Words matter. These are the best Michael Ball Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I never thought of myself as a particularly controversial figure.
Songs from the theatre can be taken and put on record in a commercial and contemporary way, be reinvented and become standout tracks on their own.
I love the idea of being on stage and people thinking they know who Michael Ball is, they’ve got an image and then not knowing and going: who’s that? I mean, that’s the best compliment ever.
I absolutely love ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and have never missed a series – but I would never appear on them.
I spent my 40th birthday on the stage of the Palladium in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.’
I understand the power of music, I understand the therapeutic nature of music, the sense of community that music engenders, so I totally understand why it still goes on, choirs come together as a focal point for a community.
I particularly like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Both writers have wit and imagination and the breadth of stories they tell coupled with extraordinary artwork make for fascinating reading.
I spent my 40th birthday on the stage of the Palladium in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.’
I can’t properly explain it, but I don’t mind admitting I suffered a breakdown.
I love the genre of early Hollywood. It gives you everything.
I absolutely love ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ and have never missed a series – but I would never appear on them.
As a person, Stephen Sondheim is a very funny, very dry and very shy man. I’ve never witnessed any diva-ish moments, he just always seems so thrilled people are doing his work.
I’m a fairly traditional British cook, as my partner Cathy doesn’t enjoy spicy food, although I like to experiment myself.
I have far ascended beyond every ambition my 16-year-old self ever had.
I like to walk around John Lewis or Selfridges window-shopping.
I will always tour, it’s hard work it really is hard work, but the feedback and the buzz you get back from it is worth it.
I’ve heard everyone do ‘Bring Him Home’ from ‘Les Miserables.’ When Colm Wilkinson did it, I truly never thought I would hear anyone as good, never mind better.
In 2005, I played Count Fosco in ‘The Woman In White’ on Broadway. It was a disaster. I was physically run down and terribly homesick and I just knew I had to leave. I lasted three months before the producers released me.
I’d love to explore South America, but the security issues worry me.
I can’t properly explain it, but I don’t mind admitting I suffered a breakdown.
I made a conscious decision to stop watching ‘Big Brother.’ I was an avid fan, but I felt it was time to move on.
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.
The biggest myth I’d like to bust isn’t about me – it’s about musicals. So many people dismiss the entire art form through highbrow snobbery, but I think a lot of those people would be suprised if they actually saw some.
Musicals allow a depth of emotion that you don’t get in another form of acting, the chord changes, the lyrics really affect people, so that in two hours, you’ve forgotten about things.
I’ve heard everyone do ‘Bring Him Home’ from ‘Les Miserables.’ When Colm Wilkinson did it, I truly never thought I would hear anyone as good, never mind better.
If you’ve got someone fighting your corner, someone who loves you and you love, and is also really, really clever, the battle is so much easier.
For the millennium, we flew to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Pangkor Laut, a nearby island.
I’d always had this hankering to try some opera.
I had Steven Spielberg on my radio show.
There are certain fans who come to everything I do.
The first time I encountered Stephen Sondheim was like everyone else: through snatches of old songs people performed in drama school, through ‘Send in the Clowns,’ which everyone knew. I wasn’t aware at the time that he was the writing force behind ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Gypsy.’
No-one has ever sung quite so beautifully as Karen Carpenter.
I tap my fingers and cheekbones before going on stage to calm down. But nerves are necessary; if you ever lose them, it’s a bad sign.
I’ve got soft features, curly hair with blonde bits and dimples. People think of me as a singer, an entertainer, someone who’s always there with a ready smile.
You will never, ever catch me at the gym.
I love doing characters that surprise people and showing what I am, which is an actor, first and foremost.
You have to be on your game with a live audience because anything can change.
There are certain fans who come to everything I do.
In 2005, I played Count Fosco in ‘The Woman In White’ on Broadway. It was a disaster. I was physically run down and terribly homesick and I just knew I had to leave. I lasted three months before the producers released me.
I don’t think you last very well in this business if you’re trendy because trends come and go.
The bravery and pioneering of early Hollywood was absolutely incredible.
Tapping therapy is absolutely brilliant. Stephen Gately from Boyzone, God rest his soul, told me about it. It’s just a little tap that focuses the mind away from that wave of panic and adrenalin that shoots into your body.
You can’t ever make assumptions about a family tree.
I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. But then a lady at the youth theatre asked me if I’d ever thought of going to drama school.
You must never ask or expect anyone to do anything that you would not be prepared to do yourself.
I’m really superstitious.
I got involved in the Surrey Country youth theatre which led me to go to drama school where I realised that this was going to have to be my career, and I was really lucky to get big breaks early on.
It’s a mantra I’ve lived by for as long as I can remember. Nothing lasts for ever.
The one I really get on with is Princess Anne. Talk about calls a spade a shovel! And she’s so clued-up. She’s a patron of a number of charities. I’ve been involved in a couple and she’s not just a name. She knows the research programmes that are going on. She really does her homework.
I need to have a sleep before a show and a quiet hour. I need to get dressed following the same routine. And I like to smell right for a show.
I saw ‘Hairspray’ in New York and had one of the best nights I’ve ever had in the theatre.
This was a seminal moment in my life – my dad took me to see the original production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ at the Palace Theatre in 1973. I thought it was just amazing, so powerful. The idea of using rock music to tell the story of Jesus was incredible.
I love a drink. But I’ve never, ever in my life been on a stage and done a performance with an alcoholic drink inside me. Never have, never would. I’ve seen people who do and invariably they’re never as good as they think they are.
Legally we have integration, social acceptance and diversity… but that doesn’t mean… everybody is down with it.
Working is learning.
I send a text every day to my partner Cath, saying ‘I love you.’
You often take the mick out of the people you like best.
I love a drink. But I’ve never, ever in my life been on a stage and done a performance with an alcoholic drink inside me. Never have, never would. I’ve seen people who do and invariably they’re never as good as they think they are.
It is as polar opposite as it comes for the man who was Edna Turnblad in ‘Hairspray’ to come back as Sweeney Todd.
Anyone who’s suffered from panic attacks knows how frightening they are.
I play roles, but when I’m off stage, I always try to be myself.
Theatres, stages are dangerous places.
Legally we have integration, social acceptance and diversity… but that doesn’t mean… everybody is down with it.
I have a family who are desperately not interested in sharing their life with the world.
You can’t get down and dirty at the opera.
Wilbur Smith’s novels make terrific holiday reading.
Working is learning.
When I was starting, I was working with actors who came up through the rep system, and they understood the discipline required: you were never late for rehearsal, you were never not ready to go on, you were always prepared; it was about showing respect to the rest of the company.
I just work so much and so hard that I love the idea of being around family, friends and my animals quietly at home, just chilling out.
I’ve never been fashionable, so I’ll never be out of fashion.
I’d rather take the mick out of myself before anyone else does. I know they’ll do it, so I’d rather get in there first!
That’s the only show where, if anyone says to me, ‘Is there a role you want to play?’, I say, yeah, I want to play Sweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim’s so clever; it’s a profoundly brilliant piece of work.
Bacharach has such a brilliant ear for melody and his music has a completely timeless feel to it; I thought it would be great to do a whole album of his music and to record with a full orchestra and big band which is something I hadn’t done before.
It is as polar opposite as it comes for the man who was Edna Turnblad in ‘Hairspray’ to come back as Sweeney Todd.
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