Queen of radio looks back on two decades of musical magic
MEMORIES will come flooding back for West End star Elaine Paige when she celebrates the 20th anniversary of her Radio 2 show today.
And it will also mark the start of another milestone for the musical theatre legend as the new year rings in 60 magical years in showbusiness.
But the past is not too important – and neither is the future – for the
Cats performer. “I don’t look back, I don’t look forward – that’s what works for me,” the star who sang hit song Memory says.
The 76-year-old was awarded an OBE for her contribution to the stage by the Queen in 1995.
And in 2004, she fell into presenting her long-running BBC show by accident.
Elaine was a guest on another programme, had jet lag and feared she had been awful.
But radio bosses thought otherwise and called her manager the next day.
“I didn’t know the first thing about broadcasting when they offered me a pilot. I thought, ‘well, I’ll give it about six months’ and here we are 20 years later,” she smiles.
Her Sunday lunchtime audience regularly attracts almost 2.5 million listeners and the singer says she is proud she has made musical theatre “cool again”.
“I can remember Andrew Lloyd Webber once saying, ‘you’d have to perform for four years and eight shows a week to reach that amount of people in one afternoon’.”
Her first interview for Elaine Paige on Sunday was with pop icon Sir Elton John: “Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.
“I flew to Los Angeles and I was terrified, very nervous. He sent the dog out first so I was going ‘coo coo’ and then Elton and his husband David Furnish came out and he was absolutely charming, a lovely man, very friendly and easy to talk to.”
She has gone on to interview West End producer Cameron Mackintosh and performers including Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minnelli, and Gavin and Stacey star James Corden. “The 20th anniversary is a really special show and there’ll be lots of different things and surprises and lots of laughs,” Elaine says. “We are including all the show tunes and movie music, and everything is just a good look back.
“I think the show did help turn musical theatre around.
“It sort of made musicals cool again because there was a period when it was considered the poor man’s theatre, when it was all about going to the
RSC and the classics. A lot of people didn’t admit to liking it, especially men and I think the show helped change that.”
Elaine reveals she is also planning to make an album next year: “I haven’t recorded anything for about 10 years and I started to think I could do an album of various songs that I love.
“I suppose you could call it my present to myself for my 60th anniversary.”
Elaine Paige On Sunday, Radio 2, today, 1pm.