Standing Ovation: Elaine's Kiwi Comeback

At 70, She’s Still Making Memories – In New Zealand!

- Donna Fleming

It was ironic really. Elaine Paige had been given a showstopper of a song to perform in a new musical, but right up until the last minute, the show’s writers couldn’t make up their minds about which lyrics they wanted her to sing and kept changing them.

“There were 10 previews before opening night and I sang a different version every time, which was pretty tricky, to be honest,” she recalls. “I couldn’t remember if I was singing the verse from that song and the chorus from something else. It was a real feat of memory.”

The song, appropriately, was Memory, from the hit musical Cats. And when Elaine sang the final version on opening night back in May 1981, it brought the house down. “The audience went crazy and I thought, ‘Oh, all right, this could be a big hit.’”

The spine-tingling number went on to be her signature song and it’ll be on the set list when she performs a series of concerts in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this week.

“I couldn’t not sing it – I’d get eggs thrown at me!” says Elaine (70), laughing. “People love it and I understand why – it is so soaring and heartfelt, and just a fantastic tune.