Chess? I’m glad to be on board, says Michael Ball

MICHAEL BALL knows the musical Chess so well. he has sung the soaring duet You And I with Elaine Paige, who was on the concept album and created the part of Florence on stage; and another number, Anthem, with current concert and recording partner Alfie Boe.

he hasn’t sung I Know him So Well — but only because that’s a number for the leading ladies.

‘It’s one of the greatest scores ever written!’ said Ball, who will play Anatoly, the Russian chess champion in the show created by Benny Andersson, Bjorn ulvaeus and tim Rice.

the production, with a 48-piece orchestra, also stars Alexandra Burke as Svetlana, tim howar as Freddie and Cassidy Janson as Florence. the original Freddie, Murray head, is the Arbiter.

It is set against postwar intrigue between the u.S. and USSR. ‘People forget what the Cold War was about — lots of betrayal,’ said Ball, who has just returned from a concert tour of Japan.

he remembers Chess running at the Prince Edward theatre. ‘I never got to see it because I was in Les Miserables at the Palace, but I raced out to get the concept album,’ he said.

Ball’s working on a new solo album. ‘I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for songs that evoke the Seventies,’ he said, adding that he’s talking to songwriter Jimmy Webb.

he’d like another long West End run. ‘I’d love to do La Cage Aux Folles — I do rock in a frock,’ he said. ‘And revisit Edna turnblad in hairspray. I loved every single thing about that show.’

Chess starts rehearsals on March 19 with a first preview at the London Coliseum on April 26.

Producers Michael Linnit and Michael Grade don’t possess the Broadway rights, but I’m hearing that if Chess works at the Coliseum, there is a desire for it to transfer to New York.

Ball, meanwhile, said he’s ‘just concentrating on London’.