Priority-tickets for The Devil Wears Prada musical are now on sale for its engagement in London, England. As mentioned in Elton-Blog-42, there will be previews at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in July 2024. Then the Dominion Theatre will host the UK premiere of the Elton John/Shaina Taub production. It’s to run from 24 October 2024 through 31 May 2025.
At the helm is director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, whose previous credits include Kinky Boots. Anna D. Shapiro directed The Devil Wears Prada during its brief engagement in Chicago, Illinois, last year.
Sunday is the anniversary of Blue Moves. It came out on 22 October 1976 and Idol was among the tracks. Some thought it was about Elvis Presley, with lines about the fifties shifting, and being an idol then and now, even though ”he’s not the same no more.” Bernie Taupin told Vulture he doubts that he ever set out to write about the late legend.
And while Idol and Cage-The-Songbird remain his favourites from Blue Moves, Bernie thinks much of it was depressing. He also said it could have been a single disc.
It was on this date in 1978 that A Single Man appeared in stores. This was the first time Gary Osborne stepped into Taupin’s shoes. The lyricist, who contributed to several other EJ albums, told GB News‘ Mark Dolan Tonight about how daunting it could be to work with Elton. While Elton was able to compose five tunes in an hour, it took Gary a couple of months to come up with lyrics for them.
Gary, by the way, has been an ej.w visitor. In 2015, he discussed Little-Jeannie-And-Little-Monsters (the latter being a 1998 animated children’s show). And he was a Radio-Elton-John guest earlier this year–on Elton’s 76th birthday, in fact.
Joel Corry would like to write with Elton. They have kept in touch since the DJ remixed Elton and Britney Spears‘ hit, Hold Me Closer. If their schedules align, perhaps the two can record as well, he told The Sun.
Another ‘Amigo’ never made it out of the recording studio. This was the title of a demo which Elton performed for a small group which included Andy Hill. Andy’s the son of George Hill, whose Northwood Hills Pub hosted the earliest EJ gigs [or rather, ”Reg Dwight,” as the teenager was then called]. Another pinch-me moment was when–before the Spinners came on board–Andy did backing vocals for Are You Ready For Love.
Andy, who was Elton’s PA for a time, was interviewed by Keith Hayward for his new book, Elton John: From The Inside, a revised and expanded edition of the author’s Tin Pan Alley: The Rise of Elton John and Elton John: From Tin Pan Alley to the Yellow Brick Road. The foreword is by Ray Williams, known for bringing Elton and Bernie together. He has confessed to feeling like a musical Forrest Gump at times. He was at Glastonbury, where over 200,000 people simultaneously chanted Elton’s name.
Perhaps people will soon be chanting Elton and Dolly Parton‘s names. Elton appears on the country singer’s new album, Rockstar, to be released on 17 November. They teamed up for Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, and while Dolly has stopped touring, she says she is open to doing award shows and other TV appearances with her Rockstar guests (such as Richie Sambora, Sting, Miley Cyrus, and Kid Rock).
Dolly told Mojo magazine that Elton rang her up to ask if she would sing on his a-lbum. The pair, who teamed up for Imagine at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards, considered ”a duet of country songs, but we never got around to that.”
