Elaine Paige
Interview ahead of her
Stripped Back Tour
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
13th October 2016
Interview ahead of her
Stripped Back Tour
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea
13th October 2016
Singer, Elaine Paige, will be playing Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion on Thursday 13th October, in her Stripped Back Tour. The show will see her perform her favourite tracks, from an array of contemporary songwriters. This follows Elaine’s last solo tour in 2014 which was a sellout celebratory concert encompassing her incredible 50 year career and saw her say “farewell” to a full touring schedule.
The show will be celebrating songwriters such as Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Jim Webb, Burt Bacharach, Lennon & McCartney, Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber ... the list goes on - as well as many of her hits.
Elaine took some time out from her busy schedule to talk about the show, performing in Evita and Cats, the parts she missed out on and also gives us some tips on what musicals to go and see.
The show will be celebrating songwriters such as Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Jim Webb, Burt Bacharach, Lennon & McCartney, Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber ... the list goes on - as well as many of her hits.
Elaine took some time out from her busy schedule to talk about the show, performing in Evita and Cats, the parts she missed out on and also gives us some tips on what musicals to go and see.
You started the tour this weekend - how did it go?
Yes, I started on Saturday in Guildford and it went very well indeed with a wonderful reception and great reviews - so I can’t complain.
How long did it take to put the show together?
I had the idea January time and I thought, well I'll just see where it takes me, because it’s really an homage, if you like, to all the songwriters of the sixties and seventies that I grew up listening to. It was quite a process of eliminating the songs, that’s the hard bit. I looked at hundreds of different songs and then had to decide if they are suitable to my voice and if I enjoy singing them, so it’s taken nearly a year, really, to put together the selection that I’ve actually chosen.
How different is it performing with the band you have for this tour, compared to the huge orchestras you usually perform with?
There’s five in the band - piano, bass, drums, guitar and woodwind - so it’s a small concern but it’s nice, like a ‘we’re all in it together’ type of feel. I quite like it because I can actually hear myself [laughs] - because when you’re with a big orchestra, it’s quite difficult to actually hear what you’re singing!
Yes, I started on Saturday in Guildford and it went very well indeed with a wonderful reception and great reviews - so I can’t complain.
How long did it take to put the show together?
I had the idea January time and I thought, well I'll just see where it takes me, because it’s really an homage, if you like, to all the songwriters of the sixties and seventies that I grew up listening to. It was quite a process of eliminating the songs, that’s the hard bit. I looked at hundreds of different songs and then had to decide if they are suitable to my voice and if I enjoy singing them, so it’s taken nearly a year, really, to put together the selection that I’ve actually chosen.
How different is it performing with the band you have for this tour, compared to the huge orchestras you usually perform with?
There’s five in the band - piano, bass, drums, guitar and woodwind - so it’s a small concern but it’s nice, like a ‘we’re all in it together’ type of feel. I quite like it because I can actually hear myself [laughs] - because when you’re with a big orchestra, it’s quite difficult to actually hear what you’re singing!
I read a story about Dustin Hoffman encouraging you to continue with musical theatre, just before you got the part in Evita. I just wondered if you might have bumped into him and told him about how much of an influence he had on you?
Well he knew, because he came to the first performance of Evita after I met him and he’d encouraged me to keep going. A year later I got the part and so it kind of came full circle on the opening night of Evita in that he was the first person backstage to congratulate me. He popped his head round my dressing room door and said, “You got there, didn’t you?” It was very satisfying because I really was about to give up but he said to me “Don’t give up, you’ve got to keep going”. He was very complimentary about my voice and really did encourage me to stick with it; so I'm always grateful to him because had I not met him when I did, and if he hadn’t had said what he did to encourage me, I may not be talking to you now!
Was there a part that you ever desperately wanted but never got?
Well, you know there are several things one looks back on and thinks ‘ooh, I could have done that’, I mean prior to Evita I was up for playing Miss Hannigan in Annie but didn’t get it, but got Evita instead, so that was one that got past me. I would’ve perhaps liked to play in some of the more traditional American musicals like My Fair Lady or Nancy in Oliver. They were roles that I was never able to do because I came along at the time of the British musical renaissance, with Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice - that was my era of British musical. So I played along on that wave of new British musicals and was happy to be part of that period too, although I missed out on some of the more traditional roles that I might have been able to play, but of course passed me by.
It was a good wave to be on though wasn’t it?
Listen, I'm not complaining. I had the most wonderful career in musical theatre and some of the choicest, most plum roles for women what with Eva Peron (Evita) and Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) and Piaf and Chess that Tim wrote for me. I was very, very fortunate in a way to be able to just play one after the other of all those amazing roles for women.
