Elaine Paige is relishing the opportunity to play the bad girl in Dick Whittington

Elaine Paige PH

Elaine Paige is Queen Rat in the London Palladium’s Dick Whittington

I shall love getting hissed!” says Elaine Paige with a big laugh, referring to what she’ll be doing during the Christmas period. Yes, she did say hissed.

While many of us will be relaxing with a glass of mulled wine or two, Elaine is settling in for a five-week run in a star-studded version of Dick Whittington at the London Palladium.

She’ll be getting hissed and booed by audiences because she’s playing Queen Rat, the villainess of the piece, in her first performance in a panto since 1966 when she appeared in Babes In The Wood alongside Lulu.

Now she’s at the top of the bill alongside Julian Clary, Ashley Banjo and Diversity, Nigel Havers, Gary Wilmot and Paul Zerdin, and she is raring to go.

I’m not going to retire – how boring!

Elaine Paige

“There was so much buzz about the panto at the Palladium last year (in which Julian also starred), that people have already got their tickets for this year,” says Elaine.

“It’s wonderful that the spectacular pantomime is being brought back to the venue as it used to be a huge event many years ago then it died away. But Dick Whittington will be really spectacular.”

Elaine, 69, has just finished a solo tour of Britain and has leapt straight into rehearsals for Dick Whittington.

“But how could I resist playing Queen Rat? I haven’t had the opportunity to play the bad girl in musical theatre roles but there have been elements of that in some of the parts, something steely, so I shall draw on that – a bit of Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, a bit of Eva Peron from Evita, a bit of Grizabella from Cats.”

Elaine Paige PH

Elaine is ready for a five-week run in a star-studded version of Dick Whittington

The frocks in panto are always a draw and Elaine says that the costumes at the Palladium will be as fabulous: “Hugh Durrant has designed them for me and for Julian and he’s done a lot of work with Cher, which tells you a lot!”

It’s a long way from Elaine’s first experience of pantomime, when her father Eric took her to a show at the Golders Green Hippodrome.

“I don’t remember the name of the show but my father had been in the Army during the war with one of the stars, Reg Varney, and Dad wanted to see him in panto. Of course, there was the bit where children come to the front to take part in the show and my father marches me down the aisle to the front of the stage with him saying, ‘Come on and meet my friend Reg’, but with me protesting, ‘I don’t want to get up there!’ I didn’t get up on stage, so I think back on that moment and wonder ‘How come I’m up there now?’”

As a child, Elaine had no showbusiness ambitions and says: “I’m the younger of two girls. My sister Marion went to everything: ballet and tap classes, piano lessons, swimming. I never did, but my cousin Carolyn was heavily into ballroom dancing and that’s what I wanted to do.

“So I went to the local dance school in Barnet and had lessons. I took my ISTD dance exams in foxtrot, quickstep, waltz and Latin and then I went on to take them again but dancing the male parts. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

It’s no wonder, then, that Elaine has been asked to compete in Strictly Come Dancing: “I’ve done it twice for charity [including a Cha Cha with Pasha Kovalev in the 2013 Christmas special where the judges awarded her 39 points] but the time just hasn’t been right for me,” she explains.

“Doing one three-minute number is exhausting, rehearsing for hours a day for 10 days. But it’s the most exhilarating thing, so I do understand it when people say it’s the most wonderful experience of their lives. You very much live in a bubble when you’re doing it, but it’s a very lovely bubble.”

Elaine’s last long stage run was in 2011 when she starred in the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies in Washington DC and then on Broadway; since then she’s been busy with her Sunday show on Radio 2, touring her solo show and various other acting roles including a part in Russell T Davies’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last Christmas.

“I did think my theatre days of doing two shows a day were over, but I just couldn’t refuse Dick Whittington, which I know will be five weeks of fun. Then I’ve got a nice, relaxing, time planned.

“I’m lucky that I’m now at a time in my life when I don’t do long tours like I used to. It’s two a week with a few days off in between. I also have to fit in the radio show, which I’ve been doing for 14 years now.”

Dick Whittington PH

Dick Whittington at the London Palladium is running until January 14

Elaine is full of praise for the young members of the Dick Whittington cast, particularly Charlie Stemp in the title role: “He’s done so well this year. He’s made his West End debut in Half A Sixpence [in the role made famous by Tommy Steele], he’s in panto at the Palladium, and next year he’s off to Broadway to make his debut there in Hello, Dolly! I’m lucky to be sharing a stage with the whole illustrious and talented cast.”

This year was the 50th anniversary of the off-Broadway hippie musical Hair! and a young Elaine starred in the 1968 West End version. She attended the first night revival of the show at The Vaults in London along with many other members of the original cast.

They all looked in very good nick, says Elaine, who puts that down to the youthful attitude of her generation. “I think we’ve all done pretty well; I think it’s all about attitude. If you eat and sleep well, and play well [Elaine’s addiction is tennis], you’ll feel good as well. We were pushing boundaries in that show, and we’re continuing to do that.

“I’m not going to retire – how boring would it be not to have something to do every day? I feel so alive when I’m working.”

Elaine Paige is one of the stars of Dick Whittington at the London Palladium which is running until January 14.