Elaine Paige devoted much of Sunday's show to Wicked's 20th anniversary in the West End, featuring messages from current stars Emma Kingston and Sesi Australian, who play Elphaba and Glinda. Kingston said the show endures because it's "a timeless story about the importance of friendship." Paige also revisited an archive interview with composer Stephen Schwartz, who described the show's appeal as recognising "that green girl inside us."
The programme opened with Beauty and the Beast trivia ahead of its 35th anniversary this week, including the reveal that Mrs Potts was almost named Mrs Camomile. Elsewhere, Paige noted Alfie Boe's birthday and flagged a Rogers and Hammerstein concert touring Salisbury Cathedral and Cheltenham, plus Rachel Zegler hosting a Buena Vista Social Club dance-along on Broadway. Listener Tim Perkins shared praise for a youth production of Hadestown in Burton-on-Trent. Paige also marked Mean Girls Day, the 53rd anniversary of Streisand's "The Way We Were," and news that Christine Baranski makes her West End debut opposite Richard E Grant in Hay Fever this week, alongside a reworked Martin Guerre opening at the Old Vic.
Listener requests included Beetlejuice, Julie Andrews' "My Favorite Things" for her upcoming birthday, Sting's "What Have We Got" from The Last Ship (also ahead of his birthday), Streisand's "Put On Your Sunday Clothes," and Godspell's "Day By
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