XANADU.... DO! But that drunken lady onstage.. DON'T.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:19pm

Hey all,

Caught a preview of Xanadu last night and wanted to post a few thoughts. I was a bit of a skeptic before this show was up on its fet, but grew interested as I heard more and more about what is IN the show (I thought the movie was a wreck and had a 'why' reaction to news of the show). I am happy to report though, that this show is a BLAST! Go see it SOOn.. especialy when Cheyenne joins the cast.

I can't praise it enough. The easiest way to describe it is Rocky Horror meets Avenue Q with a splash of high camp and a dash of Forbidden Broadway.

The cast, almost uniformly, is spot on. Any chance to see Mary testa and Jackie Hoffman together is a MUST and Douglas Carter Beane gives them SO much to work with. My one dissapointment was Andre ward.. he was merely serviceable. He did well, nothing wrong, but he lacked spark and inspiration that most of the others had. Tony Roberts was good, but I kept thinking about who else could play those two roles.
Marty Thomas was on last night as, among other things, the Centaur. he, Curtis Holbrook, Jackie and Mary wlak off with the show... hands down.

Catch it. It's a BLAST!!!!


One bad thing... three frumpy white women in the first row, center, of onstage seating. They should have been carted off before the show even began. Before the show, they were making a scene.. standing up, waving, calling out to people in the house.. not to friends.. just to call attention. The one n the right even splayed out on the bench, waving her arms and kicking her feet in the air. Once the show started, she was no better.. practically climbing over the wall and into the playing are to the point that it was just about in the actors' way.. even after she saw that the rail in front of her is heavily used during the show... and one of her swings swinging a glow stick on a rope around in mid air during the finale.... I was waiting for her to bean Kerry Butler in the head... House staff should have pulled them out fast and I was shocked and dissapointed that they didn't.

In the audience - Sarah Jessica Parker sans matthew.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:22pm

Is there really a reason behind having on-stage seating for this show? I mean, with SPRING AWAKENING and INHERIT THE WIND, there is logic behind it. But what's the point of having it in XANADU?

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:28pm

Just for fun. They kind of call the onstage seated people "rubbish" from the broken down Xanadu theatre.

[Calvin]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:29pm

And to add capacity to a tiny theatre.

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:30pm

By the way, good review! Did you see Curtis as Sonny? How was he? Was Marty Thomas good in his track?


*SPOILER LINE (possibly?)*
I loved the show with Marty in Andre's track - the "Bitch, I don't know your life!" part works just as well, even better.
Updated On: 6/15/07 at 12:30 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:30pm

In xanadu, if you wanted to say a "concept reason", a lot of the show revolves around Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman plotting on Mount Olympus and being in Zeus's court..... the set inself also harkens back to Grecian ampitheatres and arenas.... and a classical style of people sitting around a temple or common space watching a performance of some sort....

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:33pm

I WISH I could see Curtis as Sonny. Curtis would have done much more with Sonny than Andre ward did, I think.
I WAS glad I was able to see Curtis's tap number though.
Marty was a RIOT. I just can NOT picture anyone else as Hermes saying "bitch, please" to the same effect.

I LOVED the juxtoposition of classical styled dialgue thrown in with modern slang and one lines... and the one liners and jokes are PRICELESS and more quotable than anything in recent memory.. except maybe Mean Girls. ha! The Andrew Lloyd Webber joke and the death of modern theatre bits recieved THUNDEROUS cheers.
The Cylops and Centaur costumes were BRILIANT.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 6/15/07 at 12:46pm

More on the onstage seating.. when you walk into the theare and look at the stage, you will notice that the stage displaces a SIGNIFICANT amount of seating in the first few rows.. and in a house the size of the Hayes, that makes a HUGE difference.