I didn’t know how badly I needed to laugh until I caught the sneak preview performance of Reno Little Theater’s new Artown show, Xanadu, the stage musical comedy based on the campy box-office bomb of a film from 1980. But I definitely did, and this show was my remedy.
First, did you see the movie? Don’t bother. Noted critic Roger Ebert called it “a mushy and limp musical fantasy, so insubstantial it keeps evaporating before our eyes.” It was widely panned and only just managed to eek out enough money to make back the $20 million it cost to make, yet its soundtrack and ’80s-time-capsule content eventually gave it so-bad-it’s-good cult status.
Fortunately, seeing it is totally unnecessary for appreciating the stage production, which was written by Douglas Carter Beane in the early 2000s and contains considerable parody references not only to the film, but also to 1981’s Clash of the Titans and some good ol’ Greek mythology to boot. The show hit Broadway in 2007, earning Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards, a Tony nomination and a substantial stage run. And it’s all well-deserved…