That Gaby Roslin Podcast: Reasons To Be Joyful - Alfie Boe

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

Singer and West End star Alfie Boe joins Gaby for a chat about Les Mis, Opera and the things that bring him joy. Gaby gets Alfie to sing for her (and even joins in herself!) and finds out about his incredible journey from car mechanic to internationally renowned singing sensation. They chat about the West End, Vegas, opera singing and of course...Michael Ball. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did recording it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At last, we see each other plane. Hey. Monsieur le maire, you'll wear it. Honestly, just the best. Sorry, I wasn't expecting to sing that to you. That was very good. I was just walking down Mariboran Road to get here, okay, running very fast to get here. You were late because you were.

Jet-lagged. Jet-lagged Alfie Bow. First thing I said, though, was I can't lie. I've just got to admit to the jet lag. But I was singing the confrontation, so I do all of them from Les Mies. Not very well. I do it with the girls in the kitchen. We all take part. But I like to do all the parts.

But I was singing it walking down Marlopin Road. And I was realised I was singing it out loud. And people were singing it with me. Yes. Oh, that's brilliant. I love to try that. Have you not what? You haven't ever sung out loud in the street?

Alfie Bow has not sung walking along. Not when people are not paying me. Have you never just done that? I'm going to now. You're going to do it straight after this? Yes, straight after this. I'm going to stand in the middle of Kings Cross and scream it out. Oh, yes.

I'm going to film it. Yeah, I love the way you're looking at the producer and the team behind the glass. Joe and Edd is just going, yes, they're nodding, yes, you've got to do it, you're doing it, you're doing it. Okay, you come from a big family. Yeah. When was that moment that you realized singing and music was what you were going to do?

Because you were polishing. I was polishing cars. I can honestly say there's two moments in my childhood that I remember that I could sing or had a sensation about how the sound I was creating. The first moment I was probably... How old was I? six, seven years old. And my brother, Michael,

um, was into classical opera. He was a big fan of, um, uh, Maria Callas, the soprano. And he used to collect all these operatic records,

you know, literally, not the CDs, it was the records back then. And, um, he played me a recording of, um,

this soprano. It wasn't Maria Callas, but he played me this recording. And tried to get me, to match the pitch of the note that she was singing. And I sang it. And then he said, try and sing a bit higher. So I sang a bit higher.

And then higher and higher and higher. And I got ridiculously high. And he said to me, I don't know whether it was absolutely true or not, but he said you've actually beaten the highest recorded note. Wow. And I don't know if that's true. It might have just been winding me up. But it felt good to me at six years old.

Yeah. Six or seven years old. but it felt good to sing like that. It felt good to like scream. I sounded like obviously a soprano voice, you know, boy soprano, but it gave me some sort of encouragement and I felt really good about myself and about singing.

And that was the first time it sort of kicked in for me. The second time was when I used to play all the records at home and sing along to them in their living room, in the dining room where we lived in a little council house, but we had a little dining room and a living room. I'll tell you a story about that in a minute. I used to sing along to the records that my mum and my dad had collected, which included Pavarotti, Elvis, Enrico Caruso, Frank Sinatra,

all these country singers, Jim Reeves. And I used to just belt out these tunes and sing like crazy. And then I stopped singing at one point. fruit bowl that my mum had, which was a cut crystal fruit bowl, was still ringing because I'd hit the same pitch that that bowl would make. And so I stopped singing and this bowl was just ringing like crazy. And it made me think, wow, what am I doing? And I didn't know how to produce the sound. I didn't know how it was working, but it felt, again, it felt good. Something had sparked off inside me that had given me encouragement to take this further.

And I did. I just started singing more and more. My mum overheard me and said, you know, you've got a good voice. You should go to amateur dramatics with your sister, you know, and you need a hobby. So I went one week to amateur dramatics and got as far as the door, turned around and walked home. I just didn't think that was me.

