‘Xanadu” may be the silliest idea for a Broadway musical in ages, but it is an inspired piece of campy fun that breezes through a fast-paced 90 minutes in a tour that stopped this week at Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
The musical, based on a flop 1980 movie musical that starred Olivia Newton-John, is about the efforts of a demi-god (or muse) to help an airheaded street artist realize his dream to open a roller disco, where all the arts come alive at night.
Playwright Douglas Carter Beane puts a clever twist on the story with lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes — even about the show itself.
And it is well-built around songs by Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, including “Suddenly,” “I’m Alive,” “Magic,” “All Over the World” and “Have You Never Been Mellow.”
By the end you’ll believe we are all magic.
As staged by Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, the show has a spirited and flamboyant style that prompts one of the muses to describe the musical as “a kiddie show for 40-year-old gay men.”
But the appeal is far broader than that.
Anika Larsen channels Newton-John and puts her own roller-skating spin on the role of Clio, who masquerades as an Australian named Kira to inspire Sonny Malone. Larsen glides across the stage in her roller skates with ease and sings in a dreamy, ethereal voice.
She is well-matched with strong-voiced Max von Essen as the California artist with a surfer dude’s tone, who laughs at jokes he doesn’t get but knows where his art and heart are.
The supporting cast is led by a vibrant Larry Marshall as Sonny’s business partner Danny, and Natasha Yvette Williams and Annie Golden as Clio’s cackling “evil woman” sisters. The cast also includes some fine tap dancing from Jesse Nager.
Bubbling under the surface of the frivolity is a wonderful message about the value and importance of creativity and the arts in making life worthwhile and leading us to our own personal version of paradise.
Florida Theatrical Association 
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