MICHAEL TO APPEAR AS GUEST JUDGE ON DANCING ON ICE
THE RETURN OF EDNA - MICHAEL TOURS WITH HAIRSPRAY
PAST AND PRESENT DVD - RELEASED 23 NOVEMBER 2009
MICHAEL SUPPORTS THE SHOOTING STAR CHILDREN'S HOSPICE
TOUR DATES SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009
MICHAEL'S ALBUM PAST AND PRESENT - THE VERY BEST OF MICHAEL BALL RELEASED 9 MARCH 2009

MICHAEL JOINS BBC RADIO 2 FOR SUNDAY SHOW

MICHAEL TO APPEAR AS GUEST JUDGE ON DANCING ON ICE
Michael will be appearing on ITV1's Dancing on Ice on Sunday 14 February 2010, sitting in for Robin Cousins who is away on Winter Olympics duty for the BBC.

MICHAEL TO TAKE EDNA ON TOUR OF HAIRSPRAY
The producers of HAIRSPRAY are delighted to announce that the show will embark on its first ever tour of the UK and Ireland next year.

Michael, who originated the role of larger than life heroine Edna Turnblad in the London production, will open the tour at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff before dates at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton and the Manchester Palace. Further star casting for other venues will be announced shortly. The tour also marks the first stage of a closer working relationship between the star and producers, Stage Entertainment. This will involve developing new work and roles both onstage and in a production capacity for Michael in the future. Plans include a major musical revival in 2011.

Commenting on the Hairspray tour Michael said:

“I knew when I originally took on the part of Edna that she was going to be a big part of my life, in every way, but I never realised just how big. Hairspray is truly one of the greatest experiences of my career and the chance to have just a few more nights in those frocks was an opportunity I couldn’t miss! With so much on I’m unable to do all dates BUT I promise that we’ll have some brilliant performers lined up for our UK tour. Moving forward, to now be working as an Associate Producer with Stage Entertainment developing new shows, new roles and new opportunities in the future is an honour, and something I can’t wait to get stuck in to.”

Producer Adam Spiegel added:

“We are over the moon that Michael has agreed to launch the Hairspray tour for us. The show has been a huge success in London, not to mention around the world, and Michael has been a big, big part of the Hairspray story so far. It’s doubly exciting that not only do more people around the UK now get to see his gorgeous Edna Turnblad, but we as a company get to work with Michael more closely than ever behind the scenes as we develop new work together"

Michael will be appearing at the following:

30 MARCH – 24 APRIL 2010
CARDIFF MILLENIUM CENTRE
08700 40 2000
www.wmc.org.uk

28 APRIL – 8 MAY 2010
GLASGOW CLYDE AUDITORIUM
0844 395 4000
www.secc.co.uk

11 MAY – 29 MAY 2010
SOUTHAMPTON MAYFLOWER
02380 711811
www.mayflower.org.uk

13 JULY – 31 JULY 2010
MANCHESTER PALACE THEATRE
0844 847 2275
www.manchesterpalace.org.uk

14 DECEMBER 2010 - 9 JANUARY 2011
EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE
www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk

PAST AND PRESENT DVD - DUE FOR RELEASE 23 NOVEMBER 2009
Michael's new DVD, which was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London will be released on 23 November 2009.

MICHAEL SUPPORTS THE SHOOTING STAR CHILDREN'S HOSPICE
Michael is pleased to be supporting The Shooting Star Childern's Hospice. More information on how you can help can be found at http://www.shootingstar.org.uk

