Xanadu to open on Broadway in May 2007

Variety has reported that a musical spoof of the mega-flop musical movie, Xanadu, is to open on Broadway in May 2007, at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Final dates have still to be confirmed.

The movie musical Xanadu was released in 1980, and starred Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly, and was directed by Robert Greenwald.

The movie failed at the box office, and went on to be nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Michael Beck), Worst Actress (Newton-John), Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song and went on to 'win' the Worst Director Award (Robert Greenwald). In 2005 the Golden Raspbery nominated Xanadu in their worst musical-movie of the last 25 years.
The Golden Raspberry Awards or Razzies were created by John Wilson in 1980, intended to complement the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer.

In Xanadu, the Greek muses incarnate themselves on Earth to inspire men to achieve. One of them, incarnated as a girl named Kira, encounters an artist named Sonny Malone.

The book for the musical is written by Douglas Carter Beane, based on the screenplay by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel.

No cast has been announced for Xanadu, but it is expected that the show will star Jane Krakowski as Kira and Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny Malone, - both actors featured in these roles in a reading/workshop of the musical in Manhattan on the 3 Aug 2006.

Through the movie failed badly at the box-office, the film's soundtrack, with music by Olivia Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, UK pop idol Cliff Richard, and the San Francisco-based art-rock band The Tubes, went plantinum.

Considering the Soundtrack's success, it is expected that the Broadway musical will feature many of the film's songs, with extra material provided by the Electic Light Orchestra. Eric Stern is the shows musical director.

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