But then the following week I went in, sat down, in the corner, minding my own business, and then the lady who was organising, who ran it, called me over and said, would you like to join in this piece of music and sing with the boys? And I said, okay, what is it? And she said, it's Pirates of Penzance,

Gilbert and Sullivan. And I knew that because my brother had had the record at home. So I thought, okay, I can sing along. So they gave me the words, and I started singing. And all of a sudden I just hit this big old note that stopped everybody, and everybody was shocked. And I just felt embarrassed at first and then really good about my ability.

And from that day on, I did more and more amateur shows, competitions in Blackpool, working men's clubs, and just did anything to try and get me closer and closer to my goal of being a professional singer. And I used to write letters all the time and make... Who were you writing to? agents, clubs in local areas like Blackpool, Manchester. I was auditioning for Opportunity Knox when that was around. Really? Yeah, I didn't get in.

Quite pleased. Yeah, and I used to get the newspaper, the stage and television. So I was sort of doing something every single day. How old were you now when you were doing that? I was 16, 17. and then I sort of stopped after that for a while because I'd got a job in a car factory

to do my apprenticeship and I thought well I'm going to be sensible now I'm going to do my apprenticeship I'm not I'm not going to mess around with this music it's obviously just going to be a hobby and I started working in the garage and I was earning a ridiculously I was like £70 a week or something I was on

and I had to pay half of that back for going to a day release for college to do my studies at college. So there was no singing going on. There was no singing going on at all. No, I'd stopped. I remember riding my bicycle to the factory. And I was on my way to work and pour in rain in my overalls. And I just got this, I can't describe it, but it was like a spark. inside this light fire that just ignited and made me want to sing again. It was like you have to sing.

You have to get on stage and do another show. And it was playing on my mind all day long, constantly, every minute of the day. And I thought, how can I make this happen? And what do I need to do? So I went to a friend's house so I knew it was into musical theatre and amateur to Dramatics and asked her if there was anybody anywhere she knew that I could join to a cast you know to go and do with the chorus and she said there's a there's a company in Preston called Preston Musical Comedy Society come down on Thursday and take part in rehearsals and see what see how you get on and I did went down joined the chorus for a production of West Side Story. And all the guys in the chorus were really upset

because they'd already cast the role of Tony and Maria to the local celebrity, the local stars, amateur stars in the area. And they were upset that they hadn't had the opportunity to audition. So the musical director, Philip Wully, said, okay everybody come in all the boys come in i'm sick of this all the boys come in stand in a line and we're going to sing the song maria from west side story so um we all stood in a line and uh in that song there's two there's an alternative version of singing the middle section which is repeating the word maria over and over again um and i'd only heard Jose carreras's version of that and

with him being an operatic tenor, his version is where you just hit a big note and hold it over the phrase where everyone else is repeating the word. So I did that. So they're singing like, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria. Maria, Maria. And I'm singing like, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria. Maria, Maria.

Maria. So I held this note. I've just got goosebumps. And that's the only version I knew. So I held this note over everyone else singing the alternative version. And by the end of me holding the note, everyone else had stopped singing. And it was just me finishing the song. And I didn't know they'd stop singing.

And then from that, without me really wanting to, I got the role of Tony in that production. You just made me cry. That is just such a true, incredible. story. So what happened after Tony? Was that sort of, that was it? That was pretty... Did you put down your polishing? I did, yeah. I mean, I was working

in the factory. I had started having singing lessons with the local guy in Chorley. And I was still getting the newspaper, the stage and television. But one day at work, I was polishing a car,

end of the line. So I was the last person to sort of like see this car go out with a factory. And this guy whose car it was overheard me singing to the radio. What were you saying? I was singing a Rolling Stone song. It was literally like it was like honky tonk woman or something like that. And it was just one of the old songs that I grew up listening to.

And it was, I was just not singing it out and singing, Honky tongue woman. And I was hitting these notes. And he said, you've got a good voice. He said, you should do something with it. There's a company in London that are auditioning for their next UK tour. And they're called the Doily Cart Opera Company. And they're a Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

So he knew all this. Yeah, yeah. He was a 70-year-old guy. It must have been in his 70s. And was obviously in some way part of the music industry. And I tried to track him down, try to put messages out there, never got anything back. But that was like 30 years ago. And he told me about them and he said, you should take a day off work, go down and see how it goes.

