Xanadu It!!
Okay, I promise that this will be the last blog entry that I dedicate to the surprise (but deservingly so) Broadway hit, Xanadu in the next little while. Promise!
I returned about a week ago with The Traveling Companion from our pilgrimage to Manhattan. What a splendid time it was. I managed to score some great shoes—not to mention sexy underwear—at my favorite department store, Century 21 (located across the street from Ground Zero). We soaked up a great deal of culture from our visits to the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Museum of Modern Art; and an equally great deal of gay culture (and alcohol) at the bars/clubs XES, g., and Splash. We even managed to squeeze in a celebrity sighting in Central Park when Chris Noth (“Big” of Sex and the City) jogged by in blue sweatpants and a faded red t-shirt. (And I have to say with his short hair and more than a hint of salt and pepper color to it, he looked GOOD.)
But the highlight for me was seeing Xanadu on Broadway. Right from the opening production number (“I’m Alive”) when the Muses “magically” appear from within a chalk mural drawing of them, to the finale, Xanadu is a captivating piece of musical theater. And talk about funny. Damn, what a great job the talented Douglas Carter Bean did on the musical’s book. And it’s clear that the entire cast (which includes Kerry Butler, the studly Cheyenne Jackson, Jackie Hoffman, Mary Testa and Tony Roberts) is having as much fun in their roles as the audience is having in their seats.
I remember seeing a clip where a “fanadu” claimed to have already seen the play 24 times (or something like that) and thinking to myself, “what a nutcase”. But when the end of the play arrived after a fast-moving hour and a half, I found myself turning to the Traveling Companion and saying, “Oh my god, I could totally see this again.”
Needless to say, I’m already contemplating when next I can return to NYC…
Cheers!
S.R.
