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Post by chessie on May 31, 2012 12:28:10 GMT -5
PBS is airing an Alfie Boe concert (this weekend on my local station). You may want to check your local listings if you're interested.
Carol
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kec
Wannabe
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Post by kec on Jun 1, 2012 20:05:03 GMT -5
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Post by JH4HJ on Jun 2, 2012 15:05:14 GMT -5
This sounds fabulous! I would love to see him perform LIVE. Here are the US Tour dates: www.alfieboeuk.com/2012/05/us-tour-dates-october-2012Of course he's not going to be anywhere near me... but a few days in SF next October would be nice. I had a great time there last year, but didn't get to see nearly enough of the local attractions. Hmmmm... how could I manage to swing this? BTW: He's scheduled to perform at the Queen's Jubilee Paul McCartney will be one of many famous names to perform at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert this coming Monday.
Also featured will be Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, Robbie Williams, Grace Jones, Will-iam, Gary Barlow, Lang Lang, Alfie Boe and Rennee Fleming. |
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kec
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Post by kec on Jun 2, 2012 21:56:55 GMT -5
Yes, Alfie will be doing two songs at Monday night's concert: O Sole Mio and Somewhere -- the latter with American soprano Renee Fleming. They will sing this song from the same balcony where the Royal Family gathers on special occasions. I'm hoping the progam on ABC Tuesday night at 9 will include the duet, but who knows.
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Post by JH4HJ on Jun 3, 2012 9:56:50 GMT -5
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kec
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Post by kec on Jun 3, 2012 21:14:40 GMT -5
BBC America isn't showing the concert, only ABC.
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Post by birchie on Jun 5, 2012 10:44:02 GMT -5
I actually posted this on another board. Hadn't seen the thread here. Anyway, although I will probably be a minority of 1 this was my review of the PBS show:
One of the favorite songs I mentioned was If I Loved You and I like the way Hugh did it in the Carnegie Hall videos. The other one was Some Enchanted Evening and there are a couple I like better especially Paulo Szot and Enzio Pinza.
One thing I didn't say that I should have is that the parts of songs that were operatic were wonderful and The beginning of O Solo Mio was too. This leads me to believe that he is most likely much better suited to the opera and to roles like JVJ in Les Mis since that is more operatic too.
I also didn't mention his stage presence or lack there of. I don't think he has much. Maybe I'm just spoiled by Hugh who is such a great showman! The couple times Alfie tried to do something other than stand there just seemed a bit forced and unnatural to me.
Well, for what it's worth, those are my thoughts on the concert. Sorry to say that show changed my opinion of Alfie considerably.
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Post by JH4HJ on Jun 5, 2012 13:29:29 GMT -5
kec - I didn't get to see it, but I listened to it on BBC Radio2. He sounded wonderful, of course. The Balcony was a great spot for the duet, but it was a bit overdone for my taste.
birchie - I think the PBS Special is quite different from the show he's doing now. I agree with you on the song selection... but I'd still be tempted if his tour came anywhere near me. I'll probably watch the PBS show - Free, no need to travel, nice singing, good songs... better than all those "reality" shows I can't stand.
I'm afraid we're tough to please in the "personal charisma" "audience interaction" area. Think about it - most concert performers "just stand there" and sing - and that's supposed to be enough. After experiencing Peter and Hugh (and Hugh AS Peter) - we're spoiled rotten. ;D
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Post by chessie on Jun 5, 2012 21:17:27 GMT -5
I too was a bit disappointed in his song selection, but his "Bring Him Home" is spine-tingling. He appeared in person during the fund-raising breaks on our local station, and I did enjoy seeing him interviewed.
I do think we're just a bit spoiled when it comes to performance expectations.
Carol
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kec
Wannabe
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Post by kec on Jun 5, 2012 23:03:11 GMT -5
Birchie I'm sorry you were disappointed in what you saw. Sadly, the PBS broadcast doesn't include all the banter that Alfie does between songs. I have the full DVD but haven't had time to watch it yet. Friends have said the banter is funny and he does some funny stuff with Matt Lucas (with whom he sang Impossible Dream.
It has to be said that the London concert was very early in his tour, and he was very nervous. As time went on he got more and more comfortable on the stage and he relaxed a bit more.
Alfie's been progressing as a stage performer in the last year or so. If you do a search on You Tube for Alfie's Kansas City concert, you'll find a completely different performance than the London concert.
Edit to ask -- did your PBS broadcast show Alfie in the Studio during the pledge breaks?
