Michael ball john barrowman biography

1991 musical

Matador is the title of a 1991 musical by Mike Leander and Eddie Seago, with a book by Peter Jukes, which tells the story of the rise and fall of a fictional matador, loosely based on Manuel Benitez, El Cordobes.

The show featured stunning choreography in traditional Flamenco style by Rafael Aguilar, and the show won an Olivier Award as a result. Several dancers were cast directly from Spain, making their West End debuts. The bulls for the fighting sequences were performed by a phalanx of black-clad dancers, moving as one.

Michael ball john barrowman biography

The work began life in 1987 as a concept album, starring Tom Jones. Jones was keen to play the lead on stage, and gave up his Las Vegas cabaret shows to return to the UK for that purpose. The musical was initially unable to attract the financial backing required, but Jones did get his first UK top ten hit after a fifteen-year dry spell, with his single, A Boy From Nowhere, lifted from the Matador concept album.^&#