Centre Stage

Michael Ball | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00005O14B
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,682 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another musical album, another surprise..., October 29, 2001

By 

Z. Yang (Hockessin, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Centre Stage (Audio CD)

Released in September this year, this is the most recent Michael Ball solo album. Maybe it is the strong connection between musicals and Michael Ball himself, for another time, Michael chose the songs from musicals. But it sounds a little different this time. It is so beautiful, and yet, with a trace of melancholy through out the album. Michael is on top of his shape, his voice and skill keep getting better and better. Besides these, there are something new and something more.
You can feel the strong emotions of struggle in "The Boy From Nowhere", a great song from a not-so-great musical "Matador", a song that fully shows Michael's powerful voice. It is simply amazing to hear him crying out "Another dawn, another born, a boy from no where...", bringing the song to climax. This time Michael is not in the role of Marius, which he perfectly defined in "Les Miserables", instead, he portrays Jean Valjean, who had been through the vicissitudes of life, singing the song "Bring Him Home". Although Michael's voice sounds a little too young for this song, he certainly brings out new feelings. Unlike Colm Wilkinson, Michael sings the song more peacefully and mellowly. Lingered in the air, in a beautiful, beautiful voice, is the most touching prayer for God. There is not the charming love-struck boy, but the mysterious phantom. What a voice singing the phantom in the duet of "The Phantom Of The Opera" with Lesley Garrett! With this voice, Michael gives us a controlling and cruel, and yet, sexy and irresistible phantom. There are, of course, love songs in the album. But instead of expressing the passion and power of love, Michael reveals the feeling of pain and pathos in "The Winner Takes It All", a song from ABBA's "Mamma Mia". It is simply magic the way Michael expresses the helplessness of giving-up and the heartlessness of losing love. Talking about the sentiment in Michael's singing, there is the song, "Music Of The Night", which was written brilliantly, showing the richness in Michael's voice and the fineness in his song-interpretation. Never has this song been sung so wonderfully! It is a song made for Michael's voice. His incredible vocal range is more than equal to task the undulate music melody; his subtlety is more than enough to express the quintessence of the lyric; and his passion is the best to deliver the musicality of the song. Just like that time can enrich one's experience of life, certain emotions can only be sensed at certain age. Michael thrills us with his excellent rendition of Stephen Sondheim's beautiful song "Send In The Clowns", through which he conveys the complicated emotions vividly. The artistic appealing in his pure and smooth voice is so strong as he leads us through the emotions of regret, sad and a little sarcasm.
This is another great work of Michael Ball. To some extent, it shows another level of his singing. If you like Michael's voice; if you like Michael's singing, you don't want to miss this album.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Micheal Ball's best collection of show tunes to date, February 13, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Centre Stage (Audio CD)

Michael Ball created the role of Alex Dillingham in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Aspects of Love," which meant he was the first to record "Love Changes Everything." As a singer-actor Ball appeared in West End productions of "Les Miserables" and "Phantom of the Opera," but has predominantly become a recording artist and concert performing. After his 1998 album "Musicals" and came out with "Centre Stage" in 2001, which offers another exploration of the songs of Broadway. This album is the better of the two and that might owe as much to the song selection as it does to the additional three years of experience singing such songs.

There is a trio of Lloyd Webber songs, with a duet of "Phantom of the Opera" with Lesley Garrett setting up "The Music of the Night," just as it does in the show, and a surprisingly sedate version of "Tell Me on a Sunday." Stephen Sondheim pops up twice with "Not While I'm Around" and "Send in the Clowns." Actually there is quite a bit of pop on the album which opens with a pair of tracks from Elton John-Tim Rice shows and has songs by ABBA and the Bee Gees that made it to Broadway efforts based on their work. But the songs that really stand out on this album tend to be from the next generation of Broadway song writers, "The Boy From Nowhere" from "Matador," "Seasons of Love" from "Rent," and "Tell Me It's Not True" from "Blood Brothers." If you get the feeling that Ball sings more as himself and not as the characters and that his singing reflects a more British sensibility than you are accustomed to hearing in American musical theater, I would not disagree. But taken on those terms this is a solid collection of show tunes.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michaels Best To Date, February 9, 2002

By 

J. Martin "ffej26" (Woodside, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Centre Stage (Audio CD)

Micheal Ball has had about 8 solo albums, and this one by far is his best. A wonderful album filled with some of Broadways most loved songs. Once again the focus is Michaels incredible voice. In my opinion there is no better tenor and no one can hit high notes with such power as he does. Beautiful versions of Every Story(AIDA), Immortality(Saturday Night Fever), Not While I'm Around(Sweeney Todd), and The Winner Takes it All(Mamma Mia) are the highlights in a near perfect album. A must for all musical theater lovers.