Blood Brothers is a
musical with book, lyrics, and music by
Willy Russell. The story is a contemporary
nature versus nurture plot, revolving around
fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie who were separated at birth. The twins' different backgrounds take them to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a tear in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers.
Andrew Lamb wrote that the musical is based loosely on the 1844 novella
The Corsican Brothers by
Alexandre Dumas, père, but in a 2012 interview with the
Daily Telegraph, Russell denied the influence of Dumas's work, saying that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers."