Elton, Reimagined: Jess Robinson brings her joyous Cabinet of Voices to Old Market
Elton Reimagined offers a celebration of an icon, mediated through other icons, performed by a woman at the absolute top of her game. In a world that can feel relentlessly grim, there is genuine value in an evening of this much joy.
There are few artists whose catalogues feel more inherently queer than Elton John's. From the glittering excess of his stage persona to decades of outspoken activism, from Rocket Man's barely-coded longing to his friendship with Diana, his fundraising for HIV charities, and his long marriage to David Furnish, Elton has always belonged, at least in part, to us. So the prospect of a show that takes his songbook and filters it through the voices of some of the most iconic women in popular and queer culture is delicious
Elton Reimagined arrives at Brighton's Old Market this Friday, 19 June, and if the show's Edinburgh run is anything to go by, it deserves to sell out twice over. Jess Robinson is the UK's foremost female impressionist, a Dead Ringers stalwart, a regular on The Last Leg, a Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist whose audition racked up millions of views, and a performer who has graced stages from the London Palladium to the Royal Albert Hall. She is the real thing and stops off in Hove on her current UK tour of the show.
What makes Elton Reimagined fun is Robinson's genuine musicality. Classically trained, she doesn't merely do voices; she inhabits them, stretching Elton's melodies into new shapes while keeping the emotional core of each song intact. Imagine Crocodile Rock through the prism of Britney Spears, or the aching beauty of Your Song filtered through the crystalline upper register of Julie Andrews. Robinson teases the familiar into something fresh, and the effect is simultaneously funny and genuinely moving. It is cabaret entertainment that doesn't ask you to leave your intelligence at the door.
Robinson herself has spoken about why Elton's catalogue lends itself so naturally to this kind of reimagining. She described his music as unmatched in its range and staying power, songs that have accompanied people across generations, and that continue to find new audiences through collaborations with artists like Dua Lipa and Britney Spears.
The show has been developed in collaboration with musical director Matthew Floyd Jones, whose credits include the beloved Frisky & Mannish. This is not a show content to coast on charm alone, though charm it has in abundance. For queer audiences, Elton Reimagined offers a celebration of an icon, mediated through other icons, performed by a woman at the absolute top of her game. In a world that can feel grim, there is value in an evening of this much joy.
Book early. The Old Market is filling up, the word of mouth is already loud, and you will not forgive yourself for missing it.
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