For UK-based fans of Musical Theatre, the BBC’s “Elaine Paige on Sunday” (of course, also available on streaming anytime) is a joy. It’s filled with the best-known songs from hit shows, less celebrated tracks from those shows, songs from shows that have not yet reached the West End, songs that reached it but sank without trace and will not be revived, and songs from shows that may be revived one day.
As a celebrated interpreter of Stephen Sondheim, Paige knows a bit about lost shows that get revived into huge hits. As an originator of key roles in musicals such as Cats and Evita, she knows what a hit show looks and feels like. And, like everyone who has worked in the theatre for nearly 60 years, she has participated in shows which died quickly, for whatever reason, but which may have contained great material.
These days her reputation could still fill theatres and concert halls, but she feels that her 78-year-old voice could not physically fill them and do justice to the work–and for her, the work is the Primary driver. However, she can still do cabaret work, and she is operating in that territory with her new album, Miscellaneous Paige. The selections have a theme of time passing, which may be a focus for someone at Paige’s time of life.
What Paige brings to all of these tracks is her exquisite characterization. She has a backstory for every person who sings every song. She understands the motivation of the protagonists and how they interact with each other. If such stories do not exist, she can develop them herself, so that her reading conveys the correct emotions and range, as per her interpretation.
On some tracks, this approach works magnificently. Ben Platt was already young master of Broadway when he sang “Older,” a song about a young man looking for love, amongst other things. Platt could already incorporate his story into his intonation. Paige expertly adds her perspective from someone who has experienced love, but does not show whether she will experience it again. She illuminates Finneas’s “Only A Lifetime” with an emotional range that was not quite there in the original, which comes from the character that she has created. Part of the genius of Bacharach and David was to create songs that a range of characters could inhabit effectively, and Paige does so here with her version of “Immortality.” It’s less grand than the original, and all the more intimate and better for it.
As a doyenne of the London West End, Paige has spent the vast majority of her time working with words and music written by men, even if they are about women. The same is the case for most of her song choices here. But every one of them is thoughtful and intentional. The Randy Newman fan favorite “Real Emotional Girl” is beautiful when sung about someone Newman loves and appreciates, but also sounds great from someone who may fit that description herself. She is not the first woman to cover the song, but her version certainly enhances its reputation.
In other places the remodeling is less effective. “In My Life” is one of the most covered Beatles songs, and the original is on any number of funeral playlists, as a description of a life well lived, i.e. one in the company of friends. The emotional range and story is there in the original, along with (at the time) innovative use of piano sped up to sound like a harpsichord. Humdrum harmonica is not an adequate substitute. And it is not really clear what the intention was with Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock.” Paige has credentials from the ’60s, with her performances in Hair, but she could clearly play a member of the Flower Power generation than be a direct participant herself.
Overall, though, Miscellaneous Paige is a lovely, thoughtful album from someone who really understands what a great song, and a great performance of it, is about.
Miscellaneous Paige tracklisting:
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Remember/Goin’ Back – Harry Nilsson/Gerry Goffin & Carole King cover
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Only A Lifetime – Finneas cover
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In My Life – The Beatles cover
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Count On Me – Bruno Mars cover
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Woodstock – Joni Mitchell cover
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Older – Ben Platt cover
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Saltwater – Julian Lennon cover
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August Winds – Sting cover
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If These Walls Could Speak – Jimmy Webb cover
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Real Emotional Girl – Randy Newman cover
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Windows of the World/What the World Needs Now – Burt Bacharach & Hal David tracks
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Immortality – Celine Dion/Bee Gees cover
