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The First Lady of Theatre Intoxicates Beijing

 

To mark 40 years since her West End debut Elaine Paige, the UK's ‘First Lady of Musical Theatre', will embark on a world tour on December 14th, with Beijing as its first leg.

She will sing highlights from her musical theater career such as "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from "Evita," "Memory" from "Cats" that many people know and love; "Je Ne Regrette Rien" and "If You Loved Me" from the musical "Piaf" about the life of the great French singer Edith Piaf, and "I Know Him So Well" from the musical "Chess," which was a No. 1 hit for Paige and Barbara Dickson.

Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school and made her first professional appearance on stage in 1964. Her appearance in the 1968 production of Hair marked her West End debut. Elain Paign first gain world-renowned fame when she was chosen in 1978 to create the role of Eva Peron in the original production of “Evita”, which awarded her Best Actress in a Musical. In 1981 she starred in “Cats” when she played Grizabella in the original London production and thereby became the first actress to perform the classic song “Memory” - one of her many hit records. Ms Paige revisited this role in the television film and video of “Cats” which was released in 1998 and went straight to the top of the video charts becoming the best selling music video ever in the UK and America.

In addition to being nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, Paige has won many other awards for her theatre roles and has been called the First Lady of British Musical Theatre. She has released 20 solo albums, of which eight were consecutively certified gold and another four multi-platinum.

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