Hear a preview of Elton John's new songs for 'The Devil Wears Prada' musical
Elton John is giving his fans a sneak peek at the music in the upcoming musical, "The Devil Wears Prada, The Musical."
The show, a stage version of the hit 2006 Meryl Streep/Anne Hathaway film "The Devil Wears Prada" and the original novel of the same name by author Lauren Weisberger, opens July 19 in Chicago, but you can hear a preview of some of the new songs John wrote for the project right now.
A newly released video from People features a sneak peek of John discussing the show and singing a few of the songs, including the title theme, "When a Legend Is Born" and "Dress Your Way Up."
John called the movie "one of my favorite films," adding, "The subject matter [the world of high-fashion magazines] screams out for music."
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the legendary artist said some of the elements of the movie -- based on Weisberger's novel -- have been updated to reflect things that didn't exist 20 years ago, like social media and #MeToo.
"We thought, we just can't put in this scenario from 20 years ago. We have to make it modern," he said at the time. "We have to bring it up to date. And that appealed to me as well because I wanted to make the music modern. And it's a woman's story. So I said I'd like to have a woman as the lyric writer."
John co-wrote the score with lyricist Shaina Taub, marking the first time he's composed with a woman.
"She's brilliant at bringing characters to life," he said in this week's video, predicting that, after seeing the finished product, audiences will "walk out elated."
The artist will play Chicago's Soldier Field on August 5 and will likely drop by rehearsals. But there won't be a performance of "The Devil Wears Prada" that night: the Chicago Tribune reported that the whole cast will be attending John's concert.
The iconic singer, pianist, and composer has won several Oscars and Grammys in the past, and wrote the scores for three Tony-winning musicals: "The Lion King," "Billy Elliott" and "Aida."
