Latest News

Those with Sky set your recorders today as Michael and Imelda will hand over a trophy at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. The ceremony will be aired at 9 pm on Sky Arts 1 HD. Enjoy!

Also Michael has finally won the Eurovision song contest - well, the West End Eurovision song contest. Check out the winning performance in these two videos and be amazed by how well Matthew Gent impersonates young Michael Ball during One Step Out of Time, until Mr Todd steps in....

They announced today that Michael will be making a guest appearance on ITV1's Loose Women tomorrow (Tuesday, 24 April) . No confirmation as yet but worth setting your recorders just in case. The show is on between 12:30 and 1:30pm.

Lunchtime with... & Photos posted:23/04/12

The Criterion Theatre has a series called "Lunchtime with...". These are "a series of live, one-on-one interviews with some of the world's leading actors and actresses, currently performing in London's West End and other major theatre".

Michael will be interviewed on Friday, 11 May at 1:15pm at the theatre. Imelda Staunton will be interviewed on 26 April.

The interview will last 45 minutes. Tickets can be booked via Ticketmaster. See you all there!

Also, sorry about being so late on this, you can find several beautiful photos of Michael at the Oliviers here at Getty Images. Two to give you an idea:

A day full of good news. We still mourn the fact that the Olivier Awards are no longer aired on TV, not even for a summarized repeat. However, we just learned that this year's awards will be streamed live on internet next Sunday (15 April). You will be able to follow online via olivierawards.com and bbc.com/radio2.

It will start with the arrival of the stars on the red carpet on 5:30pm and you will be able to see all that will be shown on the Red Button feature that our UK friends know on BBC Television. Should you have forgotten: Michael and Imelda will be comperes for the Olivier night.

It's a bit sad that Sweeney couldn't be considered for the nominations as it started too late, hence we hope for lots of nominations in 2013. However, it should be a great night out or rather in, with Michael. So be sure to tune in and enjoy our favourite Sweeney Todd leads.

Michael on This Morning posted:11/04/12

You really should tune in on "This Morning" tomorrow (Thursday) to see Michael. We are not sure, if he will be on to do an interview or if they visited Sweeney. However, tune in and have a look at Michael. This Morning will be on between 10:30am and 12:30pm on ITV1.

Another Lovely Sweeney Todd trailer posted:10/04/12

We can share another lovely promotional trailer featuring Michael and Imelda. Have a look it's well worth it!

If you own a Mastercard or now someone who does you can now buy tickets to attend - no, not the tale of Sweeey Todd, but the Olivier Awards hosted by Michael and Imelda on 15 April at the Royal Opera House.

It has also been announced that Michael will be a guest at the Steve Wright Show on BBC Radio 2 this Wednesday (4 April), always on between 2 and 5 pm.

Finally there are a few photos availabe which were taken at the record signing at Dress Circle. You can see them via this link. Or at Dress Circle itself.

PS: The cast recording is available from online stores TODAY and already out of stock on Amazon! It has already been 14 days in the top 100 (Music) and is number 2 in the soundtrack charts! Congratulations everyone!

UPDATE: By now (3 April) it is even at number 1 in the Soundtrack & Musicals charts on Amazon!

Reelkandi has done a couple of interviews with the cast and audience members. Be sure not to miss it.

Click here, scroll down a bit, then click on Theatre 24/7 and click on the Sweeney Todd logo to watch it.

Video Clips about the Opening Night posted:21/03/12

The BBC offers a lovely video clip, including an interview with Michael. You can watch it here.

The Official Facebook page for Sweeney Todd in London shares this lovely video about the Press Night.

The highly anticipated and (partly) dreaded press night for Sweeney Todd is over. The first reviews come flooding in and you can read them in our reviews section, which will be updated as the reviews come in. So far they have been oly raves with mainly 5 star and some 4 star ratings. well-deserved!

Of course there have been quite a lot of photos coming in as well. For the start we have coverage from the usual sources. So be sure to follow our links to see some gorgeous photos of Michael, Imelda and Cathy. Additionally there have been some new production photos, which you should not miss.

