Theater News

Xanadu to Bow on Broadway in May

Douglas Carter Beane
Douglas Carter Beane

The musical Xanadu, based on the 1980 film, will come to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater in May, according to published reports. No dates have been set, nor has any casting yet been announced.

The show will be directed by Christopher Ashley, who is currently represented Off-Broadway by Regrets Only. The script is by Douglas Carter Beane, author of such plays as The Little Dog Laughed and As Bees in Honey Drown.

The score will incorporate music from the film, which was written by John Farrar and Jeff Lynne, who was a member of the Electric Light Orchestra. Two of the movie’s songs, Magic and Suddenly, were Top 40 hits.

The movie Xanadu was directed by Robert Greenwald and stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly. It focuses on a mysterious woman named Kira who inspires an artist named Sonny and a former bandleader to build a big roller disco. A recent workshop of the musical starred Jane Krakowski as Kira and Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny.