Blood Brothers, Then And Now.

Trinity Street Players presents the Austin premier of Blood Brothers June 2-24th!  Reserve your free tickets now!

That's the now.  Here's the then.

Back in High School, my friend Moxi (yep, you've heard of her before) went on vacation and returned to St. Jo Mo having seen Blood Brothers.  Her addiction soon became my addiction and we added it to the list of musicals we routinely performed at the upright piano in her small bedroom behind the Budget Inn.  

This is Mox's and my senior pic.  Oh snap!

Almost ten years later, on a trip abroad with Dr. Stroope and fellow students from Truett, I found myself in London with two nights off which meant I was going to indulge in two nights of theater.  So alongside Les Miserables (I was with my trip-besties who hadn't seen much theater so of course we had to start off with the best of the basics), I bought us three tickets to see Blood Brothers.

My scrapbook page of that night starring Rebecca & Brett & me :)

Oh. My. Gosh.

I remember the three of us, sitting in the theater afterwards, stunned, not moving, just looking at each other as the house lights came on and people began to leave.  The show is that powerful.  No wonder they call it "The Cats of London."  It's been running non-stop since the 80s.

Fast forward another ten years and I'm returning not only to this play, performing the acclaimed role of Mrs. Johnstone, but returning to the theater I started five years earlier.  Since I left my job as Minister of Creative Discipleship (that's church talk for Artistic Director), a committee has tirelessly kept the theater going, producing beautiful shows over the past year and a half, my favorites being Shadowlands, Incident at Vichy and Three Viewings.  So when I felt enough time had passed to give the committee a chance to stand on its own, and when I heard that the director of Three Viewings was going to direct Blood Brothers, I thought that a moment of serendipity was upon us.  So, I auditioned.

But not without permission.

Doing Blood Brothers would mean missing one of my biggest fans triumph on a different stage: my sister's graduation from Loyola Medical Residency.

"So, can I audition, Amy?  If I come visit you in Portland (where she's moving to do a fellowship), do I have your permission to miss your graduation if I'm cast?"

PAUSE.

"Yes, but only if you get the lead."

Welcome to the Pittman work ethic.

So here we are, in tech week, preparing to open in seven days.  It's a spectacular cast and I'm excited to add them to my fond Blood Brother memories.  Some of my trusty old favorites are in it with me: Jim & Steve & Kirk from Evita, David from Diaries of Adam & Eve, Brandon from the Gala we sang at, and lots of new friends too!  

Stay tuned for pictures (you know they're coming!), and tune in your radio to KUT's Eklektikos Monday morning at 10am when John Aielli will interview the director and myself, and listen in at 2pm on Wednesday to KOOP's Off Stage & On the Air. I'll be singing "Easy Terms" for that interview.  In the meantime, I leave you with this promo video done by Austin Live Theatre and the website, once again, where you can reserve your free tickets :)