LISA'S BROADWAY ALERT: XANADU COMES TO B'WAY

I've been holding this since January....but no more.

Another Olivia Newton-John movie is being adapted to the boards as Xanadu prepares to hit the Great White Way at the Helen Hayes, according to the New York Post.

Just say it.

"I'm Alive!"

"This is 1980, the muses are in retreat," exclaims Tony Roberts as
Zeus. "Creativity shall remain stymied for decades. They'll just take
some old stinkeroo movie or some songwriter's catalog, throw it on a
stage and call it a show."

This sounds great to me. I've loved this music for years.

I don't think I even had access to the movie but somehow got the soundtrack (album -- and somewhere I have a beat up cassette). I don't recall what sent me running for it -- perhaps it was the title song "Xanadu" or the chart topper "(we have to believe we are) Magic."

But what's not to love? Olivia Newton-John's breathy vocal qualities, which started out in Australia and segued to the American country charts with songs like "Please Mister Please (don't play B-17, it was his song, it was our song, but it's over" and the remake of "Please Mr. Postman" were popular but for more me it had to be the song that was heard loudly from our swingset as I taught the neighborhood kids to cry to the skies: "Have You Never Been Mellow?"
I certainly didn't know what mellow meant then and probably no one knows now, but the important thing is this album was post-Grease, she was clearly the focus (not shared with fellow break out Travolta) and it was one more blast before she went the way of her alter ego Sandy.

You know what I'm talking about. When she lead the way for Madonna and future trampy transformations (paging Christina Aguillera's "Dirrty") when Olivia, Newton, and John made
it a threesome and tarted up irrevocably with "Physical."

There is a thrilling quality to her plea "keep me Suspended in Time with you, don't let this moment end...I've got a feeling when I'm with you none of the rules apply...." ON-J has a way of bending a phrase and a note just this side of a more melodic yodel -- and the technique is
echoed in E.L.O.'s grand style.

In the meantime, there were so many excellent musical moments in this production. America discovered Cliff Richard with "Suddenly," found a way to slightly honor the admittedly weak sounding, but nonetheless dapper Gene Kelly with the delightful "Whenever You're Away From Me (wherever you go, you're never far away from me, I want you to know, I only have to close my eyes, dear, and suddenly I'm where you are, you better never stray, 'cuz I'll never be far away).

And sure, there's E.L.O. but I was always much more in debt to Fee Waybill of The Tubes. Talk about contrapuntal on "Whenever You're...." (woman I gotta let you know, I won't take a back seat...)

So can it be any wonder people love this "All Over The World?" Ha!

Let me just say it.

"Xanadu your neon light still shines!"

1. Magic - Olivia Newton-John
2. Suddenly - Olivia Newton-John
3. Dancin' - Olivia Newton-John
4. Suspended In Time - Olivia Newton-John
5. Whenever You're Away From Me - Olivia Newton-John
6. I'm Alive - Electric Light Orchestra
7. The Fall - Electric Light Orchestra
8. Don't Walk Away - Electric Light Orchestra
9. All Over The World - Electric Light Orchestra
10. Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra
===

Keep it light, campy and fun (and invite Fee Waybill of the Tubes to reprise his music).

Let's hope they keep the classic ('cuz I'd love the sheet music) --

Whenever I'm away from you
Wherever I go
I'm never far away from you
I want you to know
I only have to close my eyes, dear
and suddenly I'm where you are
You better never stray
'cuz I'll never be far away.....

XANADU on Broadway