Kerry Butler as Kira in Xanadu....

[Craig]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:03am

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/99131.html

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:05am

Oh my. Please tell me that they are improving the script.

[Craig]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:08am

Based on the article - I would assume the script is basically all new (but based on the original). After all - look at the descriptions of the muses - and references to things in the 80s.

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:11am

There is hope again. Thanks, Craig! Too bad we can't resurrect Gene Kelly. That man on roller skates made that movie.

[Craig]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:16am

Love the duet between him and Olivia

The truth is - as cheesy as the movie is - it's a guilty pleasure of mine

[peggyandvelma]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:20am

Don't be ashamed, Craig. (: It's a really fun movie.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:23am

Kerry would be FAB in this! And the rest of that reading cast is fun! I think this sounds like it could be fantastic.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:35am

They stole my idea...

I originally wanted XANADU to be a musical.

And to make things worse, THEY STOLE MY FIRST CHOICE FOR THE LEADING LADY!!!!
AAAH!!!


Just kidding, I couldn't do justice to XANADU even if my life depended on it.
I really want to see the reading, but I'm not a member of the Drama Department.
I'm excited for this.

[BreeDaniel]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:45am

I love Xanadu and think Kerry is good in the right part (Penny, not Audrey) but Kerry as Kira is a TERRIBLE idea!

[ThePinballWizard]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:48am

That sounds like a wonderful all-star reading. Geez, I wish I had an invitation to see this!

[Craig]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 11:52am

Bree

Not to defend Kerry - but it really depends on how this show has been rewritten, no?

I mean - based on the movie alone - there wasn't much to the character except singing and some cheesy "muse" type lines.

I would disagree that it's a TERRIBLE idea. It might not be the best casting in your eyes.. but terrible? That's a bit extreme.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:29pm

The reading is taking place at New World Stages, and they generally have an open seating policy about readings. You could probably just swing by.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:32pm

I still can't imagine anyone backing this concept, but they are obviously rewriting the script quite a bit if you have Mary Testa and Cady Huffman playing muses. In the film they were non-speaking roles who danced in two numbers. I'm assuming you can't cast Mary Testa and not give her at least one song.

[Craig]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 1:38pm

Magic8 - I don't doubt you - I just wouldn't want people to head down there if there weren't going to get in based on Andy Gans' article... "The reading, which is by-invitation-only for Drama Dept. subscribers"

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 4:55pm

Proposing such ridiculous junk as a commercial vehicle demonstrates once and for all the decline of standards within the industry and the increasingly illiterate depths to which it continues to sink as it trawls new abysses of mindlessness.



Ludmilla Novotny
Prague, Czech Republic
Updated On: 4/18/06 at 04:55 PM

[Wicked_fan]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 7:01pm

Yay!

I love Kerry Butler and wish I could see this even though it's only a reading.

This idea is intriguing, and I'm not going to shoot it down completely just yet.

[Al Dente]

Posted: 4/18/06 at 7:53pm

Has it really come to this?! Bree, I actually think Butler is the perfect sort of innocuous stage version of Newton-John. These types of roles are perfect for her, it's when they tried to make her fit as Audrey where it failed miserably. But again, WHY THIS MOVIE? Why God why???

[dotvmike]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:11am

Did anybody go to the reading and would like to share how it was?

[Kayla426]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:17am

Please make this production happen lol. I need to see it/be in it lol. Amazing.

I'm not embarassed! I love the movie! It's horrendous! That's what it's amazing :)

-k

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 2:50am

I saw Kerry Butler and of course fell totally, absolutely in love with her in "Hairspray." I had, in my mind, such great hopes for her future. I was hoping to see her doing amazing things for decades to come. But nowhere, not even when I was totally drunk, did I ever dream she would be doing Xanadu.

I have spent twenty years demanding back the two hours of my life and the six dollars I actually spent to see that hunk 'o junk.

Xanadu?

Although it was fun to see Kelly on rollerskates at age 68. The man was fearless. Can you imagine the look of horror on the completion guarantee bondsman when he had to insure THAT scene?

BTW, Fred and Ginger TAPDANCED on rollerskates. Talk about taking the life of your precious ankles in your hands.

[Marquise]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 4:48am

DAMMIT! A better choice would have been ROLLER BOOGIE!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 12:47pm

or Phantom of Paradise

[dotvmike]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 4:26pm

I love Phantom of the Paradise...great music!