As this weekend's Universal Pictures's offering for the YouTube channel 'The Shows Must Go' we were treated to a recording of his March 2012 appearance at London's Royal Festival Hall as part of his 'Bring Him Home' tour.
Boe, who was born and bred on the Fylde coast from Irish / Norwegian parents, has a curious set of Italian middle names which were given to him by his Catholic parents in honour of the then current Pope. Born in 1973, Boe shot to fame and world attention as Jean Valjean in the West End production of 'Les Miserables', and as the title of this tour suggests, he still holds on to that as being his career highpoint to date.
His onstage persona is unassuming and humble, coming across as hugely personable, sensitive and likeable. He is also something of a prankster and enjoys a laugh and joke. However, looking at him he appears much more like a Hard Rock star than the gentle mellow-voiced family man he portrays. On his website he is listed as being a singer of the classical crossover / operatic pop genre.
Boe impressed me the whole evening. I have never seen him live, and even when watching him on the screen it has been in short guest appearances, and so to have the opportunity to truly appreciate and listen to / watch him perform a whole concert was a real treat, and I truly enjoyed listening to his articulate and sonorous voice.
In this concert he sang a total of 21 songs, accompanied by The Heart Of England Philharmonic, conducted by James Morgan, and with choral backing for some of the songs by The Brighton Festival Chorus. He also had several guests to appear with him this evening to sing duets etc. Matt Lucas sang 'The Imposssible Dream' with him which was a bit of fun; Melanie C sang 2 songs with Boe; 'You're All I need To Get By' which was much more successful than their second duet, 'Come What May', where Mel C's microphone was set at too low a level meaning Boe unintentionally overpowered her, and in this song particularly, which perhaps was not the best choice in order to showcase Mel C's voice, she needed all the accoustic help she could get. However, this was not the worst of the evening. In yet another poorly matched duet, Boe chose to partner with Tom Fletcher (or Tom McFly as he is better known), and a more inappropriate coupling of different voices and styles could not have been found. 'Empty Chairs At Empty Tables' was painful, but their second song choice, 'The Beatles' 'A Day In The Life' was a little better. For the 'AH-factor', Boe had invited one of the then current West End performers of 'Young Cosette' in 'Les Miserables', to come on stage and sing 'Castle On A Cloud' as a short solo whilst he gave his voice a little rest. Her name was Shakira Ruddell-Morales, and it was lovely - just what we needed at that point in the concert. But perhaps the 'WOW-factor' came with Boe's next song as he sang 'Bring Him Home' accompanied by Claude-Michel Schoenberg on the piano. Surely, it would have been just a touch more wonderful if Schoenberg had also played for Ruddell-Morales to sing her Les Mis song too?
Of the songs Boe sang as solos, they ranged from Musical Theatre, traditional / Gospel, and the easy-listening Pop repertoires; but my personal favourites simply had to be 'Wheels Of A Dream' (Ragtime), 'Maria' (West Side Story), and their finale which saw Boe also take the drum kit too, 'Jacob's Ladder'.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 16/10/20
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