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LONDON- British pop superstar Elton John made a brief stage appearance yesterday as a flat-capped miner from northern England in a special gala performance of his hit West End show Billy Elliot - The Musical.
The three judges from the television talent series The X Factor also played cameo roles, with acerbic Simon Cowell, famous in Britain and the United States where he appears in a spinoff show, took his curtain call wearing a frilly white tutu.
"Billy Elliot has been one of the great events of my life," John told the audience ahead of a special performance to celebrate the one millionth patron to see the show. "Being involved in this musical has given me so much pleasure."
In one early scene, Billy turns to a man behind a newspaper at the piano and asked: "So what do you reckon, Reg?"
John, whose real name is Reginald Kenneth Dwight, lowered the newspaper, sauntered off stage and muttered a line that was inaudible above the cheers.
In the show's production notes the 59-year-old singer said the film Billy Elliot, on which the musical is based, had inspired him because it reflected his own childhood.
Like Billy, who escapes the grim world of a coal mining town brought to its knees during the 1984 strikes by turning to ballet, John said music was his "passport to a better, more fulfilling life" than his working class roots may have allowed.
"Art can make you look at life in a way you never have before," he wrote.
"The X Factor" judges Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh also appeared to huge applause, playing the stern adjudicators at Billy's audition to enter the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London.
"Well that's a no from me," Cowell said, in keeping with his sharp-tongued assessments of pop wannabes.
The proceeds from the evening went to children's charity The Place2Be, which works with disadvantaged children in schools across Britain, including those in ex-mining communities.
- REUTERS
