TWO of the UK’s finest musical theatre performers - Alfie Boe and Michael Ball - have joined forces this autumn to tour the UK with their show entitled “Together” which is also the title of their new album. And last Saturday the capacity 13,500 audience at Leeds Arena lapped up their superb renditions of some of the best-known songs from various musicals.

The show commenced with two songs from West Side Story, There’s a Place For Us and Tonight followed by Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera. Also in the first half were Tell me it’s not True from Blood Brothers and a segue of Wonderful World and Over the Rainbow accompanied by two acoustic guitars played by the two guitarists from the twenty-strong orchestra.

The show was punctuated by much humour between the two performers whose voices blended superbly, Ball’s softer, musical theatre style at times working beautifully with Boe’s powerful classical tenor tones.

The first half concluded with an Elvis tribute, Boe starting with It’s Alright Mama followed by Ball with Just Can’t Stop Believing and finally joining forces together again with Suspicious Minds which received the first of many standing ovations of the night.

After the interval, we were treated to firstly a group of swing numbers – Me and my Shadow, Ain’t that a Kick in the Head, Mack the Knife and Stairway to Paradise. This was followed by a selection of songs from Bond films – Live and Let Die, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, Skyfall, Diamonds are Forever, Thunderball and Nobody Does It Better. At this point, Alfie Boe then sang two superb but very contrasting numbers, firstly Warren Zevon’s melodic Keep me in your Heart and then Quadrophenia’s Love Rain on Me, the volume of which was cranked up to something representing Led Zeppelin or AC/DC. Michael Ball then took over with Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar followed by another of Lloyd Webber’s compositions Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love which Michael had taken into the pop charts for fourteen weeks in 1989 peaking at number two and becoming his signature tune over the intervening years.

Three numbers from Les Miserables by the pair concluded the show – Boe with Bring him home, Ball with Empty Chairs and Empty Tables and then the two of them duetting with I Dreamed a Dream. This brought another massive standing ovation with five-minutes of applause which necessitated an encore from the pair. This was Carousel’s You’ll Never Walk Alone which was very appropriate given that Alfie Boe is a massive Liverpool FC fan.

A superb two hours of entertainment from two of our best known and loved musical performers and thoroughly enjoyed by every member of the capacity audience.

by John Burland