Xanadu! A place where nobody dared to go!

the guy who directed this much later directed all those lefty documentaries like "outfoxed". weird.

Cliff Richard and ONJ did this big, syrup-y ballad on the disc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcUVa2CWDnk

Makes me happy and sad at the same time.

I was surprised by all those songs in the super-long montage at the end that ONJ sings that didn't end up on the soundtrack, esp. the one where all the muses are in tiger-stripe pantsuits & there are a great many close-ups of wiggling Olivia Newton Buns.

The title track is a geeky miracle imo.

sdtrk>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>movie

Oh, yeah. Reasonable minds can disagree and all, but I can't imagine anyone prefers the movie.

Ned, as a fan of the movie, I don't recommend the musical. At all. They took everything that's charming and kitschy about the movie and ruined it with lowest-common-denominator attempts at humor. Ex: The muses act as a Greek chorus, spouting such hilarious lines as "Oh no she di'nt!"

Oh no they di'nt!

Eric, if you come to NY this year I will try to use my B'way connex to get us tix to Cheyenne Jackson in Finian's Rainbow.

hi dere

This thread seems to foreshadow the legendary FT April Fool's lawsuit without actually mentioning it.

OK, now that I know who's who I have to say sorry, dudes, but I won't be joining you but instead will be going across town to see whatever Kerry Butler is in.

Oh wait, that suit was a month BEFORE April Fool's. Freaky Trigger served with cease and desist order

That order.

In the end, it was Xanadu! that killed ILX.

http://www.vintagesnowdomes.com/themes/layout-1-both/images/kaneSnowGlobe.jpg

Can you use your connections to get me backstage?

You two better watch it, you're turning into the Sunshine Boys In The Band.

God. Dammit.

Sorry.

I don't think you appreciate the depths of my hatred toward that movie.

No, I don't. I've never even seen it. All I remember is the following bit of business from The Odd Couple. Felix is trying to teach Oscar some kind of Eastern European line-dancing steps, holds up his fingers, snaps them, moves his foot and says:

Felix: I saw it in Zorba The Greek.
Oscar: And I saw it in The Boys In The Band!

Haha, I meant The Sunshine Boys.

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2008/Sunshine2.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZEs1po--gk

so foxy around 0:20

I am listening to the Broadway Cast Recording of this and this 'Cheyenne Jackson' is no ONJ.
</3

Also defs did not need an "aren't we hilarious???" version of "Evil Woman," but I got one anyway.

the broadway musical is fun, in a 'this is an easy target we're slaughtering but still enjoy the ride' kinda way.

also Kerry Butler would be the ONJ emulator :).

haha OK it doesn't say on the CD here
the whole thing sounds like it was recorded by some glue-sniffing Muppets that dropped out of jr. high.

this 'Cheyenne Jackson' is no ONJ

in fairness, no-one is.

I saw a clip on of this on Youtube once and they whole time they were being so winky about "can you beliEVE we are doing XANADU??"– just disgusting. OTOH I like Xanadu for what it is, esp. the soundtrack! SO far this thing is making me, I would say, rationally angry.

Ok I know no one can be ONJ but this guy isn't even coming close to being Cliff Richard. I would think that's acheivable.

is cliff richard the andy gibb look-a-like from the movie?

iirc he's not in the movie but he does the vocals on "Suddenly" which plays when they're rollerskating around in the studio.

oh yeah!

love that song. something so charming and innocent about late 70s pop (in retrospect).

I saw the cast do Xanadu at last years Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and I was so mad at their winkyness and they just ruined it. I can't imagine how infuriating the cd must be if that's how they played out the whole show

'Suddenly' is the bomb

I bet the Broadway Xanadu was about the worst thing ever, Cheyenne Jackson's legs aside. (Admittedly, probably the sole reason 80 percent of the audience was coming.)

Just downloaded Xanadu, going to watch for the 1st time in many years, i hope i don't regret it because of this thread.

You will not regret it.

I think my dog died the same day as I watched it and I still don't regret it.

Nevermind – he died two days before (thanks ILX for datestamping these two major life events).

I was going to complain about the Broadway show, but apparently I already did that upthread. It really made me want to break things.

Abbott, I hope you can forgive Cheyenne Jackson by the time you get to the 30 Rock episodes where he's a regular.

Ok, I did a GIS for that guy and I like him on 30 Rock (I like everyone on 30 Rock). IMO he was the least offensive guy in the cast recoding, that or the guy presumably playing the Gene Kelly role.

Any track with muses getting all sassy (all those extra ELO songs I assume just padded out the show) were the worst, followed in badness by the fake-ONJ lady, whose voice I just didn't like. Everything else was acceptable. In fact maybe "Dancin'" was my favorite song in the cast recording, where it's my least favorite on the movie soundtrack.

It is a pretty fucking incredible/bonkers scene in the movie, tho.

unexpectedly helpful

Long-haired lead singer guy to alien beings: 'I've never heard computerized music before!'
Olivia Newton-John in the year 1970: 'ME NEITHER! WHAT'S IT LIKE!'

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/toomorrow_sci-fi_rock_film_starring_olivia_newton-john_1970_/

have you seen this?

Agony Booth did a full rundown of this the other year, sounds mindboggling:

http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Toomorrow_1970.aspx

just the 9 minute clip at the end of that post

it doesn't all take place in orbit, apparently, but the production values / visual design of the alien ship's control room are shockingly high for something I've never heard of

the dialog is even worse than the most mindless Sid and Marty Krofft show -- this looks like it's definitely worth knowing about

xpost ok that review has me wanting to leave work early

Vic (Vic Cooper). Pent-up British keyboard player. His homemade synthesizer’s wild beat may contain the key to universal happiness.

i'm down for discovering the key to universal happiness.