Michael Ball and Alfie Boe are sparkling double diamonds at South Yorkshire show

~ The Star by Andrea Pearson - 06/12/16 ~

So, two polar opposites of musical styles and voices collide on the Michael Ball and Alfie Boe tour Together, which rolled into Sheffield City Hall last weekend.

The pair's voices are so opposite - Ball being the ultimate smooth musical theatre performer with Boe on the other hand having a powerful operatic tenor vocal that is out of this world.

You wouldn’t imagine it would work - but both voices blended perfectly together in what turned out to be an emotional, enthralling and wonderful night.

What made this show work so well was the obvious friendship and “bromance” these two stage icons have.

The banter and jokes flow, you can see they just “get on” and you feel like you are on a night out with two lads. They are very cheeky chappies and love to have a laugh.

Onto the music.

Having reviewed a few other artists of this genre - Russell Watson and John Barrowman among them - I have never heard such a diverse set list than I did on Saturday night.

Musical theatre, rock, pop, swing, everything put in an appearance. So even if musical theatre isn’t your thing, you would still love this experience.

The evening opened with Somewhere from West Side Story.

A highlight and electric moment for me was the sheer power of Boe during Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera ( my all time favourite musical).

The first half ended with a barnstorming tribute to Elvis Presley in which both stake a claim to be able to take up an alternative career as Elvis impersonators - Boe particularly getting into character with his collar up and a lot of hip and leg shaking.

After the interval, we were entertained with a delightful swing medley, including a humorous Me and My Shadow, Ain't That A Kick In The Head and Mac The Knife.

The next part was amazing - a totally enthralling James Bond medley of big production numbers Live and Let Die, Goldfinger, Skyfall, Diamonds Are Forever and more.

It’s in the second half that each singer has the chance to spend some time alone with the audience, with Boe performing Love Rain Over Me from Quadrophenia and Ball performing, of course, Love Changes Everything.

The spine tingling moment for me however came as Ball sang Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar – I was transported to another place.

One word – enthralling.