That's all I'm going to say. Take the advice or leave it. And that was it. And then I went for my singing lesson that night. And my singing teacher, Lawrence Nunes, mentioned the same thing. He said there's a, I don't know if you've seen in the newspaper, the stage in television. Well, randomly they just said the same thing. He said there's auditions, open auditions for the Doily Cart Opera Company.

I think you'd do really well in it. So I thought that's two people that have told me about this. And I went home, first page of the newspaper that I opened the stage in television. Huge advert. Doily Carre Company. Doilicart Opera Company. Paro three. Open auditions.

and I thought, I have to do this. I have to do this. So I took a day off work. I spoke to my foreman Mike Penny, and I said, I said, can I take a day off work and go down to London and sing for this company? What do you mean singing?

What do you want to do that for? You're on a good word here, Alfie. You're on a good word. She said, you don't want to be singing. And I said, no, I do, Mike. I really do. Well, well, I'll give you the day off. But you've got to come in that night

to do a night shift, to make up your time. So I had to do that. So I went down to London with my overalls in my bag, and still with my work boots covered in paint and stuff, just similar to what I'm wearing now, jeans and their shirt. And walked into this theatre, first time ever auditioning, and surrounded by all these opera singers in suits and tyres and ball gowns and and I just thought I'd borrowed, I'd got a piece of music called,

there was one song that my dad used to sing all the time at home, a song called You and My Heart's Delight, and it's from a musical called The Land of Smiles, and it's by a composer called Franz Lehar. And he loved that song, so I learned that. I used to hear it around the house all the time, and I learned it. And I've got, managed to get the sheet music, an old, old piece of sheet music of that piece from the Fleetwood Library, where I was from, and borrowed it to go down to London.

This is going to be made into a film. It was crazy, so I borrowed this piece of music from Fleetwood Library, took it down to London with me, walked out onto this empty stage with like just a spotlight on the piano and the area where I was going to sing. Black auditorium, couldn't see a thing. And I handed my music to the pianist and started singing this song. Just give us a little bit of that song. It goes, You are my heart's delight. And where you are, I long to be.

You make my darkness bright, when like a star you shine on me. And it's a beautiful, beautiful, romantic, gorgeous, Bienese song. And it wasn't until I went to music college that I learned it in German, because that was the original language for it. But I sang that song on this stage. And after I'd finished the last big note,

silence. And then there's a little voice from the auditorium that said, Thank you. Would you be willing to come back for a second audition? and I went, yeah, of course, of course. And then I thought, Mike Penny, my factory's going to go crazy. He's going to kill me. So I left and I was just walking through the streets.

First major time in London, really, walking back to the station, I was at the Peacock Theatre in the West End. That was where I did my audition. And then I walked it to Houston to jump back on a train. And I was just on Cloud 9. I felt like a million dollars It was amazing And

And yeah It was great And I got back home Did my night shift Constantly playing on my mind And then he contacted me for another To come down again for a second audition Did the same

Took a day off work, came down Did my second audition And for my audition It was can you sing Or something else other than what you sang I said I can do A West Side story for you So I borrowed the score

Incidentally I'd taken that music back to the library And gave it back to the library And got 15 pence back because I brought it back early So that was all right Oh my God And then And then I sang some Westside story In my second audition

And the guy said Do you know if you're a baritone or a tenor? I said I don't know I have no idea I know I can sing some high notes, but I don't know how high. And he said, well, let's figure that out. So he got on the piano and he did some scales

and I matched the scale. And then he did another higher scale and matched that. He was going up and up and up until I went past to Top C, which is pretty high for a male voice. And he said, yeah, I think you're a tenor. That's where we'll put you. So I left that audition. And then a week later, I was just sat.

anxious, waiting for the phone to ring and eventually one evening I knew that they were going to call they'd phoned and said we're going to call you on such and such a time will you please be in the house because there was no mobile phones then and I said yeah

sure and I was sat there with my mum and dad anxious and the television was off and we had this clock in the corner of the room and all I could hear was it's ticking you know, and it was getting louder and louder. And then all of a sudden the phone rang and I jumped up, everybody jumped, and I ran to the phone.

