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In 1989, a young Michael Ball landed the lead role in the musical Aspects of Love. It was a moment that changed his life forever. It was the first time he worked with legends of the stage like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn; it was from that show that came his smash hit song, Love Changes Everything, which rode high in the charts for 15 weeks; it was then, also, that he first met his long-term partner Cathy McGowan and battled back against the stage fright that had threatened his career.

A long time ago, the Emperor of China lived in a magnificent palace made of fine china and surrounded by a splendid garden that was so big that even the gardener did not know it all of it. One day, the Emperor read a book that said that the most marvellous bird was the nightingale and so he asked his court to find him one because he wanted to hear it sing that very evening.

Making his west end debut in 1985, Ball has been a constant in musical theatre, performing many parts in Les Misérables around the country over the years, appearing in The Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray and Sweeny Todd. Ball is no stranger to the charts either: after representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, he has regularly released albums. Michael has now taken to writing and we will be talking about his debut novel, The Empire.

The Empire is not just a theatre. From music hall to vaudeville, from revue to grand musical spectacular, it holds a special place in the nation's heart. For its audience, for its actors and singers, for the stagehands, the front-of-house staff, for its backers and its debtors—and above all for its owners—it truly is a palace of dreams. And for young Jack Treadwell, struggling to adapt to civilian life after the horrors of the trenches, it's a lifeline. When he receives a letter out of the blue inviting him to work at The Empire, he leaps at the chance.