‘Pretty much a dream come true’: Michael Ball returns to the West End with musical that helped make him a household name
Michael Ball says it’s “pretty much a dream come true” to be returning to the West End with the musical that made him a household name and gave him a chart-topping song he’s still heckled in the street about to this day.
“I get ‘Michael! Does love change everything?!’ Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!” the theatre star laughs.
In 1989 Love Changes Everything – the Andrew Lloyd Webber ear-worm – hung around in the charts for 15 weeks, introducing the world to musical theatre pin-up Michael Ball.
Now over 30 years later he’ll be singing it again as Aspects Of Love gets a London revival.
“This show literally changed my life on every level,” Ball insists “to be doing it again 34 years later is pretty much a dream come true.”
In 1989 Love Changes Everything introduced the world to musical theatre pin-up Michael Ball (right)
The production is a little more problematic to stage now.
In order to resurrect the tale of lust, which skirts at the edges of propriety – without it seeming predatory, it needed tweaks.
“In the original production the role of Jenny, my daughter, was 15,” Ball explains.
“She’s awakening sexually and everyone felt that was tricky in this day and age, so by moving her age to 18 and also by making the show about her empowerment, she’s not being coerced, she’s not being groomed, what she’s doing is discovering her own agency as a woman and is in control of that. That was important
“It’s weird, isn’t it? This is not something that was ever a feature in 1989, but now it very much is. And we have to be sensitive to those issues and change the narrative. It’s important.”
Aspects Of Love runs at London’s Lyric Theatre until 11 November
What also wasn’t talked about much then was mental health. It isn’t widely known that, as his career took off back in the late 80s, so too began a period of anxiety, depression and panic attacks.
“Everything should have been amazing, but my world imploded, and I made the error of not talking about it, not getting help.
“It’s the worst thing that you can feel on a stage, stood there with people staring at you, and suddenly you feel your world collapsing.
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“It’s an awful feeling…it makes you vulnerable, and it makes you very aware that you need to be well. A lot of it is is is about finding the way to trick your mind, to not go into this spiral.”
Thankfully, he didn’t need to be anxious when Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber came along to see an early preview of the Aspects revival.
Over 30 years later, Michael Ball returns for the London revival
“He came up afterwards with tears in his eyes, put his arms around me, and just thanked me and said, ‘the only time I felt this was on the first preview of Phantom’.
“It really was so unlike him!” Ball cackles, before adding, “but we want to make him proud, he’s the boss.”
He also wants audiences to “behave themselves” when they come along to watch.
Back in April, in Manchester, a performance of The Bodyguard was stopped because of people singing over the lead during the final song.
“There will be murders,” he says, musing over the prospect of audiences joining in with Love Changes Everything. “They can’t hit that top note!”
“I hope it doesn’t happen because there is nothing more disruptive….behave yourselves, you’ll have a better night!”
Theatre goers, you have been warned.
Aspects Of Love runs at London’s Lyric Theatre until 11 November.
A woman who was stabbed to death in north London has been named by police – as a man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Pamela Munro, 45, was found with a stab wound and died at the scene in Ayley Croft, Enfield, on Saturday evening, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday and is in custody, the force added.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John said: “Investigating officers have worked relentlessly across the weekend to investigate the circumstances around Pamela’s death.
“We continue to support her family who are understandably devastated.”
Police at the scene at Ayley Croft in Enfield
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The Met Police has asked anyone with information or who was driving through Ayley Court between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday and may have dashcam footage to contact the force.
A “British man” has died after being beaten and set on fire by a mob in Ecuador, according to reports by media in the South American country.
According to reports, the man – who has not been officially identified – had been detained by police after being accused of being involved in a fatal shooting.
Ecuadorian news outlet Ecuavisa reported that the man had been taken to a police station Playas del Cuyabeno, a remote village in the Amazon rainforest.
While there, a group broke into the station and took the man away. He was then set on fire in the street, it is reported, and died from his burns.
The incident reportedly happened in the Playas del Cuyabeno area of Sucumbios province
Another local report, from EXTRA.ec, said that specialist police units had been slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area – which is accessible by river.
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According to reports, police officers at the station apparently decided they could not intervene when the mob arrived out of concerns for their own safety.
It is understood the UK Foreign Office is following up reports about the incident and working with local authorities to confirm the details.
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