They met in Kismet, a disastrous 2007 English National Opera stage musical dubbed “gloriously awful” by theatre critics. Alfie Boe was performing a sensitive love duet with soprano Sarah Tyran when he spotted Michael Ball supplying his own review in the wings. “I was in a kaftan, nothing else, in the worst production ever, and I thought I’ve got to keep the spirits up,” explains Ball, chuckling.
So he bent over, lifted his costume and...
Boe still isn’t over the moon. “It scarred me for life,” he claims, straight-faced. Yet 17 years on, here they are back with a new album collaboration.
Their last one, 2022’s Together In Las Vegas, celebrated Elvis, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Engelbert and Tom Jones. How could they top Sin City? “This time we’re Together At Home,” Alfie tells me. What? Why? Wouldn’t the budget stretch to Rio? “That’s exactly what I said!” says Michael.
“My first reaction was, why not Together In The Maldives? It was Alfie’s idea and it’s brilliant. Home has so many different connotations – family, country, culture. It inspires so many thoughts and feelings.
” Boe, the motorbiking people’s tenor, and Ball, the jovial West End baritone, might seem an odd couple, but their chemistry is undeniable – onstage and off. The singing dream team recently finished a sold-out tour of Les Misérables The Arena Spectacular starring as Inspector Javert (Ball) and Jean Valjean (Boe). At Home is the sixth of their hit Together series wh.
