It helped me to watch the performance with closed captions on, even though they were singing in English, just cause I was worried I might miss some of the plot.
And then I realized that the plot really did confuse me for a while, so I whipped out my iPhone, and followed along with wikipedia each of the scene sumaries (wikipedia also did have history and essays (though, written by who knows) that helped me understand some of the background and political stuff happening). After that, I enjoyed everything that much more.
I really loved Audra's delivery of "Alabama Song". I should get it recorded onto my iPod somethime.
Xanadu! Can't cry on cue!