Customer Reviews

Musicals

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

WOW!! This is probbly THE BEST Michael Ball cd out there. His voice is absolutely amazing, and the song selection is great. "Memory," "Anthem," and "Losing My Mind" are fantastic. After listening to this cd over and over, I am convinced that no one could give a better interpretation of these songs. His voice is like chocolate, and even though the orchestration is sometimes heavy, he can handle it. "Love Changes Everything" has the power to bring tears to your eyes and "You'll Never Walk Alone" is beautiful. This album is 100% worth the cost. BUY IT!! You won't regret it!!

After falling in love with Michael's voice during the 10th aniversary concert of Les Mis, Musicals was the first cd of Michael's I purchased and still remains to this day my favorite of all his solo CD's. The selection of songs on the CD mixes up both broadway favorites and lesser performed songs, and in several instances Michael chooses to tackle songs normally sung by female characters. In my opinion, he performs each song wonderfully, adding his own subtle nuances and interpretations to well known songs. Even my least favorite song on the CD "Last Night of the World" is tolerable when sung by Michael. His voice soars and often seems to flow effortlessly on all of the songs, but is highlighted in songs such as "You Will Never Walk Alone" and the truly breathtaking "Anthem." As performer, Michael understands what he is singing and he nevers takes a phrase or even a word written in a song for granted. His sensitivity in interpreting songs is what allows him to perform songs such as "I Dreamed a Dream" and "With One Look", normally performed by women, convincingly.

Some of Michael's other CDs can be hit or miss; however, this is often due to the quality of the song selection rather than Michael's vocal ability. Because of this, I think Musicals makes a good introduction for new fans. It is a solid CD that contains good songs and truly highlights all of Michael Ball's remarkable abilities.

If you are going to do an album covering songs from Broadway musicals then you are going to want to provide listeners with something different from what they are familiar with from Broadway cast albums. For Michael Ball on "Musicals" that would be the segment where he does six songs in a row that were originally performed by female singers: "Losing My Mind" from "Follies," "Memory" from "Cats," "Don't Rain on My Parade" from "Funny Girl," "With One Look" from "Sunset Boulevard," "Show Me" from "My Fair Lady," and "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables." For me this is the strongest part of the album and I totally appreciate the idea of Ball singing songs that he would never be able to sing on stage in an actual performance (at the end of the album there is a one line reprise of "With One Look" in which Ball simply sings, "I could play any role"). The results are exactly the sort of "different" that we would hope to find on an album like this. Ball also picks some songs most listeners will likely have not heard before, which for me meant "Easy Terms" from "Blood Brothers," but could well be something else for you.

The other parts that stand out are the duets now reduced to solos, "All I Ask Of You" from "Phantom of the Opera" and "The Last Night of the World" from "Miss Saigon," and the best track is when Ball powers through "Anthem" from the often forgotten "Chess." The Broadway standards are a hit and miss proposition, with "Something Coming" from "West Side Story" having some excellent instrumentation but "You'll Never Walk Alone" from "Carousel" just being okay. I know that Ball began his career appearing in West End productions of "Les Miserables," "Aspects of Love," and "Phantom of the Opera," and after listening to this collection I would like to hear him in either "Miss Saigon" or "Chess" (okay, the latter is a pipe dream, but he would still be very good in it). For more of Michael Ball in a similar vein to this 1998 album, check out "Centre Stage," which is an even better collection of Broadway show tunes.

After admiring Michael Ball in the Musicals that he has appeared in, I was very pleased to be able to buy his first CD in Australia. This is a great CD and has some wonderful songs on it. My favourite has to be Love Changes Everything which was THE hit of Andrew Lloyd Webbers "Aspects of Love" which Michael played the lead role in. I also enjoyed "One Step out of time" which Michael represented UK with in the Eurovision Song contest of 1992. I have since bought all of Michaels CD's but this CD remains one of my favourites as it was the CD that REALLY got me interested in Michaels music and the reason that I have seen him in concert 7 times.

Michael Ball is relatively new on my list of preferred vocalists. I first discovered him a couple of years ago on a PBS broadcast of the Les Miserables 10th year anniversary production. Since then, I have been trying to build my CD collection of his music. This is my third album by Michael and by far the best. I concur with some comments that I have seen noting that he has sometimes not had the right collection of material to do justice to his incredible voice. This album does! When I received it the other day, I put it in my car CD player and as I drove down the freeway, kept saying YES! Yes! Finally he has material that does his incredible voice proud. If you are not sure which of his albums to start with, I strongly suggest this one. It is quite incredible.

