In terms of looking forward to see the Broadway musical "Xanadu," there were three things against it, as far as I was concerned.

One, I had a crush on Olivia Newton-John when I was a kid, and if the show made fun of her, as advanced word seemed to indicate it would, then I wouldn't be inclined to like it too much.

Two, it saddens me that we've turned to old rock n roll songs for our Broadway musicals instead of nurturing new Jerry Hermans and Frank Loessers and Steven Sondheims.

And three, I have weak ankles. Any kind of skating makes me nervous, even vicariously for other people, and I had heard that roller skates play a big part in this show.

"Xanadu" is a send-up both of the 1981 movie of the same name, starring Newton-John, and also of the era in which it took place. Kerry Butler, who was very good in the recent revival of "Little Shop of Horrors," plays Kira, a daughter of Zeus, who comes down to Earth to help out a young man, Sonny, with his half-baked entrepreneurial dream of opening a roller-disco.

As it turned out, I did enjoy "Xanadu"-but not without serious reservations. I still think there are lyricists and composers out there capable of writing new Broadway scores that can make fun of a particular era of popular songs and pay tribute to that era at the same time. And although Kira was really the only one on skates for any length of time, I didn't really understand why she had to wear them ALL the time. It would have been just as endearingly goofy without them. And my ankles wouldn't have hurt so much afterward.

Cheyenne Jackson, replacing James Carpinello who suffered a broken foot before the official opening, played Sonny when I saw the show, and he was fine, although overshadowed by the Greeks, particularly Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa as other goddesses. Tony Roberts has a dual role as Zeus and the owner of the building where Sonny wants to build his roller disco. Roberts is fine, too, though he seems to be straining a bit to keep up with the youthfulness of everyone else on stage.

The Helen Hayes Theatre, where "Xanadu" is playing, is the smallest house on Broadway, and it fits the show well. Like the theatre, "Xanadu" has a casual, intimate feel to it. Actually, that may end up working against it, particularly if tighter, more tuneful and more mature shows open up all around the Helen Hayes. But "Xanadu" has every right to give it a shot, even if the songs include "Evil Woman," ""Magic" and "Have You Never Been Mellow," all by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne, formerly with the Electric Light Orchestra.

The last Broadway musical about Greek gods and goddesses was "Olympus on my Mind," which was similarly small, intimate and silly, and I'm afraid it didn't last long, even without roller skates.

Learn more about this author, Joel Samberg.
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