MORE than 30 years since Jake and Elwood Blues went on a ‘‘mission from God’’, the Blues Brothers film remains a comedy classic and a television staple.
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Despite having seen it on countless occasions, even Judith Belushi Pisano, the widow of star John Belushi, finds herself unable to change the channel whenever she stumbles upon it late at night.
‘‘Almost inevitably when I see it, I think to myself, ‘I’ll watch a scene’ and move on,’’ she said.
‘‘But then the next scene starts up, and I think, ‘I’ll watch this one’.
‘‘Then usually I end up watching the whole thing, even though I don’t intend to.’’
The Blues Brothers concept, derived from a Saturday Night Live sketch, resulted in an invitation to open for Steve Martin and a record deal.
A feature film followed.
Lead by stars Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the hit 1980 movie was a tale of redemption about the pair of paroled convicts, who set out to save the Catholic orphanage in which they grew up from the taxation department.
‘‘It’s just had this energy from the beginning that just keeps rolling,’’ Belushi Pisano said.
‘‘It’s such a good film - visually, musically, performance-wise, story-wise, dialogue, everything about it.
‘‘Even the special effects, which are simple compared to today, and weren’t advanced then, but they work for a comedy.’’
Now, 30 years on, the Blues Brothers’ live on via the Official Blues Brothers Revue.
Starring Wayne Catania as Jake and Kieron Lafferty as Elwood, the Official Blues Brothers Revue is the only Blues Brothers show to be officially sanctioned by Aykroyd and Belushi Pisano.
Belushi Pisano remained married to the hard-partying star until Belushi’s death in 1982.
Belushi Pisano and husband Victor Pisano, along with Aykroyd created ‘The Blues Brothers Revival’.
After auditioning more than 200 Blues Brothers teams for the world premiere of their musical, Catania and Lafferty were cast in the lead roles.
Belushi Pisano said the pair had been running an unofficial Blues Brothers show.
‘‘The relationship between the two has to feel real,’’ Belushi Pisano said.
‘‘They bring a lot of themselves to the characters as well.’’
The Blues Brothers Revival ran successfully for five months in Chicago in 2004.
Since 2005, Belushi Pisano, Aykroyd and the John Belushi Estate have officially sanctioned Lafferty and Catania’s own show.
The Official Blues Brothers Revue combines the comedy, music and mayhem from the original movie, as well as songs from the five albums recorded by Belushi and Aykroyd.
‘‘It’s what we call the concert experience of the Blues Brothers, recreating what John and Dan did on the tour they had,’’ Belushi Pisano said.
‘‘It’s very upbeat, and the energy is great.’’
Belushi Pisano said while she suspected her late husband would be surprised by the characters’ enduring popularity, he would have liked to carry on and hopefully continued to entertain people.
‘‘I’m sure they would have done more albums,’’ she said.
‘‘They created great American characters that aren’t recognised as such... Later generations view them as John and Danny, not the characters.’’
The Official Blues Brothers Revue
WIN Entertainment Centre
Friday, April 24