Xanadu vs. Disaster!

[Sondheim_Disney1595]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 7:17am

After Xanadu came on my shuffle today, it got me thinking about the similarities between it and the recently closed Disaster!

Both used 70's hits for their score (Xanadu also had a couple hits from the 1980 movie but, I digress), both had laughably bad source material which they were poking fun at and both had a nice cast of broadway favorites. I saw both live and found both wonderfully campy. 

Is the reason Disaster! didn't succeed the show itself (the concept and the book) OR is because of the crazy competitive season broadway is currently amid? And follow up question: If Disaster! had opened in the 2007/2008 season instead of Xanadu, would it have been more successful?

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 10:42am

I enjoyed Xanadu more than Disaster. For me, Disaster's problems were the length (it should've been 90 minutes like Xanadu; the second act dragged) and the way it forced songs into the book. It is true that Xanadu opened in a way less competitive season but it was also a big surprise at how enjoyable/fun it was.

[Hariku]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 11:27am

I was SHOCKED at how much I loved Xanadu. I thought it was campy, fun show with great songs and great performance by Butler, Cheyenne Jackson, Mary Testa, etc. 

Based on how good it was, I think it underperformed....  Don't know why it wasn't a bigger hit. Disaster! I loved when it was Off Broadway..thought it was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. But on Broadway I thought it was cringeworthy and unfunny.

So I'm thinking maybe the culprit in the failure of both shows to be bigger hits is the producer that they share? Has Ahrens done any other shows?

[Sondheim_Disney1595]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 12:45pm

Interesting they both had the same producer. I totally forgot that Ahrens had produced Xanadu.

Looking at his bio from the Disaster! website, it says in addition to Xanadu he co-produced the Evita revival and the UK Finding Neverland for musicals. He's also done some random concerts as well as the Book of Love movie.

He seems to be drawn to projects that financially crumble...

[devonian.t]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 3:30pm

Xanadu was camp fun but I found it more witty than daft. Musically it was better integrated, too.

I expected to like Xanadu but I loved it.

[Ptesan]

Posted: 5/17/16 at 12:15pm

Saw both and enjoyed them immensely.  I agree that Xanadu was better but I'm also partial to that show because I got seats on the stage and I had a ball.  Some of the audience members thought I was a part of the show- it was hysterical.