Rocket Man: In an Orbit All His Own
The Tony Awards drew a larger viewing audience this year… some are wondering why, but I think it’s an easy question to answer…
Some of you know I’m a huge Elton John fan. (My first concert was his, in Madison Square Garden. I traveled 11 hours on at least three Greyhound buses to see him.) Whether the score for Billy Eliot was his best work or not, the truth of the matter is, Elton’s a big draw.
I was in the car yesterday, driving to get an oil change. On the way to the dealer, Q104.3 (a classic rock station in NY) had a contest with three songs that had to do with one another… I caught the last two: Billy Joel’s “The Lights Go Down on Broadway” and Elton’s “Tiny Dancer”… the answer to the question of what these songs had in common was of course Billy Eliot.
Then at the dealer, I sat in the waiting area (on the sales floor), I heard a salesman talking to a customer and the customer was describing his grandson who likes to tap dance (the kid is 14), and the dealer said, “Maybe he’s the next Billy Eliot.
On the way to Staples, I tuned into 103.5 KTU (a NY dance station) and heard the “news” rundown, and of course, one of the items was about all the awards Billy Eliot won. This station doesn’t even play Elton’s music, but they still mentioned him because he’s such a force in the mainstream music world, even after so many years.
Yes, there are other factors as to why the Tony Awards show did well… and I can’t pin everything on one person, but in a matter of a half an hour, I heard the same single show mentioned three times, and I doubt any other show is generating that kind of word of mouth.
Even if you didn’t win for best score, Elton, you gave Broadway a wonderful gift. Thank you!
–Sue
Add comment June 9th, 2009
