Written in 1728, John Gay’s opera caricatures society, marriage and Italian operatic style in this comic satire which is considered revolutionary because it took on poverty and corruption as its subject as told by the thieves, prostitutes and villains of the slums and prisons of 18th century London. The lyrics were set to famous songs the day making it hugely popular with audiences and a radical departure from traditional opera. Bertolt Brech and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera is based on this work.

 

In the story, Peachum is horrified to learn of their daughter’s secret marriage to a roguish, notorious highwayman Macheath and plot his downfall. Eventually Macheath is captured and destined to be hanged, but Gay’s plot defied conventional expectations by not ending with punishing its villains.

A Liverpool-set West Side Story, Blood Brothers is the tale of twin brothers separated at birth because their mother cannot afford to keep them both. One of them is given away to wealthy Mrs Lyons and grows up to be a successful government official. The other winds up unemployed and in prison. They grow up as friends in ignorance of their fraternity until they both fall in love with the same woman and the inevitable quarrel unleashes a bloodbath.

 

Blood Brothers was first performed in London in 1983 and opened on Broadway in 1993.