[Although Ball is considered a pop singer, he's not a total stranger to 
 Gilbert and Sullivan, having played Frederick in the West End mounting of Joe Papp's memorable 
 production of The Pirates of Penzance . But Patience is a different kind of work--much 
 of its humor is highly topical, poking fun at the short-lived Aesthetic movement that flourished 
 among British dilettantes 125 years ago. Will that humor translate to a New York audience in the 
 year 2005?] I think there's absolutely no difference to how we regarded things then and how we regard 
 things now, ... There are still those performers and artists who strike on a new art 
 form or mode that attracts their fans, while the majority of us may be saying, 'I'm sorry, but isn't 
 that The Emperor's New Clothes?' There will always be charlatans who do things just to get acclaim 
 and adulation. So I think it'll speak to an audience as clearly today as it did then.  -   Michael Ball     Quotes
[Although Ball is considered a pop singer, he's not a total stranger to Gilbert and Sullivan, having played Frederick in the West End mounting of Joe Papp's memorable production of The Pirates of Penzance . But Patience is a different kind of work--much of its humor is highly topical, poking fun at the short-lived Aesthetic movement that flourished among British dilettantes 125 years ago. Will that humor translate to a New York audience in the year 2005?] I think there's absolutely no difference to how we regarded things then and how we regard things now, ... There are still those performers and artists who strike on a new art form or mode that attracts their fans, while the majority of us may be saying, 'I'm sorry, but isn't that The Emperor's New Clothes?' There will always be charlatans who do things just to get acclaim and adulation. So I think it'll speak to an audience as clearly today as it did then. Michael Ball
 Clothes Emperor Humorous Patience