XANADU Review: American Theater Co. Chicago, May 27-July 31 2016 production
[XANADU is playing at the American Theater Co. at 1909 W. Byron in Chicago 60613 (close to the Addison Brown Line stop); 6 shows weekly through July 31st, with tickets available at ATCWeb.org.]
What a way to start a fabulous summer in Chicago! The American Theater Company’s production of XANADU is the most fun I’ve had at any show in years, probably since I saw Smokey Joe’s Cafe at the Royal George several seasons ago (and am still humming along to all the fun songs from that, too). Approaching 40, XANADU’s early ’80s nostalgia is for me what Smokey Joe’s 60s nostalgia was for Baby Boomers in the generation above me…a fun evening of songs I remember from childhood, tuned up and refreshed for the here and now in a show that transported me to someplace fun and carefree for 90 nonstop minutes (with no intermission!).
For those who don’t know, XANADU is a stage retelling of Olivia Newton-John’s 1980 feature-length music video for her album (you guessed it) XANADU. I’ve always thought this movie was the most genius thing that any record company ever did, better than Purple Rain for Prince, Captain EO for Michael Jackson, Vibes for Cyndi Lauper, or Who’s That Girl for Madonna. It doesn’t seem like Newton-John ever fancied herself as an actress or dreamed she would have a film career…and I don’t believe anyone who worked on the movie thought they were creating a cinematic masterpiece for the ages. They knew this was camp, not high-art, when they were making it and understood that not everything in life has to be excruciatingly serious high-art. They all wanted to sell copies of the XANADU album and make it a big hit, so the movie was an extended music video for that, playing in theaters a year before MTV hit cable…and whatever anyone thought was cool or neat to see on a movie screen, they just threw into XANADU (like they were grade-schoolers bedazzling an art project until they could not possibly bedazzle it anymore).
You won’t read many reviews of the XANADU stage production that don’t trash the 1980 movie because I think critics enjoy feeling smug and good about themselves for making fun of things (from a long time ago, for Millennial critics in particular). There seems to be peer pressure amongst these cynics that if they don’t trash the 1980 movie then they cannot feel superior to the people who either made or just enjoyed the 1980 movie. That attitude is prejudiced and misplaced here, because XANADU was a product of its time that plays like a time capsule from an era now lost. It’s as if it was written and produced by a focus group of cutting-edge 1980 trend-followers, who shoved whatever they thought was “hot” at the moment into one movie: leg-warmers, neon, feathered hair, roller skating, disco…XANADU has it all! That movie is a window back in time…to a moment at the end of the Carter Era, just before Reagan took office, when Americans were sick of the gloom and malaise and stagflation and aspired for something more carefree and optimistic (in a time that people now derisively view as being devoid of culture or art). The musical actually references this, with confusion amongst the muses about whether they are in Venice, Italy in the 1780s or Venice, California in the 1980s…and there’s groans about being in the “wrong” place.
I could argue on behalf of the 1980s being a particularly spectacular time to be alive (as I was there), but I’ll save that for another day. Those of us who were there know the truth…and those Millennials who weren’t there are just jealous. Because the ’80s were fun and campy and people did things without being glued to phones and electronic gadgets…and I am grateful every day that I remember what it was like to be part of that simpler world.
There’s a hilarious line in the stage production of XANADU that calls all of this ’80s campiness “children’s theater for 40-year-old gay people,” which is the most accurate description imaginable. And that’s a great thing because we have enough cynical, depressing, dystopian, dark, and gritty you-name-it clouding over us wherever we turn (especially in Chicago these days, with what plagues our news). Being transported to an optimistic place like a roller-disco about to open in 1980 is not a bad way to spend 90 minutes on a Friday night in Illinois.
I have seen the stage production of XANADU several times, once on Broadway with the original cast in 2008 and then twice at Water Tower in Chicago when a touring company came to town in 2009. While I enjoyed all of those, there is something special about American Theater Company’s production that makes this version of XANADU the best I’ve seen yet.
