Wall Street Jounal DID NOT Like XANADU

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:23pm

Bad news ! Who the hell is this reviewer ?? Pls tell me... flat out-panned, huh?

Summer Camp
By TERRY TEACHOUT
July 13, 2007; Page W7
New York

When drama critics with long memories get together to chew the fat, they like to talk about the bad shows they've seen. Not the run-of-the-mill stinkers, but the really, really bad shows, the ones so appalling that they're tempted to slit their wrists at intermission. In my experience, most of these shows have been Broadway musicals, and prior to this week my list of contenders for the title of Worst Musical I've Ever Reviewed consisted of "In My Life," "Lestat," "Lennon," "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Ring of Fire," in that order.

Then came "Xanadu."


One's ridiculous -- the other sublime: Kerry Butler stars as a Greek muse in "Xanadu."
What's so uniquely awful about this stage version of the 1980 flop that put an end to Olivia Newton-John's Hollywood career? Start with the fact that it's an elephantine spoof of a quarter-century-old movie so terrible that few people saw it and fewer still remember it. That strikes me as a pretty good working definition of pointlessness, not to mention a near-infallible recipe for boredom. Why bother making such elaborate fun of a forgotten film about a dopey freelance artist (Cheyenne Jackson) who is visited by a Greek muse (Kerry Butler) who inspires him to open a roller disco? Pure spoofery cloys quickly even when its target is familiar, and "Xanadu" has nothing else to offer.

Well, not quite nothing. The score consists of a string of mostly vapid but extremely well-crafted tunes by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne, five of which hit the charts in 1980 and one of which, "Magic," is a first-rate pop song. Which brings us to the second thing that's wrong with "Xanadu": Not only is Douglas Carter Beane's flimsy book a tissue of sn*ingly unfunny jokes about how silly the show's premise is, but Christopher Ashley, the director, has staged the songs in a nudge-nudge-wink-wink way that leaves you in no possible doubt of his contempt for them. This gets old after about 90 seconds, but the show goes on for another hour and a half, all of which I spent writhing impatiently in my seat.

Somewhere along the way, one of the characters in "Xanadu" describes the onstage proceedings as "like children's theater for 40-year-old gay people." That's putting it mildly. "Xanadu" is the gayest show to hit town since "The Boys in the Band." The trouble is that Mr. Beane is the sort of gay playwright who deals exclusively in campy self-mockery, which is like serving a 10-course dinner consisting solely of condiments, with a great big dish of whipped cream for dessert. If that's your kind of meal, eat hearty.
link : https://online.wsj.com/article/SB118427892600665203-search.html?KEYWORDS=xanadu&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month
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Jay's Response :



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Updated On: 7/13/07 at 02:23 PM

[ashbash1990]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:25pm

Teachout hates absolutly everything... the only good reviews I remeber him giving (relativly) recently are Sweeney revival and Drowsy Chaperone...

[Steve2]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:32pm

JayStarr, did you see the 2 negative reviews posted today in the reviews thread?

USA Today and NY Mag.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:32pm

Teachout also liked COMPANY

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:44pm

NO - I did not . I guess we have 5 NEGATIVES now...

My friend John ( a lawyer here in Boston , I guess he only reads.. Wall Street Journal-ouch ! ) who I was talking to at the gym last night.. I was talking how XANADU
got all these good reviews.. He e-mailed me back today with this>

Jay,

The Wall Street Journal, in today's edition, panned the show in a very
negative review.

JB

*********
Damn these Boston's lawyers are tough to sell- they always have to do their own research, instead of just taking my recommendation Now- I have "no face" to show at the gym tonite-J*






Updated On: 7/13/07 at 02:44 PM

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 2:48pm

Here is the USA Today review from this morning that was referenced above:

'Xanadu': A flop on screen, a waste on stage

NEW YORK — Near the end of the new musical Xanadu (* * out of four), Zeus stands on Mount Olympus and makes a dire prediction about future trends in theater: "They'll just take some stinkeroo movie or some songwriter's catalog, throw it on a stage and call it a show."
The line is meant in jest, but forgive me for not laughing. Xanadu, which opened Tuesday at the Helen Hayes Theatre, isn't the worst film adaptation to land on Broadway, but it might be the most cynical.

Writers and producers seeking to lure casual theatergoers with familiar screen properties usually choose popular or cult favorites. But Xanadu, the 1980 Olivia Newton-John vehicle about a Greek muse who inspires an artist to build a roller-disco rink, was a critical and commercial flop. The only reason to revisit it, clearly, was to send up both the movie and the pop culture surrounding it.

That's not a bad formula for a 10-minute comedy skit, perhaps. But for a production charging $100 for orchestra seats, it's pretty thin.

Even by the low standards set by recent musical theater outings such as Legally Blonde, The Wedding Singer and High Fidelity, Xanadu is a cheap, patronizing goof. Douglas Carter Beane's script revels in obvious jokes, but he and director Christopher Ashley face a fundamental problem in trying to reduce their source material to sheer camp: Whatever its failings, the original Xanadu featured irresistibly savvy, sometimes gorgeous pop music by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar.

