One for the Road with Elton John

Elton John's music has been around forever. At least, that's the way it feels to some fans, like Ben Winston and Gabe Turner, who were both born several years after the star began creating hits.

"Elton, to me, is arguably the greatest performer of all time," says Turner, an executive producer, along with Winston, on Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. "I've been really lucky; we've worked with some incredible talent, but I have an Elton memory with everyone I know."

The duo, who founded Fulwell 73 Productions with Leo Pearlman and Ben Turner (Gabe's brother), have indeed worked with many talented performers, including Harry Styles, Bruno Mars and Adele, to name a few. (Their work with the British songstress garnered Winston his twelfth Emmy win, for Adele: One Night Only.) But Winston and Turner — whose production company is also behind CBS's The Late Late Show with James Corden and Hulu's The Kardashians — did not grow up listening to those artists.

"There's a whole breadth of memories that I have, from all generations, from my parents to my kids," adds Turner, an Emmy winner for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) for Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney Live from Liverpool. "I remember watching Sing with my kids and seeing Johnny, the gorilla, playing 'I'm Still Standing,' and them singing it back to me. I remember, years ago, watching the first Kiki Dee 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' music video. I remember so clearly when Princess Diana died, how big Elton was," he says, referring to John's performance of "Candle in the Wind 1997" for the princess's funeral. "There are so many memories and significant moments of my life where Elton is the music in the background."

One of the top-selling solo artists of all time, with more than 300 million records sold worldwide, Elton John has one diamond album, thirty-two platinum or multi-platinum albums and more than seventy Top 40 hits to his name, including "Your Song," "Island Girl," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Crocodile Rock." "Candle in the Wind 1997," a 1974 song he recorded with new lyrics, is among the best-selling singles of all time. Last year, some old songs got new life when "Hold Me Closer," a collaboration with Britney Spears, and "Cold Heart," his track with Dua Lipa, sampled lyrics and music from his vast catalogue, notably "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man," respectively.

Winston and Turner's admiration for John made the prospect of executive-producing his final U.S. tour performance all the more enticing — and daunting. The three-hour event streamed globally late last year on Disney+, where it remains for catchup or repeat viewing. As the name suggests, the show was live, and it paid tribute to the 1975 concert at Dodger Stadium that cemented John's status as a superstar.

The "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour, which began in 2018 and was delayed due to Covid, arrived fully conceived at Disney+. The set list had long been decided upon, costumes had been sewn, sets had been built and the storytelling arc had been written. But how to translate all of that to television? Better yet, how to capture it all live?

A great undertaking requires a great team. Alongside Fulwell 73, John's Rocket Entertainment produced, with John, his husband and manager David Furnish and Luke Lloyd Davies serving as executive producers. The team also included showrunner-executive producer Sally Wood, coexecutive producer-director Paul Dugdale and executive producer R.J. Cutler (who is helming next year's Disney+ documentary, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances and The Years that Made His Legend). Emma Conway, Lou Fox and Sean Alvarez also executive produce.

"Live TV makes you feel sick when you're a producer," Winston says. "It's both the best and worst of our job. The best about it is it's just so exciting and you realize that what you're doing then and there is being watched by so many people. And you can't get that exhilarating feeling anywhere else. But there are so many things that, of course, can go wrong — lights going out or mics not working — that in an edit you have time to clean up, but in [a live production] you don't." Turner adds, "Not having an edit always makes us feel a little bit exposed."

Sally Wood agrees: "The one element that did give me sleepless nights was the sheer significance of the evening," she says. "Elton and his team have been working together for decades and this night was a truly historic landmark. It's an incredible privilege when an artist allows you to film them onstage at any time, but this was Elton John's final tour performance in the U.S. We had to capture a lasting memory for the thousands of people who were there on the night, and the millions of people watching on Disney+."

To build anticipation and ensure that viewers had enough time to get to their screens, they needed a lead-in. So the team crafted a pre-show. Winston says, "It's got interviews with Elton and David and contributions from everyone, from [President Biden] to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to David Beckham and Billie Eilish. It was incredible the amount of people who said yes. We've never found it so easy to book a show in all our lives." The pre-show also included interviews with fans who made it to both the 1975 and 2022 concerts.

It was important to the creative team that viewers at home "share the same musical journey that the live audience experiences," Wood says. "Anyone can point cameras at a stage, but to allow an audience at home to experience the genuine thrill of an Elton John show is a delicate balancing act."

Leading up to the concert, Winston and Turner got to spend some time with John. "I was very much a fanboy in the corner asking some questions for the pre-show," Turner says. "He was charm personified and super relaxed but, I think, understanding the weight of the show."

Opening with an aerial shot of Dodger Stadium and the 50,000-plus fans in attendance, the concert begins. John appears onstage, settles in at his grand piano and immediately launches into "Bennie and the Jets." Over the course of the show, he plays some of his greatest hits and performs with singers Brandi Carlile, Dua Lipa and Kiki Dee. (Later on, in a direct nod to the now-iconic glitzy Dodgers uniform he wore at his 1975 concert, he dons an equally sparkling Dodgers dressing gown.)

Closing out the show, John brings his longtime collaborator and songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, onstage, followed by Furnish and their two sons, telling the audience that he's retiring from touring to spend more time with his family. Finally, John sits back down at his piano and addresses his fans, thanking them for their years of loyalty. "I wish you health, love and prosperity. Be kind to each other. And farewell," he says, before concluding the evening with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

"You strive to make shows that people will remember for years," Winston says. "And I think Elton's last touring show in America is going to be one of those moments. So to be producing that is a real honor.

"It's a really poetic, beautiful ending to the Elton John story," he says. "The touring story, anyway."

This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #7, 2023, under the title, "One for the Road."