#176
Posted: 7/13/07 at 3:19pm
Wall St. Journal is Negative. Copied from Jaystarrs other post to keep all reviews in one thread.
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."
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.
Wall St. Journal
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."
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.
Wall St. Journal
