Less than an hour after the curtain fell on his $12 million musical reading of Anne Rice's first two Vampire Chronicles—at the theatre that housed his Tony-winning Aida for a respectable run—this was all that remained of Sir Elton, this and scads of costumes and memorabilia in the "Elton John: Elements of an Icon" exhibit going on there till April 30.

He did a 20-minute inny-outty and was outta there like a bat out of hell (if, of course, Lestat were a bat variety of vampire—which it, and he, aren't). Word trickled down from on high at Barlow-Hartman Public Relations that a very pressing benefit commanded his attention across town, and who am I to throw a monkey wrench into his considerable charity commitments? At least he left his stars to soldier on, which they gleefully did.

Hugh Panaro, the Lestat lead, led the en masse cast charge into the Columbus Circle facility. Since their show was presented (i.e., bankrolled) by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, only a minimum arm-twist was required for the parent company to turn over the keys to the building's first four floors so everybody could party hearty after the play.

Greeting guests on the first floor were the sketches and costumes designed for Lestat's San Francisco run by Wicked Tony winner Susan Hilferty, who was just warming up for Broadway. The visual splendors wrought by the design team (Hilferty, set designer Derek McLane and lighting designer Kenneth Posner) are worthy of the Palace, or any palace.

The celebs were in skimpy supply at the party, but they made a very impressive united front at the theatre, some shaking their tambourines for John: Ashford and Simpson, Rosie O'Donnell and Kelly Carpenter, that blonde dazzler billed believably as Jewel, Ty Burrell, Tony LoBianco, Adam Duritz, Alana Hamilton, Rob Thomas, Eric McCormack, who's doing Some Girl(s)—rehearsing now, performing June 8-28—at the Lucille Lortel, Kylie Minogue, "Sopranos" shrink Lorraine Bracco, Jai Rodriguez, idling "American Idol" Constantine Maroulis, Scissor Sisters and John Edward.

The pre-show pandemonium befitted a beloved, beknighted rock star-turned-Broadway composer, and the press were out in full force, with British accents particularly plentiful. One lady broadcaster from across the pond, a cheeky thing, broke up Jon Bon Jovi by asking him at point-blank range, "What does Elton bring to a vampire story?" It cracked him up. "I could really knock that one out of the park," he replied, but he didn't go there.

After the cast bows, John paddled on stage in a tight black tux, followed by collaborators Rice, adapter Linda Woolverton, Taupin and the evening's forgotten man, director Robert Jess Roth.

"I was just singing the praises of Lestat," announced Star Jones, when approached at the post-party on the Elton John floor where the favorable fumes were particularly pungent. It didn't surprise her the music was good. She was surprised to find Lestat "tragically sexy."

Kathy Lee Gifford went into a chorus of Carolee Carmello, cast as the mother whom Lestat turns into a vampire and "intimate" for all eternity. "I am her biggest fan on this planet," gushed Gifford, pulling back just a bit with "next to my director, Eric Shaeffer." Both, in fact, are hoping Carmello will play '20s evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in Saving Aimee, which Shaeffer will put into rehearsal next March to premiere at his Signature Theatre. Gifford did the book, lyrics and a little composing on the side, but the bulk of the music was written by David Friedman and David Pomeranz, who composed her Off-Broadway Under the Bridge. One of the voices on that particular CD, Gifford noted, belongs to Allison Fischer, who is making her Broadway debut as the lethal waif Lestat and his new second-act friend, Louis (Jim Stanek), adopt—to their dismay—when the storyline suddenly switches centuries (18th to 19th) and cities (Paris to New Orleans).

Stanek, a former Forum "Hero" and a survivor of Indiscretions, was plainly pleased to be back on Broadway playing the last in the line of Lestat's lovers. "I love this character and the story we tell," he said, "the family unit and the family dysfunction and the family love that is in this little vampire family. My character begins and ends with the little girl, as far as I'm concerned. When she comes into our lives, everything changes. I love that I get to share the stage with Allison Fischer and Hugh Panaro. This is her first Broadway show, and I expect great things from her—with this show and with future shows that she does."

Also making their Broadway bows—the hard way, it turned out—were the other men in Lestat's life: Drew Sarich as the combative Armand and Roderick Hill as the love-battered Nicolas. Both their characters went through radical changes in the big trek East.

"My role has changed a lot since San Francisco—a lot," said Sarich, "like 180 degrees in a different direction! In San Francisco, we went in the direction of a Satanic priest—sort of a Satanic Javert—then, when we started working on it here in New York, we started discussing Armand's past as a prostitute so we said, 'Let's go the streetwalker avenue.'"