Xanadu! Xanaduuuuuuu!
Lj-security: public
Now, we are here.
Well, no longer here (here being the Helen Hayes theater) but rather back at the hotel where elanor_isolde and I are still omg-giddy over the show.
And no, we haven't seen Dr Who's Utopia ep yet, so please no spoilers in comments.
Giddy. Yes.
Want Kerry Butler's dress.
And leg warmers.
Want to see the show another two hundred times, which is about as many times as I've seen the film.
The show totally reimagines the film, along with other ELO and Olivia-songs, and it uses things like Strange Magic and Have You Never Been Mellow brilliantly.
bethbethbeth felt like the stage was too small for the sort of skating that the show deserved, and to some extent Kerry Butler was forced to repeat moves and keep it minimalist because of the size of the stage but that sort of added to the charm. But I can imagine it with a larger cast of backup skaters and bigger production numbers and a larger stage would be grand for that.
There are seven muses on stage. Two - Epics and Tragedy - are evil, two are perky and two are played by guys, which *really works*. And two of the muses are the guys in the band.
About 35 people get to sit on stage - those seats are actually cheaper than the ones in the audience but you have to buy them at the theater. laughingirl wants to go back and sit on stage and do hand motions and I really want to go with her! Plus, the stage-audience gets cool glowsticks! Hurrah for souveniers!
The show is plotty, and weirdly enough, in the 90 minute, intermission-free show, the character of Sonny transitions from a bit of a dolt to a guy you're actually interested in - and the fact that it was the understudy in the role was just sweet. Cheyenne Jackson takes over the role next week, and I'm curious what he does with it. In other words, I wanna see it again!
There's also a lot of meta, and theater-jokes that ordinary theater buffs like me can appeciate, like the line about inspiration being hard to find after 1980, or the definition of "andrewlloydwebber" as (paraphrasing) something melodramatic and uninteresting. And there's jokes about jukebox musicals and taking mediocre films and turning them into stage musicals, and they're *funny*.
Seriously, I laughed a lot, the cast is uniformly wonderful (and great at speaking in unison) and the staging is spot-on for the show.
See it. Really. It's just plain fun.
And seeing it with friends makes it an even more amazing experience!
Oh! And I claimed Xanadu as my movie prompt in reel_spn and cathybites, who is so wonderful, is going to do art for it! Omg, when you guys see......
And yes, Kira did wear pink beribboned barettes in her hair! Revive the trend, people!
Now, we are here.
Well, no longer here (here being the Helen Hayes theater) but rather back at the hotel where elanor_isolde and I are still omg-giddy over the show.
And no, we haven't seen Dr Who's Utopia ep yet, so please no spoilers in comments.
Giddy. Yes.
Want Kerry Butler's dress.
And leg warmers.
Want to see the show another two hundred times, which is about as many times as I've seen the film.
The show totally reimagines the film, along with other ELO and Olivia-songs, and it uses things like Strange Magic and Have You Never Been Mellow brilliantly.
bethbethbeth felt like the stage was too small for the sort of skating that the show deserved, and to some extent Kerry Butler was forced to repeat moves and keep it minimalist because of the size of the stage but that sort of added to the charm. But I can imagine it with a larger cast of backup skaters and bigger production numbers and a larger stage would be grand for that.
There are seven muses on stage. Two - Epics and Tragedy - are evil, two are perky and two are played by guys, which *really works*. And two of the muses are the guys in the band.
About 35 people get to sit on stage - those seats are actually cheaper than the ones in the audience but you have to buy them at the theater. laughingirl wants to go back and sit on stage and do hand motions and I really want to go with her! Plus, the stage-audience gets cool glowsticks! Hurrah for souveniers!
The show is plotty, and weirdly enough, in the 90 minute, intermission-free show, the character of Sonny transitions from a bit of a dolt to a guy you're actually interested in - and the fact that it was the understudy in the role was just sweet. Cheyenne Jackson takes over the role next week, and I'm curious what he does with it. In other words, I wanna see it again!
There's also a lot of meta, and theater-jokes that ordinary theater buffs like me can appeciate, like the line about inspiration being hard to find after 1980, or the definition of "andrewlloydwebber" as (paraphrasing) something melodramatic and uninteresting. And there's jokes about jukebox musicals and taking mediocre films and turning them into stage musicals, and they're *funny*.
Seriously, I laughed a lot, the cast is uniformly wonderful (and great at speaking in unison) and the staging is spot-on for the show.
See it. Really. It's just plain fun.
And seeing it with friends makes it an even more amazing experience!
Oh! And I claimed Xanadu as my movie prompt in reel_spn and cathybites, who is so wonderful, is going to do art for it! Omg, when you guys see......
And yes, Kira did wear pink beribboned barettes in her hair! Revive the trend, people!