BEHIND THE SCENES
Our Story begins back in October 1999.
Margo Egberts and Dee Swan from the Ballpoint team had just finished reading
‘Michael, The Book’ (aka, The Complete Aspects of Love) and heard from
Cat Rohman, another member of the team who had recently been watching ‘Michael,
The Movie’ (aka, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebration at the Royal Albert
Hall) the three, chatting together about the works decided that it was
about time there was a "Michael - The Musical". After gathering the
rest of Ballpoint together, they put a call through to Apple Macintosh,
the famous West-End producer with their idea. He read the book and
watched the movie at their request and called them back almost instantly:
"I had tears in my eyes" said Apple, and indeed it IS an emotional story.
From Michael's early struggles as a young child striving to play the role
of Joseph, the audience is capitulated in to a swirling storm of emotion,
raised to dizzy heights of happiness with such tunes as ‘Payday’s coming’
only to be dashed to the depth of despair in Yogi’s haunting ballad ‘On
My Own’.
"On My Own, Pretending He's
Beside Me"
Apple soon contacted his long time
co-conspirator Trevor Numb and told him about Ballpoint’s idea. A
meeting was called by Numb and Macintosh with the Ballpoint team and a
brainstorming session began. The book, being so complicated almost 100
pages long (excluding pictures) simply HAD to be chopped down to make it
a manageable length for west-end audiences. After DAYS of hard work
on the part of the team, they managed to get it down to 6.5 mins.
Then, Numb decided that perhaps, after all, they should try to include
some songs. Music was 'obtained' from several relatively un-heard
of musicals and put to good use with the best lyricists from the Forbidden
Shaftsbury team. Then it was time for casting! After auditioning
more than three young hopefuls, Numb and Macintosh finally agreed that
the Ballpoint team themselves were the only people for the job, with Michael
playing the lead. The Palace theatre was obtained with very little
fuss and no intimidation whatsoever on the part of any organised crime
gang no matter what you may have heard.
John Happier was called upon to repeat
his past successes with the scenery creating the magnificent six foot doorway
that remains onstage for most of the show and finally, after over a month
of strenuous writing, editing, endless rehearsals and script changes, 'Michael
The Musical' opened at the Palace Theatre in London to rave reviews from
the critics paving the way to Broadway and a world-wide tour.
Containing such powerful and unforgettable
numbers as: 'Fans Anthem', 'The Last Night of the Tour' (which soared to
no. 651 in the UK charts and stayed there for over a week) and 'Singing
Someone Else’s Songs' this is a show which, no matter how many times it’s
heard or recorded, will surely never read better than here, in this Ballpoint
compilation.
Ballpoint
2000