The set design is transportive, largely because the venue American Theater Company uses is an old repurposed building that must have been some kind of auto body shop or other commercial/industrial space once upon a time. Walking up to the theater at 1909 W. Byron, the building surprises you, with an unassuming blink-and-you-miss-it entrance that meshes well with XANADU’s plot (involving an old building on the brink of demolition being repurposed as a roller-disco). It’s all very meta, in the best possible way, and the setting of the theater feels like a character in the show. Stepping inside, I was greeted warmly by beautiful chalk drawing murals, kitschy props and decorations, bubble gum and vibrant jolly ranchers, and fun video screens playing facts about the XANADU film and stage versions. Did you know that “Xanadu” was the name of Chinese Emperor Kubla Khan’s summer palace? You’ll learn that and more while in the lobby waiting for the show to start.
I’ve never seen a show more perfectly cast than this production of XANADU. Hats (or leg-warmers) off to director Lili-Anne Brown for assembling a group of talented young Chicago actors who really made this show their own…and I think elevated it to a place more fun than the Broadway or Water Tower productions I’ve seen. On a much smaller budget than previous productions, costume designer Samantha C. Jones made spectacular choices that I feel surpass the Broadway stagings. Jones is the first XANADU costumer I’ve ever seen make the connection between Mount Olympus and Studio 54, the pinnacle of that late-70s/early-80s elite aesthetic. When the Clash of the Titans-style gods appear at the end of this production, they’re not wrapped up in togas but instead clad in vintage Halston, the goddesses looking set-ready for cameos on Dynasty and Zeus a hilarious amalgamation of Jimi Hendrix, Richard Roundtree, and Ruby Rhod (fresh from a trip to Fhloston Paradise in The Fifth Element). See what I did there, I rapid-fired a bunch of random pop culture references at you…just like XANADU does in its 90 minutes! If you are into this kind of thing, you will love this show.
A real standout in this production is Missy Aguilar and her interpretation of Calliope. It’s hard keeping all the Greek muses’ names straight, but Calliope is one of the two villainous muses (the other, Melpomene, is delightfully played by Karla L. Beard). Calliope (you pronounce that like the music-making contraption from the ragtime era) and Melpomene (I know of no easy way to pronounce this) may remind some audiences of the characters Pain and Panic from Disney’s Hercules cartoon (which is fitting, considering the shared mythological source material). They are slap-sticky, over-the-top, comedic relief that insert themselves to move the plot forward in between Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra musical numbers. In past productions, Calliope has been played as a brash redhead with glasses and a stereotypical Bronx/New York hamminess…reminiscent of Annie Potts’ secretary character in Ghostbusters.
Aguilar largely reinvents the Calliope role and makes it her own, bringing a Chicago-ness to the part that I loved. It was refreshing to finally see someone do something new with this part and play the role in an original and memorable way. This actress really hits a home run in what’s a supporting character and in many scenes steals the show (especially when literally chewing the scenery). She was so fun to watch and her banter and timing with Beard’s Melpomene make me wish the two would score a road trip buddy comedy of some kind. They are spectacularly entertaining villains…and both are more fun to watch than most people on sitcoms airing today.
Another standout was Aaron Holland as Danny Maguire/Zeus. Again, this was another example of this production of XANADU reinventing a role in a unique way that makes the show better than previous versions I’ve seen. Both as Maguire (the Gene Kelly role in the film) and as Zeus, Holland puts his own stamp on the character. This was the fourth time I’ve seen a stage version of XANADU but Holland and Aguilar really made everything seem fresh by taking their characters in a new direction (which worked better than the original versions).
The other muses, played by Kasey Alfonso, Hanah Rose Nardone, James Nedrud, and Daniel Spagnuolo are hilarious and engage the audience frequently as they zip around on roller skates. The stage is circular, with the audience seated around as if in an actual roller rink, which adds to the fun and magic of the evening. Alfonso is particularly funny with the winks and nods she makes to the audience and the fun expressions and reactions she gives her character, even while chomping on popcorn (a very fun and obscure inside-joke reference to the original 1980 movie). Nardone is enchanting and elegant on her skates and is a master at delivering one-liners. Nedrud and Spagnuolo switch effortlessly between hamming it up in drag as “sister muses” and then butching it up as rockers or California dudes as the plot requires. They even get to play a cyclops and a centaur at one point! The fun of a comedic production like XANADU is seeing the supporting cast race backstage, switch costumes, and pop back into the show as completely different characters (which is called cast-doubling, where one actor plays various roles in a show). A lot of the blink-and-you-miss-it in-jokes come from them and they make the production seem much larger with their versatility.
