Return to Xanadu, where the wind machines blow

Volume 1, Number 45 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | July 27 - Aug. 2, 2007

XANADU
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar
Directed by Christopher Ashley
The Helen Hayes Theatre
240 West 46th Street
(212-239-6200; xanaduonbroadway.com)

By Scott Harrah

Why would anyone want to make a Broadway musical adaptation of one of the silliest, most unwatchable movies of all time? For laughs, of course. Granted, there is much to love about this spoof of the mind-numbing 1980 stinker starring Olivia Newton-John as a muse for a sidewalk artist in Venice Beach, California, but its lampooning energy is not always consistent, and the story drags at times.

The movie, which also starred Gene Kelly, was a cheesy, nonsensical forum for roller disco, legwarmers, and a string of Newton-John Top 40 mega-hits such as “Magic,” the title track, and songs from the then-popular Electric Light Orchestra. Book writer Douglas Carter Beane — whose most recent Broadway work was the critically acclaimed “The Little Dog Laughed,” for which leading lady Julie White received a Tony — stabs the satirical needle into every aspect of the film, from Newton John’s cotton-candy voice and corny fashion-model poses to the absurd Greek-mythology-inspired characters and plot. This is also a jukebox musical that actually pokes fun at the jukebox genre — there’s some incredibly funny dialogue about the subject. The show also features Olivia hits that were never in the original movie, such as “Have You Never Been Mellow,” and they have been thrown in for no apparent reason other than to include songs to which audiences can sing along.

The show will appeal mostly to the over-35 audience or anyone that remembers that the bubblegum score of “Xanadu” was a favorite at kids’ birthday parties and school dances.

Perhaps that may be part of the reason why most of the set — except for in the razzle-dazzle finale — often looks like something from a tacky high-school play. In the show’s first few scenes, all we really see is a mirror reflecting a colored-chalk mural on a Venice Beach sidewalk of the Nine Muses of Mount Parnassus. The muses come alive to inspire artist Sonny (currently being played by Curtis Holbrook, understudying for Cheyenne Jackson). Muse Clio (Kerry Butler), who disguises herself as California dream girl Kira, complete with Newton-John’s twangy Aussie accent, roller skates into Sonny’s life to inspire him and fall in love with him.

Everything here is done as intentional camp. Clio’s sisters Calliope and Melpomene (played with over-the-top aplomb by veteran character actresses Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa) run around the stage belting out horrendous vocal parodies of such Electric Light Orchestra standards as “Evil Woman” and “Strange Magic.”

“Xanadu” is only 90 minutes without an intermission, and there are some scenes that are brilliantly funny, such as a dead-on send-up of the trash-movie classic “Clash of the Titans,” complete with Jackie Hoffman doing a hilarious impersonation of Ursula Andress. Other times, however, the show loses comic momentum as the actors belt out songs that elicit few laughs. The musical follows the movie’s dull plotline with precision as Sonny makes a deal with movie mogul Danny Maguire (Tony Roberts, playing the Gene Kelly role from the film) to convert an old theater into an art gallery/roller disco. Roberts is especially effective when playing the dual role of Zeus, supreme god of the Greeks.

The show’s true gem is Kerry Butler. When she sings the classic duet “Suddenly” with Sonny, she mimics and exaggerates every breathy note of Newton-John’s voice with razor-sharp comic timing. In one scene, Butler hams it up like a supermodel while a wind machine blows her hair and clothes every which way as if she’s on some surreal fashion-photo shoot.

While the stage adaptation of “Xanadu” effectively glorifies and skewers the movie as a piece of forgettable pop-cultural kitsch, it is debatable whether the show merits a Broadway mounting with the inevitable high-priced tickets. However, anyone that enjoys tongue-in-cheek 1980s nostalgia will certainly be entertained regardless.