“When we started these portrait ballets, we started with Joni Mitchell,” Grand-Maître said. John had heard about the show and asked for a performance tape, which Grand-Maître sent him. Three months later, Grand-Maître sent John an email asking if he’d be interested in doing something similar and to his surprise, John said yes. They met in Las Vegas, and when John began talking, it wasn’t about his many successes, Grand-Maître said. “For Elton, the first thing he said to me was he wanted us to use his life to educate people, so about homosexual repression, drug addiction, bulimia, alcoholism, he had it all. The death rate is very high in that business. Acting too and the business of celebrity. He didn’t talk so much about his triumphs. He talked about his struggles, and so you realize the struggles really make the music.”
Grand-Maître studied John’s entire catalog of songs before submitting his selections to John (who suggested and got two changes). Grand-Maître says he didn’t want to do a biography. (“It would take too long.”) Instead, Grand-Maître focused on the demands of celebrity and the burnout. “Because for Elton, for the first four years of his contract, had to write four albums a year. And they all went platinum.”
8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Wortham Theatre Center, 501 Texas. For information, call 713-227-2787 or visit houstonballet.org. $100 to $105.
Fri., Jan. 30, 8 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 31, 2:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 1, 2:30 p.m., 2015