A HEAVENLY MUSE-ICAL

XANADU

By Beth Mandelbaum Bernstein

I had an absolutely wonderful afternoon at Xanadu. This musical put a big smile on my face, and I found myself laughing a great deal during the blissfully entertaining 90 minutes that is Xanadu. I went on the occasion of this musical’s one year anniversary and also because of the “Cub-Cake” bake sale that was organized outside the theater as a fund raiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, which is among my favorite causes.

Xanadu is a very high energy musical. I found the music to be a genuine “up.” And though this kind of rock/pop music is not always to my taste, I decided to buy the CD and played it three times before seeing the show. And once I was there, I was “hooked!” I often found myself moving my feet and rocking in my seat. To me, the deliciously quirky and sometimes over the top story was extremely clever. The book by Douglas Carter Beane, of The Little Dog Laughed fame, is highly entertaining and extremely funny; and it added a great deal to making Xanadu a genuinely fine musical rather than having it be relegated to the position of and yet another “jukebox” musical, to coin a phrase.

The cast is stupendous. Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson were perfectly cast in the leading roles. They have wonderful voices, winning personalities, and offer fine comedic talent in abundance. The same can be said of the supporting cast, which is chock full of talent, most notably Tony Roberts, Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa, but everyone offered their gifts.

I have not as yet seen the film version of Xanadu, which I understand was notoriously dreadful, but I am going to rent it to experience it for myself. However, I think that it takes a great deal of courage to make a musical out of a reputedly disastrous film, but all of the elements of Xanadu, the musical, work to near perfection.

And I now understand why Xanadu has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical of the season.