There is a difference between meeting an artist and discovering their music. I discovered Alfie Boe's music during the summer before my senior year when my friend suggested that I listen to his version of "Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables. Being a huge fan of the musical but also being more familiar with Colm Wilkinson or even Hugh Jackman, I remember saying, "He is almost too good of a singer to be Jean Valjean." I then largely forgot about him for a while.
Months later, as I sat in a New York restaurant for preshow dinner with my aunt, I noticed a black shirted, backpacked man walk straight past the tables into some sort of private underground room. I remember saying to my aunt, "I think that's Alfie Boe." We had flown up to celebrate my birthday by watching my all-time favorite musical, and frankly I had been somewhat disappointed that Ramin Karimloo's run as Valjean had come to an end. There's a certain magic that is felt when you actually see a celebrity, though, and I just had a feeling that this normal-seeming guy was none other than English tenor Alfie Boe. In some small effort to confirm my suspicion, I tweeted at him, "Am I hallucinating or did I just see you at the restaurant I'm eating at before the show??"
To my absolute surprise, he replied. I have never been more overjoyed by the word "probably" in my life, but in my mind, I knew. It had to be him.
A few minutes after this Twitter exchange, we made our way to the theatre and sat down. I had been waiting to see the show for weeks by this point, but now I was also hoping to see if the normal guy I had seen in the restaurant was actually the heroic Jean Valjean.
I will stop myself from overly gushing details about the performance itself. However, I will say that everyone in the house knew that "Bring Him Home" would be something incredibly special, and it was.
I will also say that my brief conversation with Boe made it obvious: he is a fantastic performer, a genuinely kind man, and unquestionably the man I saw at dinner that night.
Favorite album: Alfie (2011)
Favorite songs: "Bring Him Home" is so far ahead of the others that it's the only one I'll include
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