And it was a guy called Leon Martin who said to me, we think you had wonderful auditions, we loved hearing you, and we'd like to offer you a part in the chorus of the Doily Cart to come on tour. And that was it, and that was the start of my career. Alfie, it's just, you've got to make the film of this. What did Mike Penny say?

Oh, he was, you know, actually, when I did tell him I was handing my notice in, he was like, I don't know why you're doing this singing laugh, this singing stuff, you know, you're on 70 quid a week here, and you say, I don't know why you're doing it. He said, it's ridiculous, Alfie, but if, you know, if that's what you want to do, you've got to serve your time out, though, work your time. So I did like another three months at the factory before I left. Did you ever hear from him after that? When I came back to Blackpool, he was the front row.

How wonderful. I bet he was the proudest person there. And he was a lovely guy. Still miserable, but really lovely. I mean, all jokes aside, you know, they make films about people's lives. They're just those details of going back to the library and getting the... Have you written it? You know, you know what, I haven't?

I've actually... I can sit on Netflix. I've tried to write a synopsis. to make my story sort of into a musical. Yes. I'm in the process of doing that. I'd love that. I just need to try and get a bit of a team around me to do it.

Oh, we can get a team. Can you help me? Yeah, we've got a team behind you. Fantastic. Yeah, they're fully on board. You've got to do that because it's Billy Elliott, but the music. Yeah, it's the voice. So your parents were obviously very behind you,

the idea of them all sitting there and the clock ticking loudly. They were really proud and behind you. They were. I mean, my dad has always been into his music. My mum's been into music. To give you an example of how supportive my dad was, I used to love percussion. I used to love the drums.

And so I used to listen to a lot of the rock bands like status quo and all those guys. Such a crossover. I know. A real crossover of all the things. It's all in me. All that music is. It is just in me.

Because I grew up in a family of nine kids, everybody had their individual tastes. You know, my brother Joseph was into Elvis Presley. My brother John was into his Irish folk music. Brother Michael was into classical. My sister, Annie, was into country. Treaser was into Kate Bush. Pauline was into...

Pauline was into... Disney. She had two Disney albums and she used to sing on the piano, Sunday, my prince will come. I'm so impressed, not only that you remember their names, but you remember the music that they liked. That's very impressive. My sister, my sister Maria used to dress like Stevie Nix all the time. She was a big Fleetwood Mac fan. So you had music everywhere around you. Now, so that little boy who went and took that piece of sheet music to Doily Cart, would he believe that you've got a residency at Vegas

and that you're a multi-million selling albums and you've been on the West End and on Broadway? No, I don't think... What would he make of it? I don't think he could have seen that happening. But, I mean, I always had that... I've always been sort of strong with my visions. I've always sort of tried to visualise things.

And like I have a concert on Friday at Hyde Park and I'm visualising myself doing it right now. Right now, at this second. Well, not at this second in particular. Right, with that. No, come on, let's do it. So I'm the audience. It is weird though.

It is weird. Like in the middle of something, I'll just picture myself on stage. I get that. I completely get that. So I'm the audience. You're coming out. What's your opening number? At the moment, I think I'm singing Osolomeo.

The Neapolitan song. Then I've got another song, Tona Soriento, another neapolitic song. I don't know. That one, no. Oh, certainly. Oh, sorry. Oh, my, quite be a lot, stimento. Oh, yes.

I know that one. You know it, yeah. Okay. And then I've got Nessendoma, I think, the old one. No, that one. Yeah, yeah. At the end.

And so I'm, yeah. You're just doing three? Four, I think. Another one called Kitara Romana, which is a beautiful Neapolitan song called Guitars of Rome. And it's a lovely song. My favourite.

City. Yeah. Oh. So did you learn, could you sing in all these languages before then? Not as a kid, no, but when I left the Doily Cart, while I was at the Doily Cart, I was thinking my time there is coming to an end. How long were you there for? A year.

