Russell Watson has already nabbed the sobriquet 'The Voice'. So perhaps we should start calling Alfie Boe 'The Gob'.
Well, he does demonstrate a talent for shooting it off. After accusing opera of being "snooty and elitist" a few months ago, he's at it again.
Telling Kirsty Young on Radio 4 earlier today why none of his Desert Island Discs were classical, he explained that he never goes to the opera: "I just feel like it's not my world.......When I'm up there doing it that's my world, that's what I really enjoy, but sitting in the audience and watching it I'm bored stiff." (Listen to an extract from the show here.)
He went on to recall the operas he was obliged to watch when he was part of the Royal Opera House's Young Artists programme: "I used to sleep through most of them. I used to find an empty box, bring a pillow in from home and fall asleep."
Now I'm sure there are opera singers who'd rather listen to Madonna than Manon Lescaut when they get home. And no doubt footballers who never go to a football match, artists who avoid galleries and even journalists who don't read the papers - I could go on. But none of them insult their colleagues - and their audiences - by claiming that anything in which they are not personally involved is so boring it sends you to sleep.
That's not honesty - it's rudeness.
Alfie Boe's crossover success has been built on a solid platform of (taxpayer-funded) operatic training. The practical skills he acquired allow him to actually sing the stuff; the associated connotations of quality and expertise help persuade folk to buy it. It's true he has amazing natural talent, but without this lengthy honing, it's doubtful he would have made it to Les Mis, let alone the Covent Garden stage.
Is Alfie Boe really greater than the art form which has given him a living? Obviously, he thinks so.
