Music
Michael Ball and Alfie Boe: Together
Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow
Marianne Gunn
four stars
WITH their joint album, Together, going gold this week (whatever that means in this digital age), Michael Ball and Alfie Boe were – jokingly – all about the hard sales push. "The fleeces are just not selling," quipped Ball about the tour merchandise, before he offered a fleece-purchasing super fan a hug. "You should see what I do when you buy the coasters," he added, flashing his trademark cheeky grin.
The album of popular tunes and musical theatre numbers may not have been the main draw, I suspect. With a two-for-one value tag, there is also the chemistry factor to take into consideration: when Ball described Boe as being built like Captain America just after he exclaimed "I bloody love Alfie Boe" it was clear that this is a Bromance that could go the distance, and perhaps not just as a cynical money-making machine.
Opening with some Bernstein is never a bad idea, and a duet arrangement of The Music of the Night was the first to blend their two – very different – voices in quite an unusual way. Speak Softly Love and A Thousand Years gave a nod to the movies (The Godfather and Twilight, respectively) before a rather laboured James Bond section surfaced in the second half (the Elvis Presley medley didn't quite work for me either). Showstopper solos Love Reign O'er Me sung by Boe and Gethsemane sung by Ball were a highlight before the inevitable Les Miserables finale. Interestingly, the encore was You'll Never Walk Alone which Boe will sing with the English National Opera next year when he plays opposite Katherine Jenkins in Carousel.
Jaunty links highlighted how much of a natural Ball is at chatty audience interaction, a skill Boe should hone in the future: there were times when it seemed he was giving the crowd a row for below par sing-along sections. Judge them for yourself when the duo has an ITV Special on Friday December 9. It is entitled One Night Only. Well, we shall see if that's true.
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