HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- There's a bit of choreography during The Ten Tenors' "Jersey Boys" medley that requires Jared Newall to perform a jumping maneuver, and the other night this resulted in Newall's tuxedo pants ripping in an unfortunate area.

"I got to spend the rest of show being careful what showed," Newall, 30, says with a laugh. "But I think I got away with it. We travel with a big road case full of suits. There's a lot of dry cleaning going on. But it's important to look good – we're doing Broadway."

Yes, Ten Tenors' current show is dubbed "The Ten Tenors on Broadway," and finds the Australian, 10-piece touring vocal group applying their orchestrated, multi-layered arrangements to show-tune chestnuts. "For the first time in many years in Ten Tenors we put together an entirely different show that didn't bring back any old repertoire, and we did that in the space of 11 days which is pretty unprecedented," Newall says. "And that meant some really, really long days. The rewarding thing is it's universally our favorite show. We love the material." The Ten Tenors were founded in 1995.

On March 30, Ten Tenors bring their act to Von Braun Center Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, located at 700 Monroe St., for a 3 p.m. performance. Tickets ($35- $55 adults, $23.75 - $46.95 ages 17 and under) are available via the VBC Box Office, ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 800-745-3000.

When reached for this phone interview, Newall was chilling at an Atlanta hotel room on a rare couple of days off.

10

There aren't a lot of acts featuring 10 saxophone, 10 electric guitar player or 10 xylophones. So why is a group consisting of 10 tenor vocalists able to play 250 shows a year? "There's something about the high-wire act of the tenor voice," Newall says. "We always try to find that balance between being hugely bombastic and finding subtle really beautiful moments in our shows where all our voices blend into one."

2

Asked which Broadway number in their show benefits most from the Ten Tenors treatment, Newall cites something old and something new. "We have a beautiful version of 'You'll Never Walk Alone,' which is a wonderful song and our arranger has put a beautiful spin on it, and it gets a strong reaction every night. And then on the other side of the other side of the spectrum we do a song called 'Falling Slowly' from "Once" that was a Tony Award Winner in 2012, so it's very recent. In the show, it comes with once voice and one guitar, and we take it through the roof but it still has the lightness and heavenly sound of the original."

3

When "The Ten Tenors on Broadway" tour began, Newall was the only performer in the show that knew how to tie a bow-tie - an essential skill given the group wears tuxedos every night onstage. This resulted in him initially having to tie 13 bow-ties, all 10 singers and three backing band musicians every night before the curtain went up. "I've managed to teach of the guys but two, so I only have to do three bow-ties every night and I can do that in about three minutes," he says.

1988

Since Newall hails from Australia and plays guitar in bands when he's not on the road with Ten Tenors, it begs the Down Under rock 'n' roll question: AC/DC or INXS? "I think it's INXS. 'Never Tell Us Apart' was one of the first songs I ever learned on the guitar," Newall says referring to the Michael Hutchence-fronted rockers' 1988 hit ballad.

25

Before the Ten Tenors' March 25 Cleveland, Miss. performance, the group got to meet actor Morgan Freeman. "We were meeting with folks as we tend to do before the show, and the feel of room changed a little bit and we all turned around and (Freeman) was walking into the room," Newall says. "He was very friendly and courteous. We were all having a photo with him, and, of course, his big boomy voice came out, and he mentioned he used to do a little bit of singing. We talked about some of the songs in our show and the next thing you know he was singing at the top of his falsetto voice – which was actually quite strange to hear this man with this famous, low, resonant voice singing 'Sherry' from 'Jersey Boys.'

More: thetentenors.com,broadwaytheatreleague.org, vonbrauncenter.com