Finally, before we start the photo frenzy. Amazon.co.uk has posted some sound clips of the Cast Recording. Be sure to listen and, should you like it, pre-order. The album will be published on 2 April 2012. Some lucky souls can already buy it in person at the Adelphi.

Blogs and Reviews:
Although Press night is only tomorrow there have been plenty of blogger reviews online recently.

Article:
There is an interesting piece on Imelda in the Express (by Mark Shenton) and she says about Michael:

“Not only is he physically transformed, but also his voice. I wonder to myself: ‘Does anyone know what it feels like to stand here, being so close to the magnitude of his talent?’ ”

CD:
The cast recording will be available from the shops from 2 April 2012. You can pre-order your copy here.

Media:
Michael and Imelda were guests at Graham Norton’s BBC Radio show on Saturday. You can now listen to the interview here (there is also a lovely picture).
Further to that Part 2 of their radio interview with Magic Fm was recently added to the website. You can find it here.
Remember that Michael will be appearing at Alan Titchmarsh on Tuesday (20 March).

Appearances:
Dress Circle has announced that Michael and Imelda will be there for an exclusive record signing on 31 March between 12 and 1 pm.

In the papers:

23/02/12 - London Evening Standard "From Hairspray to demon cuts: why Michael Ball had to play the barber"

29/02/12 - London Evening Standard "In New York we're starved of plays, says Stephen Sondheim"

02/03/12 - A Younger Theatre "Spotlight On: Michael Ball"

Sweeney News:

On 25 February the cast came together to do the cast recording for Sweeney Todd's London adventure. They are trying to get it ready for the Press Night on 20 March (available at the theatre) and it will probably available to non-theatre goers online and in the shops in the beginning of April.

The Sweeney Todd Facebook Group posted seven delightful photos of the recording. Two as teasers:

Michael and Imelda will be on The Jonathan Ross show on 3rd March 2912 to promote the upcoming Sweeney Todd in London. So be sure to tune in and watch on ITV 1 at 9.20pm. .

Whatsonstage Awards for Sweeney Todd posted:19/02/12

Chichester's Sweeney Todd has just won its very first award, hopefully of many more to come (fingers crossed).

Michael accepted "The LUCKINGS best regional producation" award for Sweeney Todd.

You can see a picture of Michael arriving for the awards following this link. Michael can be seen on picture 23. And we are sure there will be some more pictures soon from the Whatsonstage website.

Pointless question surrounding Michael posted:10/02/12

Pointless dedicated a whole question to Michael's musical career. An explanation for those who don't know Pointless: Three teams compete for the win. At this stage only two teams are left. 100 people are asked one question. Now the teams have to come up with an answer that is correct, but ideally no one has given this answer. The team that has the answer with the fewest right answers will get the point. Here the question was: Name as many Michael Ball West End Musicals as you can.

You can see the bit here ad below the clip there are the correct answers with the numbers. Now, would you have known all of them within one minute?

Most of you have already heard of the Whatsonstage Awards (awarded by whatsonstage.com). Michael has won these awards for Edna and Count Fosco in the past. MIchael will speak on behalf of charity Stage One. Should you want to see him, there are still some tickets left. The ceremony will take place on 19 February at 7pm at the Prince of Wales Theatre (home to Aspects of Love in 1989). Just click here to get tickets.

West End Theatre Interview posted:10/02/12

Michael and Imelda were being interviewed by Gaydar radio. They filmed the interview and uploaded it to Youtube. You can watch it here. Enjoy.

Beginning on 21 February (Tuesday) Michael will host a six-part series on Songwriting Partnerships for BBC Radio 2. It's a one-hour-programme and will be aird at 10 pm. Find out more on the BBC's website.

Michael and Imelda Staunton have done a promotional interview with Ticketmaster and you can watch it here.

Yesterday saw the Press Launch Event for Sweeney Todd in London. You can see some photos from the Event on Sweeney Todd London's Facebook page. You can see the photos here.

