Elaine Paige announces Stripped Back tour

Following her 2014 farewell tour, Elaine Paige has announced that she will launch a new tour entitled Stripped Back later this year. 

Paige will play 20 dates on the tour between October and December 2016. The West End actress will perform her favorite tracks from an array of contemporary songwriters with a small group of musicians.

Paige said: "I'm so excited about this series of weekend concerts. Having made the decision not to do a back to back tour 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, Jim Webb, Burt Bacharach, Leonard Cohen, Sting, Elton John, Lennon & McCartney... the list goes on."

Matt Lucas, Elaine Paige & Hiran Abeysekera join BBC One’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Complete casting has been announced for Russell T Davies' adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which will be broadcast on BBC One.

The one off TV event will star Maxine Peake (The Theory Of Everything) as Titania, Matt Lucas (Les Miserables/Little Britain) as Bottom, John Hannah (Four Weddings And A Funeral) as Theseus and Eleanor Matsuura (The Lady In The Van) as Hippolyta.

The cast also includes West End legend Elaine Paige (Evita/Cats) as Mistress Quince and West End Frame's May Star of the Month Hiran Abeysekera (Peter Pan) as Puck. Completing the cast are Richard Wilson, Bernard Cribbins, Javone Prince and Fisayo Akinade.

Elaine Paige to host Sky Arts theatre series

Theatrical legend Elaine Paige will host, perform on and executive produce a new six-part Sky Arts series exclusively beginning May 2014. The series is produced by Jamie Oliver’s production company Fresh One, who also made the recent Channel 4 documentary The Sound of Musicals.

The Elaine Paige Show is described as a "unique inspirational glimpse into the fascinating world of musical theatre and combine a mix of songs, performance, and interviews, as Elaine is joined by a variety of guests from stage and screen."

Cats announces UK Tour

Cats will tour the UK for the first time since 2006. The tour revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical made an official announcement today announcing the tour after some recent speculation. Apart from a stop at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre next March, no other dates have been confirmed.

This will be the first time that Cats has played at the Grand in over a decade. Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, casting and further dates are yet to be announced. The musical played its final West End performance in 2002 after almost 9,000 performances.

The musical introduced the popular song Memory. Cats first opened in the West End in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982, each time directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne The musical won numerous awards, including both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical. The London production ran for twenty-one years and the Broadway production ran for eighteen years, both setting long-run records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical. One actress, Marlene Danielle, performed in the Broadway production for its entire run (from 1982 until 2000)!

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Olivier Awards: My Review 2012

So last Sunday 15th April saw the 36th annual Olivier Awards... debatably the biggest night of the year in theatre land... and what a night it was! I have to say I loved it, apart from the dodgy technical issues with the red button coverage which I found very frustrating. So the event was opened with the cast of We Will Rock You with the legend that is Brian May! I thought the performance was great and loved the chemistry between Lauren Samuels and Noel Sullivan. However I didn't think Noel's voice was as strong, although I cannot really judge as I haven't seen him live.

When Sheridan Smith won best supporting role in a play I couldn't help but give her a little clap from my living room (how sad). She thoroughly deserved that award as her performance in Flare Path was incredible. When Crazy For You won Best Costume Designer I loved  Peter McKintosh's face, it was hilarious!

Amazing performance from Sharon D Clarke sining 'I'm Outta Hear' from Ghost the Musical. It was great to hear her adding in a few extra rifts and enjoying herself so much. I also loved how the cameras kept showing her reactions throughout the event, she comes across as a genuinely nice, hilarious person. 


The incredible performances just kept on coming, it was lovely to see all the Matilda's performing together. There confidence is just incredible, looks like they have been doing it for years! I am really eager to see the show now. It was also strange to see Betty Blue Eyes perform after it closed quite a while ago however I have to sat it was an incredible performance and made me want to see it! What a shame it's gone.


It was great to be able to watch the performances from the Covent Garden event during the interval. It was amazing to watch Rachel Tucker perform the Wizard And I, her betrayal is just so fresh! She truely is an incredible actress and definitely deserved to win our 'Best Performance Of A Song' poll last month. I liked watching her putting her all into the song as it is one she normally holds back on. Her 'melt' rift gave me goosebumps. It was great to catch a glimpse of Nicola Brazil performing with Jersey Boys and I think Ryan Collinson is the best Billy Elliot I have ever seen perform Electricity - and I have seen a lot! It was also the first time I have ever scene a person translating the performances in sign language at a live music event!


Les Miserables winning the the audience award was well deserved although I was slightly surprised as I did think Wicked would win as they have such a massive fan base! Seeing their performance has really made me want to see the show again, before the film is released and it is impossible to get tickets. Derren Brown was very humble to win best entertainment show, and it looked like he felt really out of place.

I loved Crazy For You's performance, they had such a massive cast who put on such a massive performance! I also loved Singing In The Rain's performance of  'Good Morning' which was the complete opposite! I love that old fashioned comedy style of musical theatre. Sophie Evans's performance of Somewhere Over The Rainbow was completely perfect. I saw her play Dorothy while she was understudying the role and it is great she has now taken over full time.


South Pacific's performance was OK but was slightly ruined by the fact half the microphones weren't working. Will Young's story completely flopped when he presented an award. It was a shame Sharon D Clark, Sophie-Louise Dann AND Nigel Harmon couldn't all have won Best Performance In A Supporting Role In A Musical. I like how the category is both male and female. I also thought it was a shame some audience members could be seen rolling their eyes when Shrek won an Olivier, I bet they haven't even seen the show.

I also think it was ridiculous Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy weren't nominated in the best actor and actress in a musical categories. Matilda deserved every single one of it's awards and the Matilda's acceptance speech was so cute, not going to lie, my eyes did fill up with water.

I didn't like the performance of I Know Him So Well however Elaine Paige's performance of Don't Cry For Me Argentina was genuinely amazing. She acted and meant every single work she sung - simply incredible. The Olivier's was a massive success, and apart from Ghost not winning anything I thought all the winners well deserving.

OLIVIER AWARDS: Click here to view the winners list
OLIVIER AWARDS: Click here to refresh your memory of who was nominated

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I hope you are liking the new layout and sorry that it took me a while to write this review, I've had a very busy week. Would love you to comment with your views and opinions on the Olivier awards!

Olivier Awards: Who Will Be Presenting Awards

The presenters for this years awards have been announced. It has not been revealed which award each person will be presenting.


The presenters will include:

• Hayley Atwell 
• Douglas Booth 
• Zach Braff 
• Jim Carter
• Tom Chambers 
• Tyne Daly
• Jack Davenport 
• Agyness Deyn 
• Jonathan Edwards 
• Susannah Fielding 
• Vittorio Grigolo 
• Lenny Henry
• Ronan Keating 
• Katherine Kelly 
• Harry Lloyd
• James McAvoy
• Natascha McElhone 
• Laurie Metcalf 
• Elaine Paige 
• Dan Stevens
• Sir Patrick Stewart 
• David Suchet 
• Kara Tointon 
• Will Young,
• Zoe Wanamaker
• Jodie Whittaker 
• Barbara Windsor