Elaine Paige talks ahead of Birmingham Symphony Hall show
It's been two years since singer Elaine Paige decided to say farewell to UK tours, celebrating 50 years on the road by playing her favourite venues.
But the musical theatre star promised to return for special one-off performances and she will make good on her promise tomorrow when she headlines Birmingham's Symphony Hall.
Paige will feature in a show called Stripped Back, seeing her perform her favourite tracks from an array of contemporary songwriters with a small group of musicians.
She can't wait to take to the stage: "I'm so excited about this series of 'weekend' concerts," she confessed. "Having made the decision not to do back to back tours again, this appealed to me not only because of the schedule, but as I've marked my 50 years on stage, this is going to allow me to do something completely different, a brand new show celebrating the contemporary songwriters I love such as Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Burt Bacharach, Leonard Cohen, Sting, Elton John, Lennon & McCartney– the list goes on.
"Their music has been the soundtrack to all our lives, not just mine. And it's the ideal opportunity to perform in an intimate way. I recently played the Royal Albert Hall with the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra. I'm doing these new shows Stripped Back!
"For the first time, I'm going to try and do these songs myself, and I'm quite excited about that, but I know it will be a bit of a challenge to do them alongside the songs I know people will want to hear so they don't feel short-changed. But at the same time, I feel the need to rediscover some of the music I was brought up on and put my own spin on it."
Paige has performed live in concert all over the world and as a recording artist has worked with legendary producers such as Tony Visconti and Phil Ramone, among others, and has released 22 solo albums – four multi-platinum and nine gold.
She has featured on seven cast recordings and has had major worldwide hits with songs such as Memory, from Cats, and I Know Him So Well from Chess.
As a musical theatre performer she has made a major contribution to the modern musical. She has starred in more smash hit West End and Broadway musicals than anyone else of her generation and continues to present the hugely successful weekly BBC Radio 2 show Elaine Paige on Sunday, devoted to musical theatre and film music, and continues to delight audiences of more than 2.5 million listeners each week.
"Initially, I didn't know if I was going to be very good as a radio presenter. Michael Ball, her fellow Radio 2 Sunday radio host and musical theatre star, is a very ebullient, outgoing chap. I, on the other hand, well, the show has helped me to be more confident as I was very shy, although nobody ever believes that.
"But in my heart of hearts, I really am, and when I was asked to do the programme 11 years ago, I thought, 'how am I going to chat and have an opinion?' but Radio 2 helped me find my own voice and helped me to discover who I really am."
By Andy Richardson
