The team behind Rocketman have pulled off the most astonishing feat. Against all the odds, they have managed to produce a two-hour greatest hits musical that turns one of the most flamboyant, gifted and charismatic performing artists of the modern era into a bit of a bore.
A lot of words have been written and spoken about Sir Elton John over his 50 years in showbiz, but “dull” is not usually among them.
But there’s no alternative but to invoke it in this instance. It’s as if the piano-playing showman’s character was squeezed into a trouser press every time it looked like developing a third dimension.
He is played by Taron Egerton in this Hollywood retelling of the pop star’s life story. Egerton succeeds in bringing out the singer’s down-to-earth humour, but fails to bare his soul. Read more