Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
British musical theatre actress best known for playing Eva Perón in Evita, and starring in Cats and Chess.
On the island
Eight records
Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)
Choir of Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford and the Academy of Ancient Music
Reminds me of my school days, the first ever public performance I gave with the Southor Girls' Choir.
My first introduction to musical theatre.
Reminds me of a time when I was becoming aware of pop music; a girlfriend and I tried to learn this song.
Here Comes the SunFavourite
From the Abbey Road album, very much in my life during the sixties and my Hair days.
Introduced by my music teacher at school; I'd never tire of listening to this.
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
I play it all the time in the car, very loudly.
Another ambition of mine is to sing opera; this is a wonderful piece from Madame Butterfly.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:57Has it been luck or good management, do you think?
I think, uh, I have to say luck probably and a lot of hard work and … Just a matter of uh persevering really, because very early on in my career I found that I would go out for auditions and uh … I always managed somehow or other to get down to the last two or three. … Inevitably I would then get the big elbow and uh somehow didn't seem to quite get … The job.
Presenter asks
4:37What kind of background did you come from? What did your parents do? Was there any showbiz in the family?
Well, only in an amateur way, really. My father still plays the drums and um … My mother has sung. They both were involved in concert party during the war. So in that sense there's theatre and music in the family. But by profession my father was an estate agent and my mother is a milliner.
Presenter asks
9:52What do you remember of that time [in Hair] and of that musical? Were they good days?
Oh, yes, I'd ha I'd go as far as to say it's probably one of the happiest times in my life. … I was young, I was only eighteen years old, and uh a hippie of course. … Oh, yes, very much so, to my mother's disbelief. I look back fondly at that time because it was a time of sort of freedom and. … a very positive time for for young people. We all had there was a job to be had, we all had money. I and as you say, I was in my first West End show, Hare. … It was just I don't know, probably I'm being a bit romantic about it, but it was a a wonderful time. I remember I lived in a commune in Hampstead a rather upmarket commune, I hastened to add, in a penthouse flat, actually. … But uh and then we all at one point decided that we were going to leave there and go down and live in the country and grow our own vegetables, which was quite horrendous. That never worked at all. I mean, it was it was all these wonderful ideals, but uh … Trying to put it all into practice was really another matter altogether.
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Well, I don't know if it's allowed, but I've tried on anyway to take the complete works of Charles Dickens. I've read quite a few of His stories and they're just such wonderful stories. I love the way he uses language the way we don't speak today. Also, he writes rather long, thick books, and as I'm a particularly slow reader, I should think that would keep me amused for some time.
The luxury
I've chosen a piano because I've been promising myself for some time now that I will learn to play the piano ... at least I could have all the time in the world to practice the piano without annoying anybody.
Presenter asks
16:55How great was the competition for Evita, to start with?
It was great in that I was told, certainly via the press, though how true it is, I don't know, that there certainly, I should think, over four hundred people were seen for the role, and then, of course, the press started saying that … such people as Faye Dunaway, um Liza Manelli, and they started sort of, you know, name dropping every woman who was sort of in her thirties or whatever to play this part. So it was fairly stiff competition, that's true, and I did, I remember, four auditions for it, and got down to the the old four people again, and I thought, Here we go. … But uh this time I was lucky.
Presenter asks
24:28What about the future? But what about Broadway? You must have that in your sights as well. It's something you've not done, isn't it?
That's correct. It's still to be achieved. Yes, I would like to work there very much. It's always fun. … performing to audiences other than the British because uh their reactions are very different and … It's just good fun, but I want to make sure that it's the right piece of work. … That I do. … Maybe it'll be with chess, who knows? Um they say it's going to will be going in January next year, but it's still quite a way off, so it really depends on what happens between now and then.
Presenter asks
28:31Which [record] would you choose to preserve?
Well, I think it's going to have to be uh … The silly time. I think it's going to have to be here comes the sun,'cause that … Reminds me of as I said a very happy time in my life, so that's the one I've decided to keep.
“I think, uh, I have to say luck probably and a lot of hard work and … Just a matter of uh persevering really.”
“I look back fondly at that time because it was a time of sort of freedom and. … a very positive time for for young people.”
“I felt that I could uh serve the piece well, because there were certain things in terms of my height, which is fairly obvious, was correct for the part. But I also felt that uh this was an opportunity for me to be able to … put together something that I had been in a dilemma about, which was my acting … Career and my music and my singing.”
“My father always used to say to me, You know, you'll get there, you've just got to … persevere, perseverance furthest and all this and Evita sort of became a family joke.”