Xanadu (film)
musical - romance film
Info and Spoiler
Directed by Robert Greenwald
Produced
by Lawrence Gordon
Written by William Mastrosimone
Starring Olivia Newton-John
Gene
Kelly
Michael Beck
Music by John Farrar (songs)
Jeff Lynne (songs)
Barry
De Vorzon (score)
Distributed by Universal Studios
Release date(s) August
8, 1980
Running time 96 min.
Language English
Budget $20,000,000
A 1980 musical / romance film directed by Robert Greenwald. Xanadu stars Olivia Newton-John (fresh from her role in Grease), Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly, and features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, UK pop idol Cliff Richard, and the San Francisco-based art-rock band The Tubes. The film suffered a scathing critical reception and flopped at the box office, the soundtrack is admired and became popular, and the film has innovative design features.
Tagline: "A
fantasy. A musical. A place where dreams come true."
The other eight muses: Sandahl Bergman; Lynn Latham; Melinda Phelps; Cherise Bates; Juliette Marshall; Marilyn Tokuda; Yvette Van Voorhees; and Teri Beckerman
The Tubes: John 'Fee' Waybill; Rick Anderson; Michael Cotten; Prairie Prince; Bill Spooner; Roger Steen; Vince Welnick; and Re Styles
Other ensemble players included Melvin Jones as Big Al; Ira Newborn as a 40s Band Leader; Jo Ann Harris as a 40s Singer; Wilfrid Hyde-White as a Heavenly Voice; and Coral Browne as a Heavenly Voice.
Plot summary
Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) a talented
artist who dreams of fame beyond his job, which is painting larger versions of
album covers for record-store window advertisements. Sonny is broke and on the
verge of giving up his dream. Having quit his day job to try and make a living
as a freelance artist, but having failed to make any money at it, Sonny returns
to his old job at AirFlo Records. After some humorous run ins with imperious boss
and nemesis Simpson, he resumes painting record covers.
At work, Sonny is told to paint a album cover with a beautiful woman on it. This same woman collided with him earlier on that day, kissed him, then roller skated away, and Malone becomes obsessed with finding her. She finds him and identifies herself as Kira (Olivia Newton-John), but will tell him nothing else about herself. Unbeknownst to Sonny, Kira is one of nine mysterious and beautiful women who literally sprang to life from a local mural near the beach in town.
Sonny befriends a has-been big band orchestra leader named Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly). Danny lost his muse in the 1940s; Sonny has not yet found his muse. Kira encourages the two men to form a partnership and open a nightclub. She falls in love with Sonny, and this presents a problem because she is actually Terpsichore, the Muse of dance. The other women from the beginning of the movie are her sisters and goddesses, and the mural is actually a portal of sorts and their point of entry to Earth.
As it turns out, the Muses visit Earth often to help inspire others to pursue their dreams and desires. But in Kira's case, she had broken the rules, as she was only meant to inspire Sonny, but ended up falling in love with him as well. Her parents (presumably the Greek gods Zeus and Mnemosyne) recall her to the timeless realm of the gods. Sonny follows through the mural and professes his love for her.
A short debate between Sonny and Zeus occurs with Mnemosyne interceeding on Kira and Sonny's behalf. Kira then enters the discussion, saying that the emotions toward Sonny that she has experienced are new to her and asks if they could only have one more night together to let Sonny's dream of Xanadu becoming a success come true. But Zeus ultimately sends Sonny back to Earth. After Kira expresses her own feelings for Sonny in song Suspended In Time, Zeus and Mnemosyne agree to let her be with him for a time being.
In the finale of the movie, Kira and the Muses perform for a packed house for Xanadu's grand opening and they return to the realm of the gods in spectacular fashion. Sonny is understandably depressed thereafter, but that quickly changes when Danny has one of the waitresses bring Sonny a drink. The waitress appears to be none other than Kira; Sonny approaches her and says he would just like to talk to her...
Commercial performance
and cult following
The film was a box office flop, but the soundtrack was a
commercial success; it went platinum, with many hits for both Newton-John and
ELO, including the title track "Xanadu", "Magic" (four weeks
at 1 in the US), "Suddenly", and "I'm Alive".
Although the film was nominated for six Razzies at the first-ever Golden Raspberry Awards (winning one), it has endured to become a cult classic. At the time, the visuals were unusual and novel, as they portrayed "roller disco" with an emphasis on disco music and extensive choreographed roller skating sequences. Actor Michael Beck, who played Sonny, commented in a 2005 interview that people who have seen the film have responded to its "hopeful" theme. Writer Alonso Duralde included the film in his 2006 book "101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men".
