I mean, for serious. What is up with that?
That got me reminiscing about Xanadu, of course. I haven't seen that movie since I was very small. I remember watching it on TV and being sort of boggled by it. Even back then, I was mildly unnerved by loud or high-pitched sounds, garish colors, and flashy special effects. The musical numbers, particularly the theme song number at the end with its Tron-tastic special effects, sort of creeped me out. Actually, I watched some YouTube videos of the musical numbers yesterday after I had the dream, and they still sort of creep me out. Oh man, at the end of the "Xanadu" number when the muses are beamed up to the awful, shrieking, echoing last note of the song, and the disco platform is revolving with that freaky star-shaped pattern on it--eek! And then they cut to the lunkheaded hero (who has the face of an overgrown frat boy) standing alone in the disco while "Magic" plays ominously in the background. ::shudder:: There's just something vaguely...wrong about it.
It's not even so-bad-it's-good, it's just bad. The 1940s-1980s swing/rock mashup was particularly headachey. Look, I love Art Deco more than is healthy, while the '80s...well, the less said about that Day-Glo aesthetic, the better. Smashing the two together was just a really bizarre idea. They simply do not go. One of the movie reviews I read yesterday put it best: "You can see the cocaine up on the screen."
Pretty much the entire soundtrack is the kind of gloppy '80s pop drivel that makes me reach for a baseball bat. Oh, and poor Gene Kelly! One of the screen's greatest musical performers, reduced to roller-skating and chanting, "XANADU!" Rumor has it he only agreed to do the movie because they were shooting near his house.
It was with bemusement that I read that Xanadu has been adapted into a Broadway musical. Apparently it's supposed to be more of a parody of the film. It's turned out to be insanely popular, for some reason. People are going back to see it like 10, 20, 50 times. Wow.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say about that. Remember, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE WE ARE MAGIC. NOTHING CAN STAND IN OUR WAAAAAAY.
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confused - Music:Oh, not even.
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This post amuses me.
I think we're of two totally opposite minds on musicals. I always get embarrassed at people randomly breaking into song onstage, and the actors seem hammy to me. (I know theatre actors have to "project" their performances, but it always embarrasses me for some reason.)
1) I first saw Xanadu in 2006 at a theater that shows a lot of cult movies, the NuArt. Behind me in line were two guys and this line was said, "We could have gone to (strip club), but oh no. We had to see Xanadu."
2) This past October, I went to see the Evil Dead 2 at the NuArt. The next night, I went to another town to take friends to see Xanadu at another theater. There as a speaker was the owner of the NuArt. I am pretty sure that we are the only two people in the world who saw Evil Dead 2 and Xanadue the next day in the theater ever.
3) At the above mentioned screening, there was for once dance number a shadow cast, including an original Xanadu dancer. That's right "Dancin'" was performed live. Some people sucked, but there was a very sparkly boy giving it his all which made us all very happy and excited to be there.
Oh, bonus: I wanted to buy Xanadu and checked eBay and got a three pack for $7.50 with Xanadu, Pretty In Pink, and Grease 2. It was the eBay sale just for me.
There is so much to love about Xanadu. SO MUCH.
BTW, that dancer must be in his or her 50s by now! It's impressive that they're still performing.
Edited at 2008-01-10 07:31 pm (UTC)
I hear the musical is very tongue in cheek. When the phrase "magical legwarmers" is bandied about, you know good times are ahead.
I have a joke that Pickering in My Fair Lady is really Zeus (as Wilfried Hyde-White played both) who just wanders about, getting lost. That's why the last you see of Pickering is him going off to talk to another friend.