why Xanadu isn't opening in time for Tonys? — Page 2

"And a year after HAIRSPRAY, AVENUE Q opened on Broadway in July and swept the Tonys the next year as well."

How is winning Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score sweeping the Tonies when Assassins was the big winner that year?

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Good point.

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What makes me really want to see Xanadu, though, is the poster art that says...

"XANADU

On Broadway

seriously."


That's genius. If the rest of show is that smart, I'll be a fanadu.

Updated On: 4/22/07 at 11:00 AM

"Satire is what closes on Saturday night."

--George S. Kaufman

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I saw the reading in January and I can't see it working without Jane. She was so great on those skates! It was magical. I think without Jane, it's going to be hard to pull this one off.

I've said it before, but there are some smart people on this show. Those who have read/ heard it aren't dismissing it.

Satire may close on Saturday, but what about spoof?

"Camp classic", it might just be. I'm ready to be pleasantly surprised. And I want to see Mary Testa and Jackie H rollerskating down the aisle more than anything!

As a corollary to Kaufman's quote I still question whether audiences will be willing to pay Broadway prices ($110 a ticket) to see a high camp spoof. Downtown NY theatre used to be heavily populated with these sorts of shows every season in the 70s, 80s and 90s (often done by groups like TWEED, as well as artists from Ludlam to Charles Busch to Lypsinka to Jackie Hoffman -- who's in XANADU). I can recall seeing stage versions of everything from Valley of the Dolls to Mommie Dearest to Mildred Pierce to Carrie (not the Broadway one) to the Bad Seed to Myra Breckinridge and on and on and on...... They were hysterical, over-the-top, wonderfully performed, inventively staged and often included original music, elaborate-looking costumes and wigs and sets......... and I don't think I ever paid more than $15-20 to see ANY of them (and some were less than that. Even a major downtown hit like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS only set me back about $15 when I saw it back at the Orpheum in the early 80s (about a third of the Broadway top at the time -- and notice when it was revived on Broadway a few years ago that it flopped at those prices).

Are there really tens of thousands of people out there (especially of the tourist persuasion) willing to plunk down $110 a piece for a take-off of a crappy roller disco movie from the 80s (a movie you could probably find in a 99 cent bin at a garage sale)? And I say tens of thousands because that's the minimum of full-price sales any show needs to have even a prayer of recouping (even for a show as small as XANADU). I'm not sure there's a market for this kind of show on mainstream Broadway -- and frankly given the swift demises of EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL and JOHNNY GUITAR off-Broadway (despite good reviews in both cases) I question whether there's a market for camp musicals in the city anymore anywhere (other than PS 122 or one of the other few remaining inexpensive downtown off-off-Broadway artists' spaces).

I like several of the people attached, so I wish it well, but I can't help but wonder whether it can find an audience at these astronomical prices.

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Keep in mind though that people pay $110 all the time to see crap. Plus in a theatre this small, they only have to get half the amount of the people who are seeing the other crap to pay to go see this crap. So in a strictly mathematical sense, it should run about twice as long as the other crap :)

Thanks for the explanation, Margo. I actually did know that, but I was being facetious with my mathematical equation...hence my smiley face :)

When I first saw that there was a musical called "Xanadu" I was thinking: oh, a musical version of "Citizen Kane"! Seems odd they would do a musical version of the bomb movie of the same name, but as others have said, we have to wait and see.

My other reaction: will that great classic movie musical "Can't Stop the Music" be next?? (i hope everybody knows I'm joking!)

The radio ad for this show is horrible. They may have hit the nail on the head when it comes to saving money (small theatre, small cast), but they might want to re-think what they are using to get people to buy tickets.

And, I don't think they'll have a problem making the Hayes stage look full. Jay Johnson didn't get lost with just himself and his dummies. If anything, I think nine cast members and onstage seating might get a little crowded.