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Post by birchie on Jun 6, 2012 8:35:51 GMT -5
Birchie I'm sorry you were disappointed in what you saw. Sadly, the PBS broadcast doesn't include all the banter that Alfie does between songs. I have the full DVD but haven't had time to watch it yet. Friends have said the banter is funny and he does some funny stuff with Matt Lucas (with whom he sang Impossible Dream. It has to be said that the London concert was very early in his tour, and he was very nervous. As time went on he got more and more comfortable on the stage and he relaxed a bit more. Alfie's been progressing as a stage performer in the last year or so. If you do a search on You Tube for Alfie's Kansas City concert, you'll find a completely different performance than the London concert. Edit to ask -- did your PBS broadcast show Alfie in the Studio during the pledge breaks? Nice to know he's improved since then, nerves can certainly play a role. (Just think of poor Michael Ball years back) I did see a YouTube of him and Matt lucas which was cute. Didn't know it was part of that show. I have to admit I didn't watch the pledge breaks. I was watching my Red Sox so I switched back to the game during the pledge breaks. Oops! Don't get me wrong, I do love him but I'm still not sure that he has whatever it takes to pull off a mix of styles. Guess I'll have to watch a concert from later in the tour to see if it makes a difference to me. I really enjoy the more classical numbers he does. I forgot to mention that I enjoyed Bring Him Home with Claude Michel accompanying him on the piano. Like a couple others said too, for pure entertainment we've been spoiled by watching Hugh and, those of us old enough to remember, Peter. |
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kec
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Post by kec on Jun 8, 2012 19:39:12 GMT -5
For those who may be interested Alfie's in the U.S. this week doing a promotional tour in conjunctuion with the showing of his Concert video and the release of his newest CD "Alfie." Thus far he's been to Boston, Hartford, and today is in Pittsburgh. Here's an interview he did for a Pittsburgh TV station: www.wpxi.com/videos/news/opera-musical-theater-star-alfie-boe-visits/vcCPf/ |
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Post by freyja on Jun 9, 2012 17:58:42 GMT -5
What a charming, articulate, gentle man. His eyes show his love of life. It is lucky that he is physically smaller because I think he would have been seriously considered for the role that, thankfully, Hugh got. I learned his name through the old Ozalot Board and am most grateful. I will now follow his career. Not in the same way I follow Hugh, of course. Or should I say hopefully, since I don't think I would like to be so enthralled with yet another man!
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kec
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Post by kec on Jun 9, 2012 19:32:02 GMT -5
Freyja, I don't think his stature had anything to do with him not getting the role. Tom Hooper did see Alfie play the role on stage in London, and he confirmed in an interview a while back that he had met with Hooper.
No reason to not follow him in the same way you follow Hugh... I have four favorites to follow -- Michael Ball, Alfie, Hugh and John Owen Jones (Welsh actor currently playing the Phantom on tour in the UK -- one of the Four Valjeans in the O2 concert encore.)
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Post by mamaleh on Jun 17, 2012 20:28:03 GMT -5
Watching Boe's concert on my local PBS station now. What strikes me is that when he sings he sounds like someone whose native language is not English, more like Italian, maybe: The phrases "Eef I Loved You" and "let him leev" spring to mind. Perhaps that manner of pronunciation is the result of his opera training. It just reminds me why I don't usually warm to opera singers handling pop material.
Ellen
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Post by foxie on Jun 25, 2012 5:39:47 GMT -5
what is wrong with you?val get this one!
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Post by mamaleh on Jun 26, 2012 8:19:27 GMT -5
Boe has a fine voice; I just find his sung pronunciations quirky.
Carol, there's another British singer with a fabulous voice: Julian Ovenden. His magnificent vocal instrument took my breath away in DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY last season. He's starring in the upcoming musical version of FINDING NEVERLAND, which is playing in London before it (I hope) reaches Broadway.
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Post by JH4HJ on Oct 14, 2012 0:10:44 GMT -5
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Post by JH4HJ on Jan 17, 2013 13:20:21 GMT -5
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Post by birchie on Jan 17, 2013 14:22:04 GMT -5
i couldn't understand most of what he said. The first line Hugh Jackman's__________??? Everyone was laughing and I replayed it at all different volume levels but couldn't make it out. After that the only line I could discern was "...I'll play Wolverine..." After that he was talking to someone behind him but I only got a couple words.  Bad hearing coupled with the accent & low quality recording plus background noises (laughing, talking) make some of these video things hard for me to decipher. I couldn't hear enough to tell whether he was being funny or snarky??? Help!!??  Sue |
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Post by annetter on Jan 17, 2013 14:43:21 GMT -5
I think he was a little of both -- snarky and funny
and I think he said Hugh Jackman is a bastard.
Anyway - fact remains Hugh got the party and the award nominations and trophies to prove he did a good job.
I actually like Alfie but he can only sing and as we all know Hugh can sing and act. Also, I doubt the worldwide box office figures would be as good if Hugh wasn't JVJ
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Post by birchie on Jan 17, 2013 17:52:15 GMT -5
I think he was a little of both -- snarky and funny and I think he said Hugh Jackman is a bastard. Anyway - fact remains Hugh got the party and the award nominations and trophies to prove he did a good job. I actually like Alfie but he can only sing and as we all know Hugh can sing and act. Also, I doubt the worldwide box office figures would be as good if Hugh wasn't JVJ Thank you...bastard eh? hmmm yes, he was probably trying to be funny. You are right about the rest! I like Alfie too and he is fine on stage but he could never have done the job Hugh did and, like I keep saying, he's too small to have been taken seriously for the movie JVJ. The box office would have been quite different with that scenario indeed!  Sue |
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