Alfie

After the tremendous success of his first Decca album, Bring Him Home last year, critically acclaimed tenor and theater star, Alfie Boe, returns with the release of his eagerly-awaited follow-up, Alfie

Alfie presents a collection of the most beautiful and timeless songs, sung just the way you want to hear them. Such romantic classics as the forever popular When I Fall In Love, Leonard Bernstein s impassioned Maria from West Side Story and Ewan MacColl s heartfelt folk song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Having teamed up with good friend Matt Lucas for a duet on his first album, Alfie continues to surprise us with his unlikely, but perfect, pairings by being joined here by one of his heroes, rock legend Robert Plant. After a chance meeting in a bar, the two singers were soon in a studio recording this extremely moving version of Tim Buckley s Song To The Siren. Having been called Boe, the Bad Boy of Opera it was entirely fitting that Alfie should welcome Plant onto his new record, and, somewhat surprisingly, their voices blend beautifully against the delicate orchestration. They repeated this duet memorably this past November in a special performance Alfie Boe Live in Concert from London s acclaimed Royal Festival Hall. The concert will be broadcast nationally on PBS stations this coming June.

It is hard to believe that Alfie has had time to record a new album as he is still in the midst of his incredible stint in Les Misérables, taking the lead role of Jean Valjean. Here Alfie is joined by by another pop star Nick Jonas for a duet version of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Who better to duet with Alfie for this than this young star who played Marius in last year s acclaimed concert version of Les Miserables also broadcast nationally on PBS stations and available from home video.

Alfie s versatile voice takes us on a journey through the musicals, with the uplifting Being Alive from the musical Company, the all-time favourite Music Of The Night from Phantom of the Opera, George Gershwin s jazz standard Someone to Watch Over Me from Oh, Kay!, Wheels of a Dream from the musical Ragtime and of course Jean Valjean s own Who Am I ( I m Jean Valjean! ) from Les Mis.

Alfie is made up of songs of genuine power and quality, a status that is only enhanced when interpreted by one of the world s great voices. Some of these timeless classics are forever associated with their original interpreter so it is a tribute to Alfie Boe s artistry that he gives each one his own individual stamp. One imagines Alfie singing to his 3-year-old daughter with the wistful When You Wish Upon A Star from the 1940 Disney classic Pinocchio. The album is rounded out by a reprise of Alfie s signature song, the stunningly beautiful Bring Him Home from Les Mis. With Alfie Boe s ringing tenor voice, the magic of the musical has never sounded more enchanting.