Elton John's Lestat musical to open in San Francisco

Elton John and Bernie Taupin's stage musical Lestat, based on the adventures of Anne Rice's pansexual vampire, will open in San Francisco this winter on its way to Broadway, reports Playbill.com. "Lestat, one of Anne Rice's most celebrated literary characters, is being brought to the stage in the first-ever collaboration of the legendary team of Elton John (music) and Bernie Taupin (lyrics) on a Broadway production," according to a statement from the Curran Theater, the venue for the San Francisco run. "Based on characters and incidents from Ms. Rice's best-selling novels, Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, the book is by Linda Woolverton, and Robert Jess Roth directs." Lestat is set for a spring 2006 Broadway debut, while another Elton John musical, Billy Elliot, is set to start previews on London's West End on May 31.