The stage version uses these songs but essentially mocks the recordings. Delivering the sparkling Magic, for instance, leading lady Kerry Butler gets easy laughs by caricaturing Newton-John's breathy soprano. During the romantic duet Suddenly, Butler and Cheyenne Jackson mug and make silly gestures, as if to reassure us that they know this lovely bit of ear candy is really just fluff.

Ashley and choreographer Dan Knechtges adopt a similarly snarky tone for other numbers. Luckily, there are moments when the music and the actors rise above it. Jackson — filling in for James Carpinello, who injured himself skating during rehearsals — gives an appealingly self-effacing performance as the dim but devoted artist. Mary Testa drolly plays the fair muse's jealous sister.

Best of all, Tony Roberts turns up in a role played on-screen by Gene Kelly and engages the musical's winking retro references with truly old-school grace.

It would have been nice if Xanadu had been designed with more of Roberts' wit and affection — or if the muses had inspired the show's creators to come up with some new ideas, rather than just deriding old ones.


http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2007-07-12-xanadu_N.htm

[TLKfan]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 3:11pm

Dang just a tad harsh. I mean there is a few minor things I would change, but it sure doesn't suck.

[WonderRobbie]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 3:51pm

you know what I say to all that?

"What rhymes with Nantucket?"

[jsg03jd]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 4:15pm

To each his/her own. Besides, neither WSJ, which I read today in the office, nor USA Today are exactly known for their theatre critiques.

Who reviewed the show in NY Mag? If it's John Simon, then forget it. He hates (almost) everything.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 4:55pm

I agree..

All I have to say to these critics ....




J*

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 4:59pm

Heaven forbid they do their jobs.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:00pm

Why don't we have ONE MORE thread for Xanadu. I think the board really needs it.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:03pm

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:07pm

You're just obsessed with that graphic, aren't you?

I'm not hating. I haven't SEEN the damned show. But a critic's job isn't to like every show. He reviewed the show; he wrote what he thought. That is his job. And to be honest, I expected MORE of the critics to feel that way, based on the fact that until the reviews came out, most people seemed to regard this show as Broadway's biggest joke.

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:11pm

And really...do we need another thread for XANADU?

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:11pm

[courtnyj]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:12pm

You should see it emcee! I was very skeptical going in and then...surprise! I loved it!

And yes, there are a few pans, but none of that matters.

Here's a bit from playbill.com's week in review:
"So this is how it feels when Hell freezes over.

Xanadu, the unlikely stage adaptation of the execrable 1980 movie musical, the project that Broadway prognosticators have been setting up for the past several months as the theatre's next Good Vibrations, opened on July 11 — to positive reviews.

Think the critics have never been mellow? Well, they were that day, decreeing that the show that had become everyone's favorite punching bag — the supposed career folly of director Christopher Ashley and bookwriter Douglas Carter Beane — was, against all odds, witty, endearing goofy and a blissfully pain-free good time. The performers, including Kerry Butler, Cheyenne Jackson, Tony Roberts, Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman, were working at the peak of their talents. In fact, everyone has somehow found the exact right tone for the 90-minute spoof of bad art, Greek mythology, misbegotten cultural trends and theatrical cliches.

The day after the opening, the miracles kept on coming. Xanadu broke a box-office record at the Helen Hayes Theatre, taking in $150,000 at the box office that day. Not a record-breaking sum for most theatres, but the intimate Helen Hayes seats only 579. The laugh that the show's neophyte producers laughed on the way to the bank must have been a loud and hearty one indeed. They deserved the guffaw. After all, they had endured the departure of hoped-for star Jane Krakowski; sweated through the in-previews injury of male star James Carpinello; suffered the daily jibes of their colleagues in the theatre. Now they can take with pride their table at Joe Allen's; on that restaurant's famous wall-of-flops, a poster of their show will never hang."

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:14pm

I'm going to. I'm waiting until Cheyenne comes back, and hopefully rush won't be suspended for that long, because I'm afraid to sit on stage! The Times review made me REALLY want to see it, where before, I'd just been morbidly curious.

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:23pm

luvtheEmcee- yup- and you might "just" change your Avatar to...



BTW- I will definitely see you in Williamstown bec. I am a big fan of Raul Esparza too and you said, youre a female, huh?

J*





Updated On: 7/13/07 at 05:23 PM

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:23pm

oops...




Updated On: 7/13/07 at 05:23 PM

[Testing1232]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:33pm

<< Why don't we have ONE MORE thread for Xanadu. I think the board really needs it. >>

ROFL !!!!! Wiz... I needed that ! Been a long day !!! :))

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:41pm

Well, I'm sure I'll like Cheyenne's performance regardless of how I feel about the show as a whole. I'm a big fan of his.

Yes, I'm female. 'cause I'm sure I'll be the ONLY female in attendance and you'll be able to pick me out. And I thought you said you couldn't go? ETA: Nevermind, I misread.

Updated On: 7/13/07 at 05:41 PM

[jaystarr]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 5:56pm

Updated On: 7/13/07 at 05:56 PM

[glancingforward]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 6:10pm

wow what did USA today have for breakfast...an enema

[mominator]

Posted: 7/13/07 at 9:14pm

So the reviewer didn't like it so what! The show has gotten some great reviews and has a following ( and I for one would see it a lot more if I lived closer to the city!)