The Fan Club let us know a list of radio stations where Michael will be giving interviews on Monday, 30 January as beginning of the Sweeney promotion. Mostly no definite air times as yet, so just keep your ears open:

MAGIC (Regions)
LBC
Gaydar Radio (Breakfast Programme / entertainment news)
MAGIC London & National (“Magic Meets” – special)
BBC Surrey
BBC Sussex
BBC Northampton
BBC Kent
BBC Derby - Andy Potter, 1pm
BBC London
BBC Berkshire
BBC Oxford
BBC Solent
BBC FIVE LIVE - Richard Bacon, 2pm

Charity Concert posted:22/01/12

On 26 February 2012 Michael will be heading a prestigious lineup for a charity concert at the Savoy Theatre in London. It's called Rockin' Horses and will be an evening of music, comedy and poetry (performers include Martin Shaw, Christopher Biggins, Natasha Hamilton, Jenny Seagrove, Nicola McAuliffe, Roy Marsden, Clive Rowe, Hardeep Singh Kholi and Sylvia Syms). It will be raising money for Shooting Star CHASE and the Mane Chance Sanctuary.

Tickets range from £55 (includes a glass of champagne, programme and best seats) to £25 and are available from the box office (0844 871 7627) or online. Enjoy!

Don't miss Michael's comments on BBC 4`s "The Story of Musicals", episode 2, which will air on Tuesday, 10 January at 9 pm.

You can still listen to Michael profiling Leslie Bricusse for BBC Radio 2 via this link.

The Sondheim Society has released a very interesting Q&A session with Michael, which can be found on their website. Furthermore, they have gathered many reviews for the Chichester production, which can be found here. And we generally recommend the website in general for your perusal. Well worth keeping in your favourites!

We have been informed the the Doris Day interview scheduled to be aired at 9pm on 25 December is now being aired at 7pm that same day. Find all the information here.

On 16 January 2012 a new compilation called "Love changes Everything" will be released. The matrieal is not new but that's probably the point of a compilation. Find all the info on our album page.

Sweeney Todd is nominated as Best Regional Production at the WhatsOnStage Theatregoers' Choice Awards. (YAY!) You can vote here: vote for Mr Todd.

Voting colses on 31 January 2012. The ceremony will be held on 19 February 2012. You can buy tickets for this event here.

03/12/11 – Channel 5, An Audience With Bob Monkhouse, 9 pm (repeat of from 1994, Michael is audience guest)

25/12/11 – BBC Radio 2, Michael's full length Doris Day interview, 9 pm

The Heroes DVD entered the official Music DVD Chats at number 6. Congratulations for that! And well-deserved. It captured that night in Birmingham brilliantly.

Also Broadwayworld.com published an in depth interview with Stephen Sondheim (read full article here) and he mentiones Michael, Imelda and Sweeney:

PC: I've heard you have recently seen the new production in the UK starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton , yes?

SS: Right.

PC: I've also heard you are a big fan of it, is that true?

SS: I thought it was wonderful. As a matter of fact, I stayed to see it twice - I was just going to go once to take notes and then go up to London the next day, but decided to stay in Chichester just for the sheer pleasure of seeing it again.

PC: Wow.

SS: Exactly. The two of them - Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball - are remarkable. Just remarkable.

PC: Is it true she was considered for the film version when Sam Mendes was at the helm in early pre-production?

SS: Not that I know of.

PC: Russell Crowe was being bandied about, was he not?

SS: Oh, Russell Crowe - I remember his being bandied about. But, no, I never remember her being up for it.

PC: Will this production be transferring soon then?

SS: Yeah, it's going to the Adelphi Theatre on March 10.

PC: It's definitely happening, then!

SS: Definitely!

While there might not be too much on there yet, it already is looking rather nice: The official Sweeney Todd goes West End website. Enjoy!

And don't forget to book your tickets which will go on sale tomorrow (11 November).