‘BLOOD BROTHERS’: Musical drama opens at PHS

PALMER — Most everyone agrees about one thing when it comes to “Blood Brothers,” at Palmer High School — this is not your typical high school musical.

“It’s not as family oriented or fun as ‘Into the Woods’” or other PHS productions, said Lauren Hardy, who plays Mrs. Johnson, a frazzled mother of many. “I thought it was going to be miserable, but it was fun.”

The play, which opened yesterday, concerns twin brothers Mickey and Edward, who were separated at birth when their mother can’t afford to care for them both. Edward is raised in privilege and Mickey remains with his birth mother, living in poverty. The play spans more than 20 years of their lives. Along the way there’s love, death and gunplay. Neither brother knows they are twins until the very end.

Stan Harris, a teacher at Palmer and the play’s musical director, said “Blood Brothers” is different than anything the school has done before. High schools usually do comedies. This is a tragedy, albeit one with a few light moments.

“It’s harder to pull that dramatic depth out of young actors. You also need an experienced director, and Grant (Olson) is that,” Harris said.

Through a quirk in the casting, Zack Hardy, Lauren’s brother, actually plays her son Mickey, the one she keeps.

“His older brother is kind of a psycho,” Zack Hardy said. Mickey also does bad things throughout the play, but, “it’s like, ‘oh, I want to be cool like my brother.’”

Taneisha Godden plays Linda, a girl the boys have known since elementary school.

“She’s the girl who can shoot better than the guys,” Godden said. “As I get older I’m still trying to take care of them as we did as kids.”

Kellie Bernstein plays Mrs. Lyons, employer of Mrs. Johnson, who can’t have children and suggests adopting one of the twins.

“She knows she’s rich and she uses that to her advantage,” Bernstein said. “She makes it seem that Mrs. Johnson really needs help.”

Bernstein said she loves playing the role. Lyons is a person much different from herself, Bernstein said, and being someone else on stage is one of the great parts of acting.

“This is my sixth play and it’s going to be my last at Palmer High, so I’m going to give it my all,” she said.

Olson, the play’s director, said he’d wanted to stage “Blood Brothers” since he saw it in London, where it’s setting records as a long-running musical.

This is something like the 60th play he’s directed, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The kids have to do accents and their characters morph as they grow up. But he’s certain Palmer can pull it off.

“I’ve got a dynamite cast,” he said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

What: ‘Blood Brothers,’ a musical drama

Where: Palmer High Theater

When: 7 p.m., May 3-5 and 10-12

Cost: $10/adults $7/students

Reservations: 746-8403