2007 Broadway production
A $5 million Broadway musical adaptation
of the film is scheduled to open on June 26, 2007 at the Helen Hayes Theatre in
Manhattan with previews beginning on May 23, 2007, starring Kerry Butler as Kira,
James Carpinello as Sonny and Tony Roberts (actor) as Danny. Jackie Hoffman and
Mary Testa will co-star (in a new plot twist to the Broadway version) as "evil"
Muse sisters. The book is by Douglas Carter Beane, and Christopher Ashley directs.
All of the original hit songs from the motion picture soundtrack (by Jeff Lynne
and John Farrar) are being used in the musical comedy.
The Broadway score plans to include other ELO/ONJ hits like Evil Woman and Have You Never Been Mellow
A workshop production and backers' audition was held at the Minetta Lane Theater in January 2007. Readings of the stage version, were held April 21 and Aug. 3, 2006 at New World Stages in Manhattan. Eric Stern was musical director.
Trivia
This film is dancer Gene Kelly's last starring role in a motion picture.
(He had a minor appearance in the film Action U.S.A. nine years later.) Xanadu
features his last dance on film (among them "Whenever You're Away from Me").
In this film, Kelly is also shown on roller skates during a musical number, a
reference to a similar routine he performed in It's Always Fair Weather. His character's
name, Danny McGuire, is a reference to the nightclub-owning character he played
by that same name in the 1944 movie "Cover Girl," co-starring Rita Hayworth.
Another apparent reference to a Gene Kelly film was the dance sequence on
a soundstage. This sequence takes place between Michael Beck and Olivia Newton-John
and is set to the song "Suddenly". This parallelled and referenced a
similar scene between Gene Kelly & Debbie Reynolds (also taking place on a
soundstage) from "Singin In The Rain." That song was "You Were
Meant For Me"
The title of the film is a reference to the poem "Kubla
Khan, or A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which
is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province where Khan establishes
his pleasure garden in the poem.
The film was shot on location in Los Angeles
and its Venice Beach. Gene Kelly took the role of Danny McGuire because filming
was a short drive from his home in Beverly Hills, so he could be close to his
family. In his biography, he admitted that Xanadu was a bad film, but found Olivia
Newton-John a joy to work with. For her part, Newton-John has said she immensely
enjoyed working with Kelly as well, although she was initially intimidated by
the prospect of starring in a film with a legend like Kelly.
Xanadu contains
the first known appearance in the popular media of what later became known as
the "Flock of Seagulls haircut." The hairdo is sported by drummer Prairie
Prince of The Tubes during their performance of the song "Dancin'" in
the film.
The film contains a short animated sequence by former Disney animator
Don Bluth and his new animation studio. It is accompanied by the song "Don't
Walk Away" by Electric Light Orchestra.
Matt Lattanzi, who was to become
Olivia Newton-John's husband and father of her daughter Chloe Rose Lattanzi, played
the young flashback of Danny McGuire in the film scene just before Danny visualises
himself and Kira dancing together again years later.
The film owes its cult
status partly to audiences who were peculiarly touched by it as children during
its short theatrical run in 1980.
Sandahl Bergman, who starred opposite Arnold
Schwarzenegger in 1982's Conan the Barbarian, plays Muse 1. She also had a prominent
role in All That Jazz.
Olivia Newton-John promoted the film and the songs
on a 1980 episode of The Midnight Special hosted by Wolfman Jack. In the show,
Olivia (via trick photography) played all three Andrews Sisters-type singers in
a segment featuring the song "Dancin'" from the movie.
Xanadu is
one of three roller disco films released 1979–1980. The other two are Skatetown
USA. and Roller Boogie.
The exterior of Los Angeles' Pan Pacific Auditorium
was used in film for shots of the Xanadu nightclub. The art deco Streamline Moderne
building burned down in 1989, though a front spire section was saved and used
on the recent Pan-Pacific Park community building which now stands in its place.
In 2006, the film served as the inspiration for the video of Meck featuring
Leo Sayer's Dance hit "Thunder In My Heart." The track went to number
one in the UK Singles Chart that same year.
Quotes
"I certainly
wouldn't die of overexposure in Xanadu. Not enough people saw it. I don't regret
it or anything else I've done. ... I learned a lot and the music was successful.
I would've been upset if the music flopped."
—Olivia Newton-John
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