Do you ever get envious of other actresses who have played the same parts as you’ve played?
Oh no, you know I think the theatre and the arts are all about interpretation and different generations play parts in different ways. I’m just thrilled that I was the first to play some of these major roles - theres nothing that can beat originating a role. It’s wonderful to be able to create something from scratch.
Well he knew, because he came to the first performance of Evita after I met him and he’d encouraged me to keep going. A year later I got the part and so it kind of came full circle on the opening night of Evita in that he was the first person backstage to congratulate me. He popped his head round my dressing room door and said, “You got there, didn’t you?” It was very satisfying because I really was about to give up but he said to me “Don’t give up, you’ve got to keep going”. He was very complimentary about my voice and really did encourage me to stick with it; so I'm always grateful to him because had I not met him when I did, and if he hadn’t had said what he did to encourage me, I may not be talking to you now!
Was there a part that you ever desperately wanted but never got?
Well, you know there are several things one looks back on and thinks ‘ooh, I could have done that’, I mean prior to Evita I was up for playing Miss Hannigan in Annie but didn’t get it, but got Evita instead, so that was one that got past me. I would’ve perhaps liked to play in some of the more traditional American musicals like My Fair Lady or Nancy in Oliver. They were roles that I was never able to do because I came along at the time of the British musical renaissance, with Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice - that was my era of British musical. So I played along on that wave of new British musicals and was happy to be part of that period too, although I missed out on some of the more traditional roles that I might have been able to play, but of course passed me by.
It was a good wave to be on though wasn’t it?
Listen, I'm not complaining. I had the most wonderful career in musical theatre and some of the choicest, most plum roles for women what with Eva Peron (Evita) and Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard) and Piaf and Chess that Tim wrote for me. I was very, very fortunate in a way to be able to just play one after the other of all those amazing roles for women.
Do you ever get envious of other actresses who have played the same parts as you’ve played?
Oh no, you know I think the theatre and the arts are all about interpretation and different generations play parts in different ways. I’m just thrilled that I was the first to play some of these major roles - theres nothing that can beat originating a role. It’s wonderful to be able to create something from scratch.
Can you remember the first time that you sung Memory in Cats?
Well, I came into Cats very late in the day by default because originally Judi Dench was going to be playing the role.
Oh yes, she broke something didn’t she?
She broke her achilles tendon and was cast off to hospital much to her distress and discomfort. Taking over from her at the last minute, literally, I had a weekend to learn the role and Memory was something they brought into the show during the rehearsal period. By the time I got involved there was discussion about the lyrical content. Tim Rice wrote a lyric; Trevor Nunn had already written a lyric based on the T S Elliot poem called Rhapsody on a Windy Night and then Richard Stilgo had a go at one. Also, Don Black had a lyric, so the first ten days of previews I was singing a different lyric or bits of different lyrics all shoved together every night, to see which one was the best. In the end Trevor Nunn’s lyric prevailed.
Do you ever get tired of singing it?
Never. [laughs] I never tire of singing it - isn’t it a funny thing? When I first heard it on the radio, I was coming back from a dinner party and I heard the tune on the radio and there was no lyric to it at the time and immediately I heard it I knew that it was special, for me anyway. It did something to me, that melody. I think it’s one of his great songs, one of the greatest that he’s ever written.
Definitely, it’s got so much emotion in it, hasn’t it?
It’s brilliant. It’s really like an operatic aria really. It’s one of the most wonderful songs.
Well, I came into Cats very late in the day by default because originally Judi Dench was going to be playing the role.
Oh yes, she broke something didn’t she?
She broke her achilles tendon and was cast off to hospital much to her distress and discomfort. Taking over from her at the last minute, literally, I had a weekend to learn the role and Memory was something they brought into the show during the rehearsal period. By the time I got involved there was discussion about the lyrical content. Tim Rice wrote a lyric; Trevor Nunn had already written a lyric based on the T S Elliot poem called Rhapsody on a Windy Night and then Richard Stilgo had a go at one. Also, Don Black had a lyric, so the first ten days of previews I was singing a different lyric or bits of different lyrics all shoved together every night, to see which one was the best. In the end Trevor Nunn’s lyric prevailed.
Do you ever get tired of singing it?
Never. [laughs] I never tire of singing it - isn’t it a funny thing? When I first heard it on the radio, I was coming back from a dinner party and I heard the tune on the radio and there was no lyric to it at the time and immediately I heard it I knew that it was special, for me anyway. It did something to me, that melody. I think it’s one of his great songs, one of the greatest that he’s ever written.
Definitely, it’s got so much emotion in it, hasn’t it?
