this minute. Give Smash a three year run. Hilty is 31, she could easily play the role in 5 years.

In the show, Mrs. Johnstone starts at around 25 and by the end of the show she's only about 45.

[Patash]

So this woman who is 45 in the show (at some points, including the beginning) looked like she was 42 years old 20 years earlier. How old should she look when she's actually 45? And yet some are using these age lyrics as suggesting she doesn't need to be (or look) over 40? Why am I confused?

[AC126748]

The role has been played by so many actresses throughout its run who have greatly ranged in age, from early thirties to sixties. Carole King was in her early fifties when she did it on Broadway; I believe Melanie Chisholm was 34 when she did it in London a few years ago. The late Stephanie Lawrence had just turned 40 when she took over the role in London and then was in her mid-forties when she did it on Broadway. I think it all comes down to how convincingly an actress can play the age range, regardless of her actual age.

[Gothampc]

First of all, the age thing is not that relevant. If it were, there would need to be three actresses to play the wife in "I Do I Do" which spans 50 years.

AC's example of the lyric from the show is that in the beginning of the show Mrs. Johnstone is 25. Guessing that the show spans 25 years, Mrs. Johnston is only 50 by the end.

Unfortunately the Broadway productions always cast post-menopausal women in the show who made Act 1 seem like Sarah giving birth to Isaac. Act 1 ends with the twins only being young children (no more than 10 years have passed). Act 2 begins with them being teenagers.

[Deena Jones]

Mrs. Johnston had "7 hungry mouths to feed and one more nearly due". She could be any age

[Gothampc]

^^ Go back and read AC's lyric. She is 25 when she starts the show.

[amoni2]

Dream movie cast... Catherine Zeta Jones & Hugh Jackman.

[Scripps2]

Goth - this show is socialist indoctrination hidden beneath a thin veneer of emotional blackmail and disguised as a musical.

You'll hate it whoever is in the lead.

[someone.else's.story2]

Scripps, I love that show and I'm certain I'm not alone. However, as it deals with the English system of class and social structure, it has always resonated more with British audiences. Its been playing in the West End for years and had a relatively short run on Broadway.

Anyway, Hilty would be good in 10 years I'd say. I highly doubt McPhee could pull off the acting to make Mrs. J convincingly go crazy.

[Phantom of London]

I can see it now Josh Gad and Andrew Rennals as the twin brothers, who were born and died on the same day!

[Gothampc]

Scripps, I see it as an anti-socialist musical hidden beneath a thin veneer of emotional blackmail and disguised as a musical.

Mrs. Johnstone is a woman who needs birth control. Obviously the government has failed her on that. She needs childcare and the government has failed her on that. Apparently she's spending her child subsidy checks on Marilyn Monroe movies.

The government takes great pains to relocate her to a new house where she has every advantage (except a job; none of these new houses can afford a maid). Yet her boys turn out on the wrong side of the law and her girls don't get much needed birth control.

The son she has given away to a capitalist family turns out to be an upstanding citizen who contributes to society.

Lesson: when you don't depend on government handouts, your life will be much better and you won't have to fantasize that your jailed son is like Marilyn Monroe.

[Chickiequotes85]

Haha - That's one way of looking at it :)

[Scripps2]

I'd like to see the expression on Willy Russell's face if he was told he'd written an anti-socialist musical.

Although Blood Brothers covers a twenty/thirty year period it feels as though it takes place entirely in the early 1980s and its real target was not Eddie but Mrs T.

[Gothampc]

Scripps, yes I'm sure Russell intended the musical to be about Maggie T, but he also wrote himself into a corner.

It's difficult to feel for Mrs. Johnstone when she's been given a new house and a new start in life (Bright New Day) and then her kids still turn out bad. At some point individual responsibility comes into play.

Also, by writing a Narrator, it takes the story out of reality and puts it into the realm of fantasy. "Shoes upon the table..." and all that makes the story more Grimm Fairy Tale.