The leads in this production, Jim Deselm as Sonny Malone and Landree Fleming as Kira/Clio are strong…but I think constrained in some way and unable to put as much of their own unique stamp on these parts as the supporting cast was able to do. This is no slight against Deselm and Fleming, as they are both fantastic singers, but more a reflection on the parts they have to play. Since the stage production is a parody/spoof of the original movie, the character of Sonny Malone has to be a dumb-as-rocks (but with a heart of gold) Venice Beach dreamer and Kira/Clio must be a satire of Olivia Newton-John in her big film role. Fleming is saddled with having to do a bad Australian accent (on purpose) that mutates throughout the show into various other accents (also on purpose). I hope audience members get the joke and don’t think Fleming is really bad with accents (because part of the show’s humor comes from this running gag). I will just say this because no one else ever will, but some audiences who saw previous productions of XANADU didn’t understand the jokes like this (and frankly that is the audiences’ fault, not the actors). While you don’t have to know much about the movie this is all based on, going out to see live theater requires a little more smarts and paying attention than sitting in front of reality tee-vee at home while eating pudding. I’m sorry, but that’s true. XANADU is a show for people who can embrace camp and can pay attention enough to catch a lot of rapid-fire, witty pop culture references rooted in the 1980s (with nods even to Singin’ in the Rain and other classics…including literal classics, like the Greek myths).
While watching American Theater Company’s production of XANADU on its first preview night, I couldn’t help making a list of everyone I know who I want to bring down to see this show while it’s playing through July. My friend Megan Fox‘s two daughters (Ten and Seven) are going to be over the moon when I surprise them with a trip into the city from the suburbs to see this. They study Greek myths in school, they love the ’80s music that their mom and other Gen-Xers like me grew up with, and they are both just learning to roller skate. I can’t wait for them to see this show! I listened and watched closely during the production and saw nothing that I thought was inappropriate for kids seven and up. There were a few jokes with some innuendo that I think will go right over young heads…exactly like in the Disney Hercules cartoon, come to think of it. I also plan on seeing the show again on my actual 40th birthday this coming June, since the show references itself as actual children’s theater for 40-year-old-gay-people and all. How perfect is that?
I know a show is good when I walk out of a theater itching to tell everyone I know about it. For some reason, Chicago audiences have never seemed to get the jokes or understand the campy fun of XANADU the other times productions of this show have been mounted here. Going to XANADU is like going to see a screening of Mommie Dearest at the Music Box Theater with drag queens dressed up as Joan and Christina Crawford chasing each other around during the movie with Comet cleanser and wire hangers. It’s like heading out to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show or showtunes night in a gay bar and screaming alternate lyrics to the songs playing on the screen. It is a fun, campy night that you can sing along to and dance in your seat…so I think you might need to be a fun, campy person to really get the most out of the experience. You can’t be a grump. You have to actually want to have fun on your night out to see a show and want to go out for drinks afterwards and laugh and laugh and laugh with friends over what a great time you just had.
If you are anywhere near Chicago now through July 31st and you want a great night out with friends and family, I can’t think of anything better to recommend to you than Lili-Anne Brown’s production of XANADU at American Theater Company.
Production Details:
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music & Lyrics by Richard Damus & Mark Rubel
Directed by: Lili-Anne Brown
Music Direction: Aaron Benham
Choreography: Brigette Ditmars
Scenic Design by Arnel Sancianco
Scenic Painter CoCo Ree Lemery
Costume Design: Samantha C. Jones
CAST:
Calliope/Missy Aguilar
Erato/Kasey Alfonso
Melpomene/Karla L. Beard
Sonny/Jim Deselm
Kira/Landree Fleming
Danny Maguire/Aaron Holland
Euterpe/Hanah Rose Nardone
Terpsichore/James Nedrud
Thalia/Daniel Spagnuolo
© 2016, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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