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Following a successful UK tour last year, Collabro have announced a packed programme for 2022. The musical theatre group, made up of Michael Auger, Jamie Lambert, Matthew Pagan and Thomas J. Redgrave, will perform three consecutive dates at the London Boisdale of Canary Wharf beginning on 7 June 2022.
Collabro got their big break when they won series eight of Britain’s Got Talent in 2014. An average of almost 10 million viewers tuned into the show across the series, and the group blew audiences away with their performance of Stars from Les Misérables. The success of the show led to a live Britain’s Got Talent tour featuring popular acts from the various series, such as Susan Boyle.
The immense popularity of Britain’s Got Talent has led to other spin-offs of the show popping up in the entertainment industry. One example is the branded Slingo Originals’ Britain’s Got Talent Slingo game, which is a cross between slots and bingo. The game hopes to lure fans of the talent show to play slingo bingo online with elements of the hit franchise woven into the game. Other spin-offs inspired by the show include an audition DVD, an electronic board game and a magic set.
The group returned to BGT in 2019 when they appeared in Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, although they were eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Other prominent participants in Britain’s Got Talent include Paul Potts, who was the first winner of the talent show in 2007, and Susan Boyle, who has won countless awards and broken record sales despite finishing in second place after losing to the street dance troupe Diversity in the BGT final in 2009.
Collabro has recorded six studio albums to date, the most recent being Christmas is Here in 2020. The album features a host of Christmas classics such as Winter Wonderland, All I Want for Christmas and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, along with Christmas hymns such as Silent Night and O Holy Night.
At the end of 2021, Collabro joined Cliff Richard to record a new version of his Christmas tune, Mistletoe and Wine, which was originally a number one hit in 1988. Michael Auger spoke of his delight at the collaboration with Cliff Richard: “It really is a dream come true and probably the most surreal thing we have ever done. This song was first released before any of us were born, so we have literally heard it every Christmas our whole lives. Working with Sir Cliff has always been the most incredible experience and we really hope people enjoy this new version of the song.”
The Collabro tour, entitled Christmas is Here, will continue at the end of the year with dates in cities such as Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Plymouth. The group will also appear at the Opera House in Blackpool with the tour ending on 15 December 2022 in Bath.
Previous winners of Britain’s Got Talent have struggled to make the transition to independent acts, but this tour is a vote of confidence in the future of the musical theatre group. Collabro will hope that they can use the momentum of the Cliff Richard collaboration and Christmas album to go from strength to strength in 2022. Perhaps in the future, the group will follow in the footsteps of fellow BGT winner Paul Potts and go on a European tour.
