★★★★☆

Kane Alexander’s new album Different Stages: The Broadway Album showcases his rich, thrilling tenor across a range of repertoire as well as his ability to connect emotionally with the lyric to tell a story through song.

Alexander went to the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2000, he moved to New York to study acting and performed his own cabaret show there, where he won several awards. Returning to Australia in 2002, his credits include the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Billy Crocker in Anything Goes and Claude in Hair for The Production Company, Bobby Strong in Urinetown for Melbourne Theatre Company, the 10th anniversary production of Les Misérables and the Australian musical Only Heaven Knows. In 2014, he played Giorgio in Passion, followed in 2015 by Detective Stone in City of Angels, both for independent Melbourne company Like Life Company.

Different Stages, which is his second album, features 17 songs from musicals spanning five decades, from Hair (1967) to The Bridges of Madison County (2014). Performed with the English National Symphony Orchestra, the CD has a big, lush sound, over which Alexander’s voice soars in exhilarating fashion.

He has put together a well-chosen selection...