On the very rare occasion when they don't all jump up out of their seats I'm always mortified. - Elaine Paige

Oh, it was awful, and I vowed to myself I would never, ever push myself to the edge that much again. It was really frightening. Because absolutely everything seemed to be impossible to deal with, just little things became major - noise, if someone had a radio on, or even the sound of traffic, or being in someone's company for longer than 10 minutes - I started to find it all too much.

If you’re a serious actor, you wouldn’t put yourself up for one of those shows in case you got bumped off the first week and all your colleagues saw it.

I thought: "Gosh, it really has been worth the wait." And I think had I gone with Evita, I probably wouldn't have been ready to deal with it. It was just the most perfect time to go with that particular show.