XANADU MAGICAL MUSIC EDITION an over blown review by Don-O

As this movie was firmly based on traditional musicals of the past, Xanadu always had it certain level of elegance and extravagance embedded underneath its tarnished surface. I was jazzed like any other Xanadu fan when it was announced that this movie will not just be re-issued, but it’ll come with a few bonus features. However, the realist side of my brain warned me, as with any official Xanadu news, about the odds of dashed expectations and it didn’t look good with this one. I kept hearing Rodney Dangerfield tugging on his red tie and repeating his famous mantra ‘No Respect!’ It only got worse when I got e-mails from a couple of interviewees in the new DVD documentary telling me that the company who was in charge of this DVD expressed frustrations with Universal over the limited budget. Seems they found tons of rare Xanadu material as the movie was heavily promoted, but the studio wasn’t interested in clearing the rights. According to Universal, the original 1999 Xanadu DVD didn’t sell enough to justify the financial effort.

After a curtain point, any good Xanadu fan gets used to the lack of consideration the general public, some of the movie’s participants and the movie’s copyright owner have towards Xanadu. Yup, life ain’t easy for a bad yet well loved movie. In this case, knowing that there’s more rare material out there may fill the fanboy’s heart with glee, BUT the harsh reality is that it’ll remain unreleased. Well, it makes you bite the bullet until the next go around or you’re forced to get dentures, which ever comes first. On the day of the new DVD release, I went to the local Best Buy…and they didn’t have it! I’ve gotten more obscure DVD titles like ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie’ here before and they have a large DVD selection, so this was some concern well as a small warning for me. I would later find out through the Only Olivia message board that even for those who lived in towns like Los Angeles faced the similar situation. Luckily, I wondered into the Borders next door and found a copy…on sale! The volume on Rodney’s rap was turned down for the moment. It seems obvious that the first thing I checked out when I got to my DVD player was the documentary, Going Back To Xanadu. This 30 minute original documentary managed to line up and talk to many of the movie’s surviving cast and crew: director Robert Greenwald, choreographers Kenny Ortega & Jerry Trent, animator Don Bluth, producer Lawrence “Larry” Gordon, costume designer Bobbie Mannix, Fee Waybill & Michael Cotton from The Tubes, muses Sandahl Bergman & Marilyn Tokuda, original writer Marc Rubel, screenwriter Richard Danus, many surviving Xanadu Dancers, Gene Kelly’s widow Patricia Kelly and fans Ken Anderson and Heather Hoban. Sadly, going MIA in this production was the two song writers, Joel Silver, Michael Beck and the lady who’s face is plastered all over this package, Olivia herself. Even though this original production is on the skimpy budget side (not even for a title card!?!? Geezz, come on, guys!!), the information provided will make hearts of fans flutter, even the casually interested might find it entertaining…possibly more than the movie itself (I see Xanadu 2: Unmaking Of A Musical in development horizon already!).

LEFT & RIGHT: a couple of excerpts from the photo gallery

Thankfully, one of the biggest mysteries of Xanadu is settled: What Happened?! A steady time frame of the film’s origins is presented, where Xanadu goes down the yellow brick development road from a innocent comedy script idea based on Rubel’s Venice Beach friends to a “no budget, no star roller disco” and quickly shirts to a more broader traditional fare, thanks to the sudden signings of ONJ and Kelly…all in such a short period of time. As Ortega put it: “I went to bed thinking I was doing a roller skating disco movie and woke up with the biggest star in music and suddenly the icon of motion picture musicals and truly going….’I don’t know how to do this.’ While the crew was sweating it out, there was a small sub-culture of dancers bubbling on the movie’s set; stories like Ortega’s working relationship with Kelly and jugglers miscues are charming. Even Ms. Kelly offered a few surprises herself, like the ‘Whatever’ number was filmed after the movie officially wrapped and revealed more about the Fiorucci store where the ‘All Over The World’ world was filmed; it was in the first movie theater in Beverly Hills. Even though this documentary was fun and educational, still, that lack of…hmm, I don’t know, effort on the studios part was a little irritating; not only where they’re no title card, but they relied on cheap BGM instead of the actual music from the movie…HELLLOOOO! This is a musical, ya cheap bastards….you forgot something!!!! Guess they didn’t feel like affording the connection here.

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