It’s brilliant. It’s really like an operatic aria really. It’s one of the most wonderful songs.
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Can I talk to you about your part of Mistress Quince in Midsummer Night’s Dream because I love a bit of Shakespeare, although I must admit that when I first performed it I was terrified. How did you feel?
Well, I was the same really because it’s quite daunting isn’t it? It’s sort of like another language to some degree but I found that the more I did it, the more I rehearsed and read the play over and over and over, the more I loved it. I just found it wonderful in the end. I’d love to do some more but so far nothing has been offered to me but I live in hope that somebody might think that I’m right with some other Shakespeare play that they might be putting on somewhere. Once you get a handle on it, it’s the most beautiful language; beautifully descriptive and rhythmic - it's almost like singing without music. It was great fun and I’d love to do some more. |
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So, I assume that you get to see a lot of musical theatre shows in the West End and Broadway?
Yes, yes, I do. I love to go the theatre myself as an audience member. I love seeing what’s going on and I couldn’t live without it really. I don’t know how anybody lives without going to the theatre.
There’s been a lot of hype about Alexander Hamilton, you’ve seen it on Broadway haven’t you?
I saw that in New York. It was fantastic.
Do you think it will transfer well to the West End?
I do, yes, whether or not we’ll ‘get it’ quite the same way here because the history is not our history, it’s American history but in a way it almost doesn’t matter. It’s just that freshness and the whole concept of it - the way it’s put together and the writing, direction and choreography. Everything about it is so fresh and new.
School of Rock is coming (to the West End), that’s Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s new show which I also saw in New York in June, when I was over there for the Tony Awards for my radio show, and that’s also a very good show with the most marvellous kids in it rocking up and storm and the leading man was amazing. Also, the other one I loved in New York which I saw a couple of years ago was the Gershwin musical, that my friend Bob Crowley designed, American in Paris; that is the most beautiful show to look at. It has the most fantastic, innovative design with wonderful Gershwin music and wonderful dancing and singing in it.
We’ll look forward to that one then. Waitress the Musical is another one we’ve heard is coming to the West End.
I’ve heard rumours, yes. That’s interesting in that it’s kind of a bit left field, a bit off the radar if you see what I mean. It’s not traditional in any way but it’s got one wonderful song in it called When She Was Mine - it’s a fabulous ballad but as I say it’s a bit of a whacky show but very worthwhile.
Yes, yes, I do. I love to go the theatre myself as an audience member. I love seeing what’s going on and I couldn’t live without it really. I don’t know how anybody lives without going to the theatre.
There’s been a lot of hype about Alexander Hamilton, you’ve seen it on Broadway haven’t you?
I saw that in New York. It was fantastic.
Do you think it will transfer well to the West End?
I do, yes, whether or not we’ll ‘get it’ quite the same way here because the history is not our history, it’s American history but in a way it almost doesn’t matter. It’s just that freshness and the whole concept of it - the way it’s put together and the writing, direction and choreography. Everything about it is so fresh and new.
School of Rock is coming (to the West End), that’s Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s new show which I also saw in New York in June, when I was over there for the Tony Awards for my radio show, and that’s also a very good show with the most marvellous kids in it rocking up and storm and the leading man was amazing. Also, the other one I loved in New York which I saw a couple of years ago was the Gershwin musical, that my friend Bob Crowley designed, American in Paris; that is the most beautiful show to look at. It has the most fantastic, innovative design with wonderful Gershwin music and wonderful dancing and singing in it.
We’ll look forward to that one then. Waitress the Musical is another one we’ve heard is coming to the West End.
I’ve heard rumours, yes. That’s interesting in that it’s kind of a bit left field, a bit off the radar if you see what I mean. It’s not traditional in any way but it’s got one wonderful song in it called When She Was Mine - it’s a fabulous ballad but as I say it’s a bit of a whacky show but very worthwhile.
So let’s get back to the your ‘Stripped Back’ show - do you have a warm up routine?
Well, I just go through a few scales while I’m putting my make up on and doing my hair. I’ve always done that since my days in the theatre and once you get into a routine it’s something that you just automatically do without thinking. I like to be on my own for a few moments before I go on so that I can focus and hopefully go out there and give my all.
For tickets go online to southendtheatres.org.uk or call 01702 351135
For tour information and dates go to elainepaige.com
Well, I just go through a few scales while I’m putting my make up on and doing my hair. I’ve always done that since my days in the theatre and once you get into a routine it’s something that you just automatically do without thinking. I like to be on my own for a few moments before I go on so that I can focus and hopefully go out there and give my all.
For tickets go online to southendtheatres.org.uk or call 01702 351135
For tour information and dates go to elainepaige.com