50 Favourite Musicals: 14: XANADU (2007) (Jeff Lynne / John Farrar)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

 First performed: 2007, Helen Hayes Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 2008, as above

Productions seen: two

Score: Jeff Lynne / John Farrar
Book: Douglas Carter Beane

Plot: 1980, LA: Sonny Malone is a struggling pavement artist whose sadness is observed by Clio, one of the ancient Greek Muses, who descends from Mount Olympus to help him achieve his greatest artistic endeavour - to open a Roller Disco.  Clio is followed to Earth by her wicked sisters Melpomene and Calliope intent on making Clio and Sonny fall in love which will break one of their father Zeus' orders on pain of death but Clio and Sonny have love on their side - and Disco!

Five memorable numbers: ALL OVER THE WORLD, XANADU, EVIL WOMAN, SUDDENLY, DON'T WALK AWAY

The Rialto was abuzz when word got out that XANADU, one of 1980's two ghastly post-disco film flops - the other was CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC - was being made into a Broadway musical.  How low could the jukebox musical go if it was taking inspiration from such a toxic source?  What had not been factored in was the durability of the Jeff Lynne and John Farrar score and the book was being written by comedy playwright Douglas Carter Beane who, while hanging on to the inane plot, subverted the whole premise with a constant stream of gags poking fun at the film and it's star Olivia Newton-John and the whole meta-musical idea was mined with another stream of gags about musical theatre and the production itself.  What resulted was a show that took everyone by surprise - at only 90 minutes with no interval, the show delivered a constant feeling of fun and irreverence and was greeted with positive critical reviews.  The production ran over a year and achieved four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, and a further six Drama Desk Award nominations, rightly winning for Best Musical Book.

It was the positive vibe around the show that made us take a punt on it when we had an afternoon free in New York and it turned out to be my favourite show of that trip.  It was lead by a winning performance from Kerry Butler as Clio who assumes the roller-skating blonde Australian persona of Kira when on Earth and she was matched skate-glide for skate-glide by Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny Malone, the Venice Beach pavement artist driven to despair by his artistic limitations.  Jackson was gloriously funny as well as being a natural leading man with a strong singing voice and together they made the show sparkle.  There was excellent support from Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman as Clio's jealous sisters - looking like two Disney villains come to life - who had the best lines like "This is like children's theatre for 40 year-old gay people!"  Tony Roberts was on fine, irascible form as Danny, a wealthy landowner who owns the property that Sonny wants to turn into Xanadu, his ultimate Roller Disco.  Christopher Ashley's production was a pure delight which ended in a glorious finale with glitterballs of all sizes dappling the theatre in light.  Given the show was full of ELO songs that have had continued success down the years, it was frustrating that we had to wait seven long years before XANADU appeared at Southwark Playhouse.  I was very nervous about seeing it there - I enjoyed it so much in NY and the cast recording was one of the albums that kept me going through the dark days of working in Borehamwood - so was very worried that the production would not deliver the goods.  But luckily, apart from some slightly clunky playing, the production worked it's pink and glittery magic.  A small UK tour followed that but this is a show that deserves a West End theatre...  Make it happen oh mighty Zeus.

There is a private video of the whole Broadway production on YouTube but I have chosen Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson promoting XANADU on "The View" introduced by Whoopi Goldberg who appeared for six weeks during it's run as Melpomene