Oh, right. Okay. We were on the road and the tour was coming to an end. And I was thinking, how can I carry on this? You know, what can I do to continue? continue my career. And so I was, I'd met this guy called Donnie Sanderson, wonderful old singer in the company, who was a well-established opera singer, worked at Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glynebourne everywhere. And he said, look, I want you to go and sing to a friend of mine at Covent

Garden, a guy called Paul Griffith. And I did, went down in between, on the days off, in between the shows and went to Covent Garden first time in the building. I was like, wow, this is so so cool. Met this wonderful fellow, Paul Griffith. And he introduced me to another guy called Richard Van Allen. And between the three of them, they got me an audition for the Royal College of Music. And at the same time, I'd also got an audition for Phantom of the Opera in the West End. to play the role of Raoul, the young romantic lead.

And I sang to the really useful group, and Andrew Lloyd Weber, and they offered me the role of Raoul. And I, it was like the understudy. And I thought, I could do that and then do the chorus as well. And I thought, well, I could go and continue, performing or I could go to music college and figure out how my voice works and to learn a bit more. Or I could go and earn money again or I could go to college.

And I decided to go to college. But it's a really sensible decision actually. I mean, it's a very tough decision, but sensible because you were laying down groundwork for what, you know, for years and years of doing what you do. Yeah. As I said at the very beginning, I was singing Les Miers. And I fit, lots of people knew who you were, but Le Miers sort of took it to the next level, didn't you? Yeah, it did.

I'd been singing opera for, oh my goodness, 15, 16 years around Europe and England in lots of different productions. But then when I, so I'm known as an opera singer for 15, 16 years, I sing one musical, and then everybody thinks you're a musical theater singer. You can do it all, though. Why not? You don't have to be pigeonhole. Exactly. But Les Mis sort of brought you into the mind of everybody. The public.

Yeah. Yeah. I had made records prior to that. I'd made, I think, three albums in that time. Because while I was at the... I'd got... After music college, working around all the different opera houses, I'd gained a place at the Royal Opera House, a young artist on the young artist program. And that was a place where I thought, I've made it, I'm here at Covent Garden, as an opera

singer, I'm here. And I hated it. Oh no. I hated it. Why did you hate it? Because the program that I was on, it had nothing to do with the Royal Opera House, but I was on this young artist program and it felt very separate from the actual establishment. It was very removed and it was very controlling.

I'd done all my study at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio. I'd got a master's at the National Opera Studio in vocal studies and operatic study. I then went to this young artist program and what they wanted to do was break you down, strip you down and rebuild you into the image of what they see as an operatic singer. you know and I refuse to do that that was not me you know I think the first

the first introduction was by one of the guys who worked there was you're all useless you're all spoiled none of you are capable of being here and until you are oh no no no no no no you know where the door is so we had a conversation before

before you were late because you're jet lag We were having a conversation about why can't people just be nice and helpful and supportive. I mean, these are young singers who are trying to break you down. Why break people like that? That's horrible. I'm pleased that you got through that. Well, luckily, you know, and I have to say, I have to clarify that that had nothing to do with the Royal Opera House. Because when I actually went to the head of the Royal Opera House to tell them that I was leaving, they were thrilled for me for the opportunity that came along for me to go and do that.

they said, well, Alfi, we can't stop you from doing that. That's amazing what's coming along. I said, we're going to miss you like crazy because the connection, the communication between the young artist program and the Royal Opera House was non-existent. Right, so they're separate entity. So, yeah, so Le Miz brought you into the public domain and everybody, you know, I know everywhere you go, people say,

will you sing, bring him home? Everywhere. I mean, I've seen it in interviews when I was doing my research and everybody wants that. And it is a stunning version yours. I love it. And I've seen you do it live on stage, I think twice.

But then we have to talk about him. I mean, we can't not talk about him. Because then you got all the, so you were doing lots of TV, millions of albums sold. You're on Broadway. You're doing all this. And then suddenly this, I can't. I can't quite remember his first name.

Somebody Ball. What's his name? Bobby. Bobby Ball. Yeah. Yeah. Alfie Bowen. Bobby Ball. You and Michael then got together.