Michael Ball is perfectly suited for interpreting the classic songs of the musical theater: his voice is rich and expressive, his phrasing sensitive and illuminating. "The Musicals" contains his versions of songs from great shows past and present.

I am very familiar with other artists' interpretations of some of these selections, but I found that Ball could bring a freshness and beauty to each of them. There's a curious "gender-bending" quality to the CD, since many of these songs were written for female characters. My one quibble: the duet "All I Ask of You" (from "Phantom of the Opera") really wasn't meant to be sung solo; but Ball shines nonetheless. Some of his best performances on this CD include the following: his electrifying "Don't Rain on my Parade" (from "Funny Girl"); his playful "Show Me" (from "My Fair Lady"), and his tender "Loving You" (from "Passion").

In "With One Look," from "Sunset Boulevard," Ball sings the line, "I can play any role." How true!

Michael Ball's amazing career started in musical theatre in 1985. Ten years later after four leading roles in hit musicals written by the great Lloyd Webber, Sondheim, and Boublil/Schonberg, as well as numerous musical cast recordings, Michael released his first single album of musical. Not only is it a nice summing-up of Michael's musical profession, although his career has been extended much further beyond the musical stage for the previous ten years, but also is it a good representation of Michael's sensational singing with songs chosen that were originally written for female characters. What's most appealing of these songs is their enchanting melodies and exquisite feelings. And indeed, Michael has refreshed these great musical numbers with his gorgeous voice and fine song interpretation.
Michael is right at home with songs "All I ask of You" and "Love Changes Everything". The former, sung as a solo in the album, has turned into a classic in his repertoire after he played Raoul in Phantom, while the latter, with the splendid tenor note at the end, has become his signature song ever since he defined role Alex in Aspects of Love. Also included are the songs from shows Michael had performed but originally sung by other female characters, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables and "Loving You" from Passion. "Something's Coming" recalls an episode of his career when Michael, as the only non-opera singer in the cast, sang Tony in West Side Story in a recording with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993. The most courageous and probably the greatest about the album is that Michael included "Memory" and "With One Look", as both songs reveal the sheer beauty of his singing through every nuance and every minute expression. And of course, I have to mention the power of his voice, it is simply showing off in every song throughout the whole album.
Fourteen songs, fourteen different characters from fourteen musicals, they are simply telling the truth which is just as this one line Michael put in at the end of the album, "I can play any role".

I have enjoyed Michael Ball's performances on the Les Mis and Aspects of Love recordings as well as on Hey, Mr. Producer and other programs on PBS. Upon receiving this CD, I knew immediately that I should own anything this man has ever recorded. As someone who holds a degree in vocal music and performs in theatre myself, I truly appreciate the smooth beauty of Michael Ball's vocal quality and his emotional style and interpretation. My favorite track is #3..."Losing My Mind." But all the tracks are just outstanding! Its just too bad that Michael Ball doesn't do concerts anywhere around here...I'd definitely love to see him live! I've even given this CD as a gift to some of my other music/theatre friends and they love it too. A must-have!

This was the first Michael Ball CD that I ever owned, but it ranks up there with some of the best that I own. He expands his horizons with this CD, moving beyond "Empty Chairs, Empty Tables" (not that there is anything wrong with that.

I was impressed with his range in these songs, both the power and the tenderness in his voice, and how he adapted songs that were originally duets or initially songs by or for women, and turned them into universal masterpieces. Buy and enjoy.

Michael Ball has one of the best male voices in musical theater. He has a powerful tone in his voice that allows him to competently interpret songs that need to be sung with vocal strength and range. But he can also do justice to those subdued songs where emotions take precedence over technical prowess.

A lot of the song choices were not exactly what would someone expect in a male solo vocalist. Songs that are generally sung by women like "With One Look" and "Don't Rain on My Parade" are in the album. As well as songs that are sung in duets like "All I Ask of You" and "The Last Night of the World". I think that's a great concept to include those kinds of songs.

His version of "The Last Night of the World" was beautiful. Makes me wonder how the song would've sounded if he played Chris opposite Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon. I also like his version of "I Dreamed a Dream" and "Losing My Mind". He was great in all of the tracks in the album, but those three songs are my favorite. .

Grade: A-