The spell-binding singers found friendship through parallel careers (Image: Ball and Boe)
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 which began with 2016’s chart-topping, double-platinum-selling Together. The twelve new covers include Simon & Garfunkel’s Homeward Bound and Ewan MacColl’s Dirty Old Town. It opens with Welcome Home.
“Not the Peters & Lee song,” Alfie, 51, assures me. “It’s a beautiful, heartfelt number by an indie rock band from Georgia called The Welcome Home. The lyrics, the sentiment…it spoke to me.”
The touching anthem, almost a secular hymn, is about family and fatherhood.
“Singing to your kids, taking care of your kids, taking care of that person that you love, who’s dear to you, it really connected,” father-of-two Boe adds.
Ball & Boe, boys about town (Image: Getty)
If you were literally together at home, living there, working there, how long would it take to get on each other’s nerves?
“Oh, a good 20 minutes,” quips Michael, 62. “No, we just toured Les Mis together. It’s been lovely.”
Alfie adds: “We’ve been working together for over 15 years now; we’re like brothers.”
Boe’s eyes twinkle and he adds, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…” – another song from the new album; that one by the Hollies, from Salford; Alfie hails from Fleetwood, Lancashire, an hour up the road.
It has another special memory too. When ex-mechanic Alfie was studying at the Royal College of Music, his student pals dragged him to the Eagle pub in Hammersmith. “Suddenly I was singing karaoke. I sang He Ain’t Heavy and knocked it out the park. I didn’t realise it was a competition! I ended up representing the pub and went on to be West London karaoke champion, 1997.
“I won 1000 quid, a lot of money for a student!”
Michael did something similar in a bar Down Under. “Nobody knew who I was. I told them I worked in IT. One guy said, ‘You’ve got a good site of pipes on you, you could do this for a living, mate.”
He goes on: “I’ve never been in a band, but I love being in a theatre company. The other people in the company are the only ones who understand the good and bad aspects of being there. The good times are the happy times, sharing the performances, the work, the dressing room, the applause, the friendship, everything…sadly, including the money!
“The only person with me on stage is the guy standing next to me.”
Some have likened the pair to Morecambe & Wise. Ball thinks they’re more like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby – they pursue separate careers, but love reuniting.
Bromsgrove-born Michael’s big breakthrough was playing Marius Pontmercy in the original 1985 West End production of Les Misérables with the RSC. Other starring roles include Hairspray, Chess, Sweeney Todd and The Phantom Of The Opera – when the phantom got his cufflink caught and yanked off Christine Daaé’s wig.
Ball’s co-star in Aspects Of Love trapped her leg in the scenery and emitted a terrible, blood-curdling, show-stopping scream.
On Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a devoted fan sent him an envelope full of coupons and bog-off vouchers every week.
“Then one Saturday matinee, she left a suitcase and inside where a pair of pyjamas, a vest, a goodie bag, including a scotch egg, and a ticket to Rhyl where she’d booked a caravan for us to spend the weekend – she got that on offer too.”
He politely declined.
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Michael has lived happily with former Ready, Steady, Go TV presenter Cathy McGowan for 32 years.
“I’ve shown the kids all the great footage of Cath on YouTube. We found her miming her Sonny & Cher’s I’ve Got You Babe with the Rolling Stones. The stuff she did is legendary but she’s not one to look backwards or do interviews.”
It was Michael’s idea to cover Heather Small’s Proud, the song of the 2012 Olympics, on the new album.
“My granddaughter Grace is an Olympian, and this year the whole family went in the Stade de France to watch her in the rugby sevens with Team GB, sitting with 66,000 people, cheering and cheering.
“She scored a try, her name was on the scoreboard. I’ve never felt so proud.”
Other tracks include Ferry Across The Mersey – Alfie’s a huge Liverpool fan – and Irish medley, What’s The Craic, which he claims was inspired by Ball’s mooning.
As a duo, Ball and Boe have sold over 1.5 million albums here and have had three ITV Specials. Yet both get mistaken for other stars.
Michael recalls walking into the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and getting spontaneous applause from the punters. “Then someone said, ‘Mr Crowe, could you sign this for me?’ They thought I was Russell Crowe!”
“I had someone think I was Declan Donnelly,” laughs Alfie, adding, “A taller version, obviously. And my hair is on the way out…”
Both have endured the curse of depression. Michael in the Les Mis 80s when he endured panic attempts; Alfie in 2020 following his divorce from wife Sarah. Both insist they’re fine now.
“I wouldn’t change anything,” says Alfie. “When things go wrong, it makes you stronger. That’s life, you handle it. I had a lot of support and I’ve never felt better.”
Both have written memoirs, and last year Ball published his first best-selling novel, The Empire. His second, A Backstage Betrayal is out now.
Alfie claims to be considering “a colouring book or dad joke book”
Give us an example.
“What’s ET short for? He’s got little legs.”
“Garry, now you realise I’ve been to hell and back on the last tour,” Michael groans.
Les Mis returns next month. “There nothing like it,” says Michael. “The grandeur, the music, the effects, the lighting. It takes it to a new level. It’s like a rock show – and we’re playing to full houses.”
Their own tour starts next March. And after that?
“I’d love us to have a residency in Las Vegas,” says Michael.
“We’d love that,” says Alfie, who had a solo run at the Westgate, where Elvis performed. “It’s a great platform.”
More joint albums are on the cards. Together On Broadway, possibly Together In Rock. Where will it end?
“Together Again, With Zimmers,” says Alfie, and they both laugh.
“I love singing with Alfie,” says Michael. “We always have fun. As long people want to come and see us perform and buy our records, why wouldn’t we do it again?”
* Michael Ball & Alfie Boe’s new album, Together At Home, is out now. Their UK tour starts in April, tickets are on sale.
