A wet Tuesday lunchtime. London traffic at a standstill. You'd think we'd be used to the rain by now. I am seated, microphone at the ready, my colleagues Tommy Pearson and Thomas O'Connor in attendance, in the palatial (only joking) reception area of the No.1 dressing room (actually it's No.12) at the Shaftesbury Theatre. A rack full of tasteless glamour frocks tell you that this Edna is no Dame - not in any sense. Actually, she's a he and "he" (as if you haven't guessed already) is Michael Ball. He's never late, but he is today and it's stressing him out. A series of phone calls from his car relay to his assistant Andrew when he's moving and when he's not. Right now he's gridlocked outside the Connaught Hotel. It's going to be at least 15 minutes. Andrew is entertaining: we swop Betty Buckley stories. Now there's a dame. Isn't Sunset Boulevard Lloyd Webber's best score? Damn right it is.
Michael is at Goodge St. now. And fretting. 'It's alright sweetie', says Andrew, 'They don't need you on stage until 2 for sound checks. So no make-up. We just need to pop a wig on you and we're set.' So reassuring. 'Doesn't Michael look pretty in the photos', asks Andrew. Er, gorgeous, I reply.
Whereupon he's through the back entrance of the dressing room, a little damp but otherwise his usual engaging self. Hugs all round. We've done this before, we'll do it again.... The microphone's live now and it's just like it always is - like old times. Hairspray, Sondheim, Sweeney, English National and New York City Opera, the unspeakable (but we still do) Kismet, the new Bacharach album, Dusty Springfield, farewell juvenile leads, hello drag. And I get to know his bra size...
Hear Ed's interview with Michael Ball HERE.
Michael is at Goodge St. now. And fretting. 'It's alright sweetie', says Andrew, 'They don't need you on stage until 2 for sound checks. So no make-up. We just need to pop a wig on you and we're set.' So reassuring. 'Doesn't Michael look pretty in the photos', asks Andrew. Er, gorgeous, I reply.
Whereupon he's through the back entrance of the dressing room, a little damp but otherwise his usual engaging self. Hugs all round. We've done this before, we'll do it again.... The microphone's live now and it's just like it always is - like old times. Hairspray, Sondheim, Sweeney, English National and New York City Opera, the unspeakable (but we still do) Kismet, the new Bacharach album, Dusty Springfield, farewell juvenile leads, hello drag. And I get to know his bra size...
Hear Ed's interview with Michael Ball HERE.