Always-fun ‘Xanadu’ lands in Littleton

Town Hall Arts Center kicks off season 40 with campy, spectacle-driven escapism

Ah Xanadu! This charming and funny musical is based on the 1980 movie directed by Gene Kelley and is, unfortunately, timely due to the recent pasing of the film’s star, Olivia Newton-John. Panned upon release, Xanadu has been cited as one of the films, along with Can’t Stop the Music, that caused John J.B. Wilson to create the Golden Raspberry (or Razzie) Awards. Despite the film’s poor initial reception, over time the film has developed a cult audience and was chosen to be adapted into a Broadway musical. Despite hesitation from many in the entertainment business (including the film’s original screenwriter!), the musical opened on Broadway in 2007 to positive critical reception, ran for 513 performances, and was nominated for four Tony Awards.

Xanadu is a favorite amongst Colorado theatres; in fact, this isn’t even the only production of this show that occurred in Colorado this year (Karen Mason, wrote about Lake Dillon Theatre’s production of Xanadu for OnStage Colorado last month). With all these iterations of Xanadu, you might be wondering what there is left to XanaDO with this musical. While director Nick Sugar can’t do much to elevate the show’s flimsy story, he delivers on something much more important: damn good musical theatre entertainment.

Xanadu features a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farra. The musical follows Sonny (Jake Bell), a depressed street artist living in 1980s Los Angeles. Clio (Anastasia Koshevaya), the youngest of the Muses, overhears Sonny’s angst all the way from Mount Olympus. So, Clio decides to ditch Olympus and to head to L.A. to help Sonny realize his potential as an artist. But, to ensure her identity as a Muse isn’t discovered, Clio changes her name to Kira and dons roller-skates, legwarmers, and an over-the-top Australian accent. Along the way, romance blossoms, Clio’s sisters’ scheme, and more than one mythical creature appears onstage before the show’s energetic, disco, rolling-skating finale.

Sugar, who’s helmed this one before, serves as both the director and choreographer and, while he knocks it out of the park with the show’s choreography, he has some trouble with the show’s transitions and dialogue scenes. Sugar often gives the actors static blocking and seems to speed the actors through the scenes as quickly as he can to get to the show’s musical numbers. Xanadu’s book doesn’t do a lot of favors for Sugar as it’s heavy on meta-jokes but light on substance. Luckily, there are more fabulous musical moments written into the script than there are dialogue scenes.

Sugar whips his actors from one complicated piece of choreography to another and creates a myriad of beautiful stage pictures as he does it. Brett Maughan’s ’80s rock-concert-inspired lighting design helps Sugar and music director Donna Debreceni sell the spectacle of each song. Highlights include: a rendition of “Evil Woman” featuring the spirited performances of the show’s scene-stealing comedic duo, Melpomene (Annie Dwyer) and Calliope (Jamie Molina), and the ensemble performing a fan dance as the mythical Sirens; “Whenever You’re Away From Me,” which is envisioned as an elegant, tap-dancing flashback that is both impressive and moving; “Fool,” which features Clio fiercely telling Sonny off with the help of her Muse sisters as backup dances; and, of course, the musical’s title number, “Xanadu,” which had the audience clapping along as almost the entire cast discoed on roller skates in a show finale.

Along with assisting the cast with the show’s skating, Town Hall’s community partner, Skate City Littleton, also donated complimentary skating passes that ushers passed out to the crowd. This allows audience members to watch the actors skate onstage and then skate over for some free time on Skate City’s roller rink, where you can try out the moves you saw the actors perform onstage. (Good luck with that!)

Photo: Gail Bransteitter

Set designer Douglas Clarke treats the audience to a layered set that blends classic Greek architecture with a colorful brick wall, a roller-rink centerstage, and five disco balls — because they couldn’t settle for just one, now could they? Clarke’s set nestles the four-piece band in view of the audience on stage right. This allows audience members to – if you can pull your attention away from Sugar’s impressive choreography – watch the band as they rock out to the show’s ’80s tunes under the skilled direction of Debreceni. I won’t spoil the set changes in my review, but I will say the transitions elicited cheers from my audience when they occurred and added to an already impressive set.

This is a show designed for the cast to chew the scenery, and, rest assured, this cast came hungry. Anastasia Koshevaya and Jake Bell star as Clio and Sonny. Both are talented singer and deliver strong leading performances. Koshevaya occasionally struggles to make the multiple accents she is asked to perform (on skates, no less!) audible, but her sincerity and commitment to the material help even when her diction is difficult to understand. Scott McLean, who plays Danny, a 60-year-old artist turned landlord, has great dry delivery and executes the show’s most emotionally effective moment through his monologue to Clio in Act 2 about his lost love and previous mistakes. Dwyer and Molina are wickedly hilarious as the show’s villains, Melpomene and Calliope. The pair have excellent chemistry and find humor in every line, gesture, and eyebrow raise possible. Together, they provide the show’s campiest moments.

Anastasia Koshevaya and Jake Bell | Photo: Gail Marie Bransteitter

For those driving into Littleton to attend the production, leave yourself plenty of time to find parking. Town Hall Arts Center is located in Downtown Littleton, and – while it is a super cute downtown – there is limited parking (as I was pressed for time, I resorted to paying $5 to park in the Reinke Brothers’ parking lot, a year-round Halloween store located in the heart of downtown; it is about a two-minute walk to the theatre). You wouldn’t want to find yourself in a position where you miss the show’s opening due to parking.

Xanadu means “to love and create art.” Love is clearly at the forefront of this art, and that feeling is infectious. If you are looking for a campy, fun musical that serves as cheery escapism in an ever-polarized world, then consider escaping to Xanadu!