Sir Elton John, pop star extraordinaire, in town for the premiere of his new musical Aida, written with Sir Tim Rice, was doing all he could to promote the show. "It's one of the things I'm proudest of in my life," he said.

Friday morning, he appeared with old friend Barbara Walters on ABC's "The View" and spoke out rather bluntly about show business. John is also in town to raise money and awareness for his AIDS charity, The Elton John AIDS Foundation, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Monday night at the New Amsterdam Theater, John was honored and performed at "This Is Your Song: Broadway Sings Elton John." Tickets for the SRO event, hosted by Nathan Lane and Christine Baranski, ranged from $100 way up in the New Am's gods (second balcony) to $1,000. Proceeds are being split between the two organizations.

Onstage to honor John and sing his songs and songs from Broadway were Betty Buckley, Mario Cantone, Lea Delaria, Ann Duquesney, Linda Eder, Victor Garber, Deborah Gibson, Sam Harris, Heather Headley (Aida), Jeremy Kushnier, Andrea McCardle, Orfeh, Adam Pascal (Aida), Sherie Rene Scott (Aida) and Jason Raize. And, of course, John singing his hits and some favorite Broadway tunes.

Over the weekend, John was also honored by GLAAD, the gay human rights organization, for his fund-raising work. John's AIDS foundation, which he reported gives "eighty-five to ninety percent of funds raised to research," was recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as the Number Three charity in terms of money given to medical research, after Stephen King and Paul Newman. John pointed out that neither of the latter have any overhead. "They simply give their money by writing checks."

Since its inception in 1992, John's foundation has distributed more than $13-million in grants worldwide for direct care service for men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS. BC/EFA, since 1987, in its many annual fund-raising events, has distributed $35-million in the fight against AIDS by mobilizing the not only awareness in the entertainment industry but among theater audiences.

On "The View," John sang songs from the new animated film, "The Road to Eldorado" (also written with Rice) and from Aida, but had a difficult time remembering Rice's lyrics. "But," he said, "we wrote the songs five years ago!"

When Walters told how much she enjoyed the musical, John said, "We got some good reviews and some bad ones. The New York Times hated it, but Ben Brantley (the Times' first-string critic) is an ignorant asshole." John observed how bitterly Brantley reviewed the recent Minnelli on Minnelli, claiming his review was "like a personal vendetta."
John took great exception to Brantley's comment that his music "has all the memory-grabbing adhesive of unchewed gum, but it would work fine as background music for enchanting bits of animated whimsy."

Asked if he ever gets into trouble for speaking out, John replied, "I may be the gayest person on the planet, but I don't deal well with b.s.. I'm at the age now where I don't care what I say as long as I say the truth. You get so much b.s. in this business, so much insincerity, so many people saying the things they think they should say but don't mean. I'm over that!"

John said he aspired to be more like his grandparents. "They'll always tell you the truth. You know, `Why are you wearing that? You look terrible!'  To hell with it, just tell the truth, just say how you feel."

[END]

Writer: 
Ellis Nassour
Writer Bio: 
Ellis Nassour contributes entertainment features here and abroad. He is the author of "Rock Opera: the Creation of <I>Jesus Christ Superstar</I>" and "Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline," and an associate editor and a contributing writer (film, music, theater) to Oxford University Press' American National Biography (1999).
Date: 
March 2000
Key Subjects: 
Elton John, Aida, Ben Brantley, New York Times, AIDS, charity