Elaine Paige News

It's the biggest night in the West End theatre calendar - the great and the good are gathered in Covent Garden to celebrate the best stage work of the last year. Stick with us throughout the night for all the winners, as well as gossip from the Party in the Piazza, and a running commentary on the TV highlights show!

Today in 1971, Follies opened at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it ran for 522 performances. Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the 'Weismann's Follies,' a musical revue (based on the Ziegfeld Follies), that played in that theatre between the World Wars. The musical was nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won seven. The piece has enjoyed a number of major revivals, and several of its songs have become standards, including 'Broadway Baby', 'I'm Still Here', 'Too Many Mornings', 'Could I Leave You?', and 'Losing My Mind'.

Special guests Dot-Marie Jones (GLEE) and Tony winner Julie Newmar (Batman) will join Oxford University Press, as they announce the release of the book NOTHING LIKE A DAME: CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GREAT WOMEN OF MUSICAL THEATER by Eddie Shapiro at 6 p.m. tonight, March 26 at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove/Farmers Market (189 The Grove Drive, Suite K 30, Los Angeles, Calif.).

A preliminary sneak peek at iconic Broadway and Hollywood legend Angela Lansbury in rehearsal for her much anticipated West End return in Noel Coward's classic comedy BLITHE SPIRIT is now available to view.

Ramin Karimloo is currently in previews for his Broadway debut as 'Valjean' in Les Miserables- playing at the Imperial Theatre. Karimloo will also soon release his latest EP, titled 'The Road to Find Out: East,' which will be available starting April 8, 2014. A song form the album,'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables' just debuted on Elaine Paige's show for BBC Radio 2, and you can click here to listen to the full program (skip ahead to 52 minutes for the song) . Click here for more on the EP.

Broadway and West End superstar Elaine Paige is set to release a career-spanning collection of hits later this year titled ELAINE PAIGE: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION according to a new listing at her official site.

Happy Birthday, Elaine Paige! Paige was selected to play Eva Peron in the first production of Evita in 1978, which brought her to the attention of the broader public. She went on to originate the role of Grizabella in Cats and had a Top 10 hit with 'Memory', a song from the show. She then appeared in the original stage production of Chess, followed by a starring role in Anything Goes which she also co-produced. Paige made her Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard in 1996, playing the lead role of Norma Desmond, to critical acclaim. She appeared in The King and I from 2000 to 2001, and six years later she returned to the West End stage in The Drowsy Chaperone. Most recently, she starred in Follies on Broadway.

Special guests Dot-Marie Jones (GLEE) and Tony winner Julie Newmar (Batman) will join Oxford University Press, as they announce the release of the book NOTHING LIKE A DAME: CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GREAT WOMEN OF MUSICAL THEATER by Eddie Shapiro at 6 p.m. on March 26 at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove/Farmers Market (189 The Grove Drive, Suite K 30, Los Angeles, Calif.).

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 16, 2014 - Sunday, February 16, 2014.

Elaine Paige told Express that her upcoming tour will be her 'farewell' tour, beginning October 9. The stage star, 65, said she is 'tired' of the 'gruelling lifestyle' of being on tour and wants to 'reinvent' herself.

Actress Elaine Paige, who appeared most recently on the New York stage in the 2011 Broadway revival of 'Follies,' will host and executive produce a new six-part series exclusively on the UK's Sky Arts beginning May 2014.

Lovers of musical theatre should get in quickly as new seats go on sale for the Brisbane season of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Broadway musical The King and I from Monday 10 February at 9.00am.

Celebrated Broadway stage star, recording artist and concert performer Liz Callaway is currently making her UK solo cabaret debut and she found some time to catch up with legendary West End diva supreme Elaine Paige while across the pond, making musical theatre history while doing so.

Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, a new book by Eddie Shapiro featuring interviews with 20 female musical theatre stars, launched earlier this week at the headquarters of Oxford University Press at 198 Madison Avenue. Attendees got to meet some of the dames of Dames including Laura Benanti, Judy Kaye, Debra Monk, Donna McKechnie, Donna Murphy, Lillias White and Karen Ziemba. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat with the ladies about their stories and you can check out what they had to say below!

ITV will be the official television broadcast partner for the 38th Olivier Awards with MasterCard, the UK's highest stage honours, which take place on Sunday 13 April 2014 at theRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, a new book by Eddie Shapiro featuring interviews with 20 female musical theatre stars, launched last night at the headquarters of Oxford University Press at 198 Madison Avenue. Attendees got to meet some of the dames of Dames including Laura Benanti, Judy Kaye, Debra Monk, Donna McKechnie, Donna Murphy, Lillias White and Karen Ziemba. Check out photos from the special event below!

The book launch for Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, a new book by Eddie Shapiro featuring interviews with 20 female musical theatre stars, will take place January 27, 2014 from 6-8 pm at the headquarters of Oxford University Press at 198 Madison Avenue.

The Great White Way is beginning to light up red and green and the massive sign of seasonal merriment represented by the several-story-tall tree in Rockefeller Center further cements the celebration with a brilliant blaze of light in New York City, signaling the season on Broadway and beyond - Christmastime is here again! Yes, indeed! Taking from the vast theatrical canon, today we are looking at some of the most memorable musical theatre moments pertaining to the holiday season with some of Broadway's brightest stars and some of the season's best selections, both old and new.

Classic concept album and variably successful stage piece CHESS has had a colorful history unlike virtually any other modern musical theatre piece, yet the strangest story of all in the show's thirty-year trajectory may be the unexpected Top Ten hit enjoyed by one of the score's most contemporary-sounding tunes, 'One Night In Bangkok', analyzed in a new WNYC podcast as part of Soundcheck's That Was A Hit?!? series.

Today we are talking to a familiar face to theatre fans who has appeared in a number of memorable roles on Broadway and elsewhere, in roles ranging from LES MISERABLES to THE FIX to A TALE OF TWO CITIES and beyond - the passionate and thoughtful Natalie Toro. Discussing many of the details in the painstaking process in bringing her spectacular new holiday-themed album to life, song selection to overall style and sound, Toro shares stories from the studio as well as from her own life, having spent the better part of the last year preparing, recording, mastering and now finally releasing the album to the world - along with a few music videos, too. Speaking of which, Toro shines a light on the talented guest stars and collaborators that appear on the release, including Jon Secada and Ryan Kelly, with whom she stars in the new music video for "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Additionally, Toro also casts a look back at some of her most celebrated roles to date and tells colorful tales from participating in the national tour of CATS, the American premiere of Dana Rowe and John Dempsey's THE FIX and the original Off-Broadway production of ZOMBIE PROM as well as LES MISERABLES on Broadway, A TALE OF TWO CITIES and more as well as illuminates her involvement with the recent workshop of the new musical by Dana Rowe and Michal Aman, FRIDA. Plus, Toro looks ahead to her holiday-themed Birdland show in promotion of JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS and much, much more!