Sweeney Todd - Adelphi Theatre, 23 March 2012
Although Broadway's answer to Wozzeck has led a parallel life in the opera house, it is at heart a musical, with all the emphasis on verbal and visual storytelling that implies. And the theatrical values of this excellent production are its greatest strength - despite a roaring trade in cast soundtrack CDs in the foyer.
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Prom 58: An Evening with Michael Ball - Royal Albert Hall, 27 August 2007
The very notion of Michael Ball's appearance at tonight's Prom was widely criticised in advance, a fate generally escaped by this year's other non-classical Proms guests like Nitin Sawhney and Cleo Laine.
It's hardly unreasonable to prefer the Proms to stick to the core classical repertoire - but in that case, why pick only on Ball? Why not the others? Perhaps this piece in the Guardian gets closest to the unpalatable truth:
"Songs from the shows? Isn't that a tiny bit embarrassing? .....I'm just cringing at the impression given that classical music lovers, when not settling down to a decent five hours of Wagner, are humming along to Evita."
I'm not that easily embarrassed myself, but it seemed most of the other Proms season ticket holders were. With few takers for day tickets either, the arena was barely half full, despite seated areas having sold out weeks ago. I grabbed the unrepeatable opportunity to scoot right up to the front, and spent the whole concert mere feet away from 'Britain's leading musical star'.
Ball bounced on, barely recognisable. For his forthcoming role as full-figured housewife Edna Turnblad in the new West End Hairspray, he's been piling on the pounds - and most of them have gone to his increasing number of chins. He told the FT "I feel like I’m studying for a PhD in sweets".
Resembling a superannuated choirboy inflated with a bicycle pump, he sprung around the stage like Tigger, seemingly unencumbered by his new bulk. (Incidentally, he is as far as I know the only Proms artiste this season to change frocks at half time, switching from an immaculate black lounge suit into a dinner suit and bow tie).
His set sensibly majored on numbers from some of the many musicals he's appeared in. He clearly knows his limits, specifically an uncharacteristically nervous duet on Au Fond du Temple Saint from Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles with awestruck guest Alfie Boe. At the other end of the spectrum, he positively stormed through Queen's The Show Must Go On (in its first and probably last Proms appearance). Along with his emotional delivery of Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar, this was one of the real highlights of the night.
As he twinkled and charmed his way through his songs, it became impossible not to melt in his force field. The voice is a little rougher round the edges than it sounds on recordings, and listening back to the broadcast, it seems even worse, but that's not really all his act is about. He is unquestionably a performer rather than a mere singer, and to listen to him without the benefit of the live experience is like looking at a picture of a delicious chocolate cake instead of eating it.
It wasn't long before, like everyone else, I was laughing at his cheesy jokes, clapping and singing along with his songs despite myself, frighteningly immersed in his sheer charisma. Curiously, mere seconds after he completed his encore, Love Changes Everything, the applause evaporated, the spell was broken. Wagner would have died for it.
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Ian Bostridge saved the ENO a small fortune in glue and badger clippings by economically providing a homegrown moustache for the ENO's recent Death in Venice.
Now Michael Ball has followed his thrifty example for the forthcoming ENO Kismet. West End Whingers reveal the splendour of the newly furred chin that an alarmingly premenstrual looking Ball recently displayed on TV:
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