Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynn and John Farrar
Based on the Universal Pictures film, Xanadu is the story of one of the daughters of Zeus, Clio, a muse and Sonny Malone, a self proclaimed “artist” living in Venice Beach, California. Clio and the other muses are summoned when Sonny is about to give up, ending his life because his street art is not good enough. Clio appears “disguised” as an Australian roller skater named Kira to convince Sonny not to give up on his dreams or his life. Clio’s older sisters Melpomene and Calliope, jealous that their father made their younger sister Clio the leader of the muses and promised to give her or take her to Xanadu (I’m still not sure which. The jury is still out on this myth.), curse Clio/Kira and Sonny into falling in love. The king of the gods forbids muses from falling in love with mortals, a crime punishable by banishment.
I am always amazed at the detail the Garden Theatre puts into their productions. The costumes, wigs, rollerskating and lighting were fascinating to watch during this show. The cast was made up of incredibly talented singers. Kudos to Jason Read, lighting designer, for making this rarely changing stage feel like multiple locations. Jason Whitehead gets a serious bravo for harmonies so tight, it was hard to believe their voices weren’t going through a Pro Tools session with Autotune.
Lead actress Brittney Santoro played Clio/Kira with a lovely singing voice but the constant wine of her speaking voice, especially while speaking with an Australian accent, was hard for me to get over.
Brett McMahon portrayed Sonny Malone. He had an impressive voice showing off incredible runs during “The Fall” and “Suspended in Time.” The fluid nature of his voice stood out even during numbers with the full ensemble.
I didn’t feel any sort of connection between the two actors. Having never seen the original 1980’s film or the stage show, I went into this blind. I felt I was at a disadvantage going in with no frame of reference. The show felt nostalgic, which means I would have to have had some idea of the movie. It is filled with cheap jokes and while the particularly funny Hanna McKinley Lemasters (Calliope) and Amy Sue Hardy (Melpomene), Brava for “Evil Woman”, continued to steal the show, I didn’t feel there was much show in the first place. I can tell that I was one of the few as the audiences continued to roar with laughter over the superficial humor. I understand the show is a farce but I felt a commitment to making the actors take the show more seriously would have made the story funnier. The actors would lean in to the humor too often which made the show feel forced throughout.
Thank you to the Garden Theatre for keeping theatre alive in our community. To the cast and crew of Xanadu, thank you for putting everything you have into this production. I look forward to the next show.
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