Las Positas musical “Xanadu” is sold out completely–for good reason.
This is a sign to skate on down to “Xanadu.”`
“Xanadu,” the latest musical at Las Positas College, was a fantabulous, bodacious hit at its final dress rehearsal show on March 16. It was a success in set, costume, actor and story, despite a few important oversights.
The most impressive part, though? Klio, the female lead played by Madi Charles, performed almost entirely on rollerskates, belting difficult notes while balancing and spinning gracefully on wheels.
The jukebox musical comedy brings Greek mythology to the ‘80s in a strange but electric fusion, cataloging songs from Electric Light Orchestra and Newton John. From March 17-26, “Xanadu” will be performed for a short but memorable time.
Unfortunately, unless you have a time machine, the musical is completely sold out. It was even allotted extra time slots for additional performances, but those also sold out. Thus, all unlucky individuals should be on the lookout for more additional time slots.
“Xanadu” follows the story of Sonny Malone, a bleach blonde surfer-archetype LA artist, who’s lost passion for his work and Clio, or Kira, a Greek muse intent on restoring his desire to create, while parading as an Australian with leg warmers juxtaposing her more ancient Greek tunic. If this sounds crazy already, don’t worry. It gets weirder.
Sonny’s goal is to recreate an old theater in Venice into a roller rink. Hence, the musical’s intent on having its stars perform almost entirely on rollerskates.
Adapting the roles of Sonny and Kira are Miles Vetrocec and Madi Charles. Charles, in particular, has the difficult task of living up to Broadway and movie star Olivia Newton John, who originally played Kira and is most well-known for her Sandy in “Grease” the musical.
Despite the large shoes to fill, Charles performed her scenes exceedingly well, especially with her inspirational and harmonious voice.
All of the actors similarly shared a pleasing tune, but the leading actor was specifically note-worthy.
Kaila Bimemiller played Melpomene–the tragedy Muse–along with a convincing Medusa, Erika Coyne played Calliope–an epic Muse–along with Aphrodite and Danny Gergiev played Danny Maguire and Zues, just to name a few. Bimemiller utilized active motion and expression even when the scene wasn’t necessarily focused on them and Coyne convincingly played multiple characters throughout the musical changing expression and tone between a leading antagonistic role and an ally to the lead protagonists.
All of the actors in Las Positas’ “Xanadu” are very convincing and professional with a clear passion for their roles and performances. Many characters were even tasked with speaking in unison in large numbers.
The choreography throughout the musical was perfectly executed with great utilization of space, especially in such a small set. The second floor allowed for more characters to be on stage. Time and action were used to perform grandeur movements in unison, in parallel to how they sometimes spoke at once.
Dance was eloquently fused with roller skate motions and flow. The few actors utilizing the skates seemed to be experienced using backwards movements.
Dyan McBride directed “Xanadu” as one of the most expensive Las Positas performances to date. This production money shone through in the cast’s costumes, light rigging, stage props and set design.
“Xanadu” boasts a very intricate and aesthetic set, full of style and surprises that pop. The stage has a mounted confetti cannon that might cause a jump to the unsuspecting viewer. Fog machines set the tone and allow for the large sum of lights to create a glowing aura around the stage. Colors and symbols, such as a heart, were used by the lighting systems to convey emotions and feelings.
The stage designer utilized backlighting and transparent canvas to portray the god’s descent from Sonny’s mural and characters seemed to pop straight out of the walls when they emerged, utilizing a staggered framing.
The telephone booth featured dial tones that were very audible, amongst many other sound queues, allowing the audience to feel immersed in the set. Zeus’ lighting was another example that aided the tone and the grandeur of such a powerful god.
Sonny learns how to use a phone book, March 16, 2023, Las Positas College, Livermore, CA. The telephone is exaggerated with tone dialing sounds. (Photo credit: Landon Jansen/The Express).The costumes all fit extremely well into the musical thematically and comically, building more immersion into the stage world. Characters had multiple layers of clothing with matching color schemes to blend together several outfits. Thus, many characters–such as the Greek demigods– fit into both themes of Greek mythology and ‘80s roller disco simultaneously.
Despite the challenge of including mythological creatures, they were extremely well designed without any unintentional uncanny feelings. “Xanadu” featured a cyclops, centaur and even Medusa.
“Xanadu” even boasts an on-set costume transition executed perfectly by Gergiev, playing Danny Maguire, to incline the audience towards a flashback to a time 40 years earlier in the story. The costume change fits with the time period and allows for the audience to better follow the transition.
The story featured a quick pace that was easy to follow and understand with clear transitions. The sets were changed by actors and stage help very quickly and lights helped act as a “curtain.”
The fourth wall was broken in multiple scenes, but these scenes were entertaining and limited enough to not be overbearing. Contemporary phrases and jokes were used in a similar manner.
Along with stage casting–lights and sound queues–the story was designed to be very easy to follow even by a first time viewer of “Xanadu.”
Conversely, “Xanadu” had a few shortcomings when considering the main idea of the musical is a love story roller disco.
Only a select few characters actually ditched the heels for roller skates. Sonny and Kira are the only notable stage time characters rolling around. For a roller disco, there was an apparent lack of roller skating.
Furthermore, the stage design missed a very apparent opportunity to include luminescent glow with the ‘80s arcade design on the main backwall. A glowing paint selection would have complimented the lights already being used to illuminate the small position indicators on the floor.
Despite the addition of floor indicators, there was also a small problem with actor spacing in some scenes. Large imbalances in the scenes are much more noticeable on camera.
Unfortunately, the love story between Clio and Sonny was not believable due to the quick pace of their relationship’s development, which was constrained by the show’s 90-minute runtime. These characters were supposed to be portrayed as star-crossed lovers, not crushing teens.
The romantic scenes seemed a bit awkward and uncomfortable at times, despite what they said about love.
The main focus of the musical seemed to be the comedic and musical aspects rather than the love story.
Despite these shortcomings, “Xanadu” was very excellently staged, directed and performed, setting high standards for the theater’s next performance “Footloose” in the summer.
Buy tickets for LPC shows at https://www.showtix4u.com/events/LPCArts.
