Thanks so much, Adan! Even though my approach to the piano is largely shaped by Elton and this record in particular, I definitely learned a few new tricks during the deep dive. But I also got to apply a few things I learned from other sources to the material, which kept the improvisational spirit of the thing.
As far as the vocals, I'm lucky to be married to a professional vocal coach. Any of the individual songs are challenging to sing -- rangey, wordy, full of little runs and licks -- but doing the whole show straight through definitely required some prep, like running a race or something. Elton was in his early 20s when he played that show and I'm, um, not, but I'm also a more experienced singer now than I was when I was in my early 20s, so I was quite proud of the results.