Yes. He's been on this podcast. I've known he's much older than I am. He trained at the same place. He's much older than I. But, and suddenly there's a whole new audience again. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Me and Michael teamed up.

Well, first of all, we did this ridiculous production of Kismet, the musical, the old Borrowed-in music, it was fabulous music, but terrible, terrible show. It was awful. Don't mince your words, just say how to feel. Yeah, that's fine.

The director fell out with the choreographer from day one, and so the choreographer was plotting these amazing dance routines, but to get back at him, the director literally stood the male chorus English National Opera, big guys, in a line at the front of the stage to block all the dancing that was going on behind. On every dance routine.

They fell out like crazy. He couldn't stick around. He just had enough. So he left before he'd finished plotting the show. So we were like halfway through the second act. And this is what you and Michael are doing. Yeah, this is what we're, Michael's in the lead. I'm playing the juvenile young lead.

Because you're much younger than Michael. I'll always be younger than Michael Paul. Much younger. And so pretty much me and Michael teamed up and plotted the rest of the show, did the, you know, choreographed and plotted the rest of the production. And that's where we really sort of hit it off.

You know, we got on really well. We then, he then, that production was awful, but it was so bad people wanted to see how bad it was. So it sold out every night. And at that time, I have a lot to thank Michael for, but at that time, Michael had been asked to sing the role of Jean Valjean for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables. And he said to Cameron, he said, Cameron, that's lovely of you to offer,

but I don't think that's my role. But I want you to come and see somebody who I think it is. Lovely. That's good. That's kind. And he said, come and meet this guy. Come and see this guy, Alfie Bow. I'm in kismet with him. Come and see the show anyway because it's awful. And Cameron came along, saw how bad the show was, but sort of heard me sing. And then I was living in Woodstock over in Oxfordshire at the time, digging my garden, planting some lavender plants. That was it. I remember. distinctly and my daughter was three years old my little girl Gracie and um uh beautiful sunny day and I got this phone call from Cameron McIntosh's office saying could you take a

call from Cameron and said yeah of course no no no no why do I want to do that and he offered me he said would I come in and sing to the composer and the directors of Le Miserablesarab with a view to you potentially playing the role of Jean Valjean in the 25th anniversary. So I did. I came into town, sang to Claude Michelle Schoenberg and Alan. Oh my word. To them. Yeah.

And it was incredible. I was just loved every single minute. And the music was just hitting me like mad and the story. It is beautiful. The character and tell you a secret actually I went to the audition to sing bring him home

and stood in front of Claude Michelle Schoenberg and he was on piano and I said to him this is a difficult song to sing it's got a real floaty high note and being an opera singer to sing those sort of notes you still have to engage your voice

to make it carry into an auditorium because we don't use microphones. So you have to make that audible pitch for the listener to hear it. But in musical theatre, you don't have to do that. So because you've got a microphone right there. And so it'll pick it up. So in opera, when you're rehearsing an opera, you do this thing called marking.

So we'll be singing something like the beginning of, Laboem, which is, Neycele bichie, and that's on the voice. But if we want to mark it, to save the voice, we'll go, Neyceleibigi, guadomarra mile, comignioli, Paris. And that's marking.

Right. And that's the quality that I sing, bring him home in. Oh, you're marking. I'm marking. So that's what I sing bringing home in that sort of voice. So it's, Neycelli Vigi, God on I hear my prime, my need you have always been there.

And that's it, bring him home. And it's marking. It's the goosebumps every time, every time. It's the operatic way of saving your voice. So Alfie, honestly, so this podcast is reasons to be joyful. Hand on heart, I am blessed that I have you in my life, because you bring joy. Just your smile and your aura,

you are just a joyful being. And your kids are blessed to have you as their dad, and I know you love them so dearly, but you are full of joy, and thank you so much for being on this. And will you just reply when I do this? Okay. At last, Valjean, we see each other plain.

Monsieur Le Maire, you'll wear a different chain. Before you say another word, Jave, before you chain me up like a slave again, listen to me, there's something I must do. Daymate, year mate, life mate! I was scrambling for the words. Yes, yes! Yes!