Elton John unable to ‘watch own musical’ after eyesight loss

Sir Elton John said he has been unable to watch the stage show he wrote the music for due to losing his eyesight.

Speaking at the gala performance of The Devil Wears Prada: The Musical he said: “I have lost my sight and I haven’t been able to see the performance but I have enjoyed listening to it.”

The West End show hosted a charity gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Sunday evening.

The star-studded event attracted a host of famous faces including Anna Wintour, Lily Collins and Donatella Versace.

The 77-year-old pop star has been struggling with his eyesight since getting an infection in his right eye in July.

While his exact condition is unclear, Sir Elton told ABC News’ Good Morning America in November that he developed the infection in the south of France.

“It’s been four months now since I haven’t been able to see, and my left eye is not the greatest,” he said at the time.

Speaking to the BBC on the red carpet, Wintour said she was looking forward to supporting Elton and described the musical as “entertaining”.

Asked whether the film and musical is at all representative of what the fashion industry is actually like, Vogue’s editor-in-chief said it was “for audiences to decide”.

“It’s for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly,” she added.

It has often been rumoured that the character of Priestly was based loosely on Wintour.

The Devil Wears Prada tells the story of an aspirational young journalist, Andy, who became the assistant to one of New York’s most infamous fashion magazine editors, Miranda Priestly.

American fashion designer Betsey Johnson said “everyone in the fashion industry loves the show”.

The 82-year-old said she was “lucky” she got through the industry without having to “play the game”.

“When I saw the film for the first time, I thought thank god I missed all that stuff because I would not want to have gone through all that.”

The production sees American singer and actress Vanessa Williams step into the iconic role of feared fashion magazine editor Miranda.

TV personality Michelle Visage said Williams, best known for her roles in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives, has “absolutely” always been the perfect person to play Priestly.

Visage also spoke to the BBC about the progress the fashion industry is making.

“I can’t believe in the film that Andy was called fat when she was a size six,” she said.

“I would hope things have changed – we have seen some more inclusion and I hope we always hope to progress.”

Model Elizabeth Hurley said she thought “every woman’s body is now celebrated” and was keen to see “how that is shown in this theatre show”.

However, singer Beverley Knight said she doesn’t think “the fashion industry has moved on leaps and bounds” in terms of how it views women of different sizes.

Beauty and the Beast actor Luke Evans said he loves the film because it’s “full of characters and ego” but he has “no idea” why it’s such a cultural phenomenon.

“It’s probably because fashion changes all the time but the people at the top never do and this is sort of an insider, behind the scenes version,” he said.

He added he doesn’t think there are many similarities between Priestly and Wintour as he’s met “Anna many times and she’s very lovely so I don’t think they’re similar”.

Comedian David Walliams was also in attendance with his mother and they both said they “know it’s going to be brilliant and we haven’t even seen it”.

“We’re missing Strictly Come Dancing for this, that’s how much we love Elton,” the pair joked. (BBC News)

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