Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.
Camera IconMichael Ball and Alfie Boe. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe Together in Perth

Tanya MacNaughtonEastern Reporter

UK performers Michael Ball and Alfie Boe are proof that opposites attract, even in the music theatre world.

“I’ve never had a singing lesson, which is the absolute reverse of Alfie, who is a trained opera singer; I’m making it up as I go along,” Ball said.

“As people, we are complete opposites and that’s fun when you meet someone who is totally different but we both share a love of music.

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“We first met doing a really bad musical that English National Opera put on called Kismet. It was bloody awful, really bad, and we became mates because we were thrown in to this terrible thing.”

Subsequently, Ball asked Boe to sing with him when he was honoured with his own BBC Proms show at Royal Albert Hall.

“I thought I better posh it up a bit and who did I know who does classical music?” Ball said.

“We kept in touch and then there was the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables, which was his big break (as Jean Valjean) and I was in the original cast (as Marius) so we all saw each other through that.”

The idea to continue Ball and Boe’s working relationship occurred last year, with show Together featuring a selection of the duo’s favourite songs from film, theatre, the Great American Songbook, pop and beloved music theatre numbers from The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.

“I don’t think either of us anticipated quite the success we’ve had in the UK, which has been phenomenal,” Ball said.

“So we thought we’d try it out down here in Australia.”

Together will be at Crown Theatre Perth on October 16, the final stop of a five date Australian tour.

Ball said he was last in Perth 15 years ago on a small concert tour, where he remembered the temperature was more than 40 degrees.

“Being a typical pom, I was out there sunbathing,” he said.

“I wanted to go back to London with a tan and I went back a really deep shade of pink.”

THE ESSENTIALS

What: Michael Ball and Alfie Boe – Together

Where: Crown Theatre Perth

When: October 16

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com.au