TOUR DATES SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009
Sat 12 September - OXFORD APOLLO THEATRE
Sun 13 September - BRISTOL COLSTON HALL
Tue 15 September - BIC BOURNEMOUTH
Wed 16 September - PORTSMOUTH GUILDHALL
Fri 18 September - ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Sat 19 September - ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Mon 21 September - NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CENTRE
Tue 22 September - SHEFFIELD CITY HALL
Thu 24 September - LIVERPOOL ARENA
Sat 26 September - NIA BIRMINGHAM
Sun 27 September - BLACKPOOL OPERA HOUSE
Tue 29 September - GLASGOW CLYDE AUDITORIUM
Wed 30 September - EDINBURGH USHER HALL
Fri 02 October - NEWCASTLE CITY HALL
Sat 03 October - MANCHESTER APOLLO
Mon 05 October - IPSWICH REGENT
Tue 06 October - BRIGHTON CENTRE
Thu 08 October - CARDIFF CIA
Fri 09 October - PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS

CLICK HERE TO BOOK TICKETS


MICHAEL'S NEW ALBUM PAST AND PRESENT - THE VERY BEST OF MICHAEL BALL RELEASED 9 MARCH 2009


Michael Ball, Britain’s leading musical theatre star, multi-platinum recording artist, TV and radio presenter and Olivier Award winner celebrates 25 years in music and theatre in 2009. To honour this auspicious occasion, Universal Music are to release an outstanding collection of favourite songs and newly recorded tracks titled Past and Present – The Very Best Of Michael Ball on March 9th.

Some of Michael’s best known songs are included on the album which spans an incredible career in the worlds of theatre and music; from his West End debut in Les Miserables in 1985 to his Olivier Award winning performance as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, this absolute must-have collection also features six brand new recordings from Kismet, Hairspray and An Evening With Michael Ball at the BBC Proms in 2007.

The album opens with The Impossible Dream, a great favourite with concert goers and taken from the Broadway production and film Man From La Mancha. It’s the first time Michael’s ever recorded it. And at last record buyers will be able to have their own copy of the brand new and only recording of Michael and the West End cast of Hairspray performing You Can’t Stop The Beat, the showstopping finale that always gets the audience dancing.

Other new recordings include This Is My Beloved/Stranger In Paradise from Kismet in which Michael made his 2007 debut with the ENO in the leading role as Hajj/The Poet – and for which he garnered universal critical acclaim. He sang This Is My Beloved in the show – here he ‘steals’ the lyrical, romantic Stranger In Paradise sung in the opera/show/film by the Prince.

The Prayer is the duet performed by Michael and the Olivier Award winning actress and singer, Laura Michelle Kelly onstage at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2007 at An Evening With Michael Ball at the BBC Proms – it was the first time an entire evening had been given to a non-classical singer in the history of the Proms. The song won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song for Carole Bayer Sager who wrote it for the 1998 animated film Quest For Camelot.

Michael’s many West End and Broadway credits are represented here; from his 1985 debut as Marius in Les Miserables he sings the beautiful Empty Chairs, Empty Tables (which he recently performed on ITV’s South Bank Show Awards), All I Ask Of You (1986) from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and Love Changes Everything (1989) Michael’s chart topping song from Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love in which Michael starred in the West End and on Broadway. Two of Michael’s concert favourites are Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard and the Rice/Lloyd Webber composition Gethsamene from the 1972 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar which appears on Michael’s 1999 album, Live At The Albert Hall.

The Boy From Nowhere, from the 1991 musical Matador was originally recorded for Michael’s ‘Centre Stage’ album in 2001; Tell Me It’s Not True is from Willy Russell’s enduring musical, Blood Brothers, while This Is The Moment, another of Michael’s fans’ favourites, is taken from the Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde and The Winner Takes It All from Mamma Mia was originally written and recorded by Abba for their 1980 Super Trouper album.

Garth Brooks’ lyrical pop song, If Tomorrow Never Comes was originally recorded by Michael for his 2000 album, ‘This Time It’s Personal’, and Freddie Mercury’s dramatic, poignant The Show Must Go On is a massive favourite at Michael’s concerts. Michael’s 1992 Eurovision entry, One Step Out Of Time, was recorded live and his own composition, Just When, was originally recorded for his ‘This Time It’s Personal’ album.

