The original idea for 'Blood Brothers' developed from a conversation in 1978 between writer Willy Russell and director Chris Bond.
Although Willy was subsequently commissioned by the RSC to write 'Educating Rita', the idea for a play about a working class mother from Liverpool who gives up one of her newborn twins for adoption with disastrous consequences remained with him, and when he was later approached to write a play for the Merseyside Young People's Theatre Company, 'Blood Brothers' was born.
The show began life as a 70 minute play, 'The Blood Brothers', and featured just one song ('Marilyn Monroe'). It was initially presented to Primary and Secondary schools in the Merseyside area.
When Chris Bond asked Willy to rework the show for the Liverpool Playhouse, the next twelve months were spent turning 'Blood Brothers' into a full-length musical.
By this time Barbara Dickson was enjoying huge success with her biggest-selling album to date, 'All For A Song', and she was to spend most of that year, 1982, promoting the album with TV appearances and two lengthy UK tours.
When she was approached by Willy and Chris Bond with the idea of playing the leading role of Mrs Johnstone in 'Blood Brothers', Barbara repeatedly turned them down. Despite loving the play and the new song, 'Easy Terms', which they played for her, Barbara was worried about her lack of acting experience. Although she had previously starred in Willy's 1974 play 'John Paul George Ringo...& Bert', that was a singing role and it was immediately obvious that, whilst Mrs Johnstone had several songs in the show, 'Blood Brothers' was very much an acting part.
Willy and Chris's persistance eventually paid off. Barbara was persuaded to try out for the role for the show's run at the Liverpool Playhouse - and when they heard her read the team immediately knew that they had found their Mrs Johnstone.
Having just completed a 30 date concert tour Barbara took a quick holiday and immediately began rehearsals, in the process clearing her diary and cancelling a proposed 1983 tour.
'Blood Brothers' opened at the Liverpool Playhouse on Saturday 8th January 1983 and was an instant critical and commercial success, quickly transferring to the Lyric Theatre in London, where it opened on the 11th of April. Although the response from the critics was overwhelmingly positive, as Barbara was later to recall, 'the public stayed away in droves!'
Word-of-mouth quickly spread but by the time the show started to play to full houses it was too late to save it. 'Blood Brothers' posted closing notices and played its final performance on Saturday 22 October 1983.
The show went on to win the first of many awards at the Society of West End Theatre Awards early the following year where 'Blood Brothers' took Best Musical of the Year and Barbara was named as Best Actress in a Musical.
However, that was not to be the end of the story.
Theatre Producer Bill Kenwright had seen the London production of 'Blood Brothers' and loved it. He eventually acquired the rights for a UK tour to be directed by Bob Tomson and with Kiki Dee in the role of Mrs Johnstone.
Willy Russell, initially hesitant about the show returning to the West End, saw the show on tour and, greatly impressed by the new production, gave his consent for a second London run.
'Blood Brothers' re-opened at the Albery Theatre on 28 July 1988 and was an instant hit, playing to packed houses and running at its new home until November 1991 when it transferred to the larger Phoenix Theatre in Charing Cross Road.
Such was the show's success by this stage that a Broadway transfer was arranged and Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright turned to the original Mrs Johnstone, asking Barbara to reprise her role for the show's opening at the Music Box Theatre on 25 April 1993.
Reluctant to leave her family for such a long period of time Barbara declined, and the role went instead to the then-current London star, Stephanie Lawrence.
Barbara was, however, tempted back to the West End production of the show for three months to tie-in with the show's tenth anniversary celebrations. Audiences flocked to see the return of the original Mrs Johnstone and her limited season was quickly a sell-out.
In the late 1990's, with 'Blood Brothers' still successfully running in London, Bill Kenwright set up a new touring production of the show which is still playing to packed houses around the country.
Barbara, having long enjoyed a special relationship with her 'adopted' city of Liverpool, has twice been invited to reprise her role as Mrs Johnstone when the 'Blood Brothers' tour has returned to Merseyside. 'Liverpool is', she told reporters on her last visit in 2004, 'the best place in the world to do the show'.
Whatever else she does, Mrs Johnstone is a role with which Barbara will forever be associated, and despite other forays into acting over the years, 'Blood Brothers' retains a special place in her affections. It has proved, she says, 'a hard act to follow. I couldn't accept a role which was less than that, and such parts are thin on the ground...'