One of Michael’s favourite American composers is the legendary Stephen Sondheim from whose huge canon of work Michael has chosen to record Loving You from the musical Passion, Being Alive from the underrated 1972 musical, Company and the glorious ballad Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd which is actually sung by the lead character, Mrs Lovett, and most recently performed by Helena Bonham Carter in the movie. Michael swears he didn’t wear one of Edna’s dresses when he recorded this one…

MICHAEL BALL on 25 years of music and theatre:

“It’s a milestone and a celebration,” says Michael. “I really think that if you can still be doing this after 25 years, it’s worth celebrating!

“I’m lucky that a lot of what I’ve done has been recorded so I’ve got a catalogue of 25 years of work going right back to Les Mis. It’s been lovely to be able to record music from Hairspray and Kismet for the first time too – and I persuaded the whole Hairspray cast to come and record ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ which I think is everyone’s favourite song from the show.

“Getting my own Prom in 2007 was a career highlight – it was an amazing evening. Laura Michelle Kelly joined me onstage at the Royal Albert Hall to sing ‘The Prayer’ so I invited her to come and record it with me for the album. I’ve also recorded ‘Being Alive’, a great number by Stephen Sondheim – it’s the hardest song I’ve ever sung but it’s a great number; I’ve also recorded my first ever audition song, ‘The Impossible Dream’ from ‘Man Of La Mancha’…I’ve had lots of requests to record it so here it is!

“Every song on this album represents a major memory for me. Every time you open in a show, every time you create a new character, it’s a career highlight. The obvious ones are Les Mis, Phantom, Aspects of Love, Passion; the Proms, winning the Olivier and the whole Hairspray experience has been the best of my life. Appearing on Broadway for the first time, singing at the Sydney Opera House, the millennium concert in Kuala Lumpar, Windsor Castle – all these amazing places you get to perform in. And I love doing my radio show! This last year has, without question, been the busiest and most varied of my entire career. Who’d have thought a big fat housewife from Baltimore would be my soulmate!

“So I find myself after 25 years never happier, more fulfilled and more stretched. And thanks to Universal I can carry on making records of a first class quality with fantastic musicians.”

Michael won the 2008 Olivier Award for Best Actor In A Musical with his superb performance as the lovable, supersized Edna Turnblad in the hit West End production of Hairspray in which he stars until the end of July 2009. Michael has won critical acclaim and the hearts of a fiercely loyal public with his numerous performances in West End and Broadway shows; his solo recording career has had parallel success earning him chart toppers and gold and platinum discs while his regular concert tours sell out within hours of going on sale. Since April 2008 Michael has been hosting his own weekly BBC Radio 2 show – Michael Ball’s Sunday Brunch ­– which airs from 11am to 1pm every Sunday.

The Impossible Dream
Hairspray - You Can't Stop the Beat
Being Alive
The Prayer - Duet with Laura Michelle Kelly
Kismet - This is my Beloved / Stranger in Paradise
Gethsemane
Love Changes Everything
Empty Chairs, Empty Tables
All I Ask of You
The Boy from Nowhere
Loving You
Sunset Boulevard
This is the Moment
Tell Me it's not True
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Not While I'm Around
The Winner Takes it All
Just When
One Step out of Time (Live)
The Show Must Go On

MICHAEL JOINS BBC RADIO 2 FOR SUNDAY SHOW
Michael is to present a new BBC Radio 2 show -"Michael Ball's Sunday Brunch" - on Sunday mornings. The first show will be on Sunday 6 April and will go out between 11.00am and 1.00pm.

Michael says: "This is a wonderfully exciting new challenge in my career. I hope listeners will make a regular date to have lunch with me on Sundays."

Lesley Douglas, Controller BBC Radio 2, says: "Michael has proved to be an accomplished presenter on Radio 2 already. His warmth, obvious love of music and sense of humour make him perfect Sunday morning company."

Michael Ball, Sundays, 11.00am-1.00pm, Radio 2

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