Thanks to the growth of what's being referred to as the 'small press culture' (or 'zine revolution' as it has been tagged by the mainstream) and the internet, more writers and artists have honestly expressed their interest in Xanadu. In fact, this web site as a whole can be easily viewed as an example unto itself-for better or worse. (#7)
Even mainstream publications are warming up to Xanadu. The March 10th, 2000 edition of Entertainment Weekly noted in a short write-up, "(U)nlike other early-80's attempts to reinvigorate musical (e.g., like Popeye), Xanadu actually has humible tunes (the title make for a killer karaoke) and a refreshing naive sincerity that can't be duplicated in this post-ironic age."
There was another front that not even the realm of the mainstream, small press nor the internet couldn't predict nor provide. This one would probably be filed under role-playing but in a more elaborate and engaging scheme.
Dorsen's adaptation and direction for Xanadu meant a certain amount of adjustments had to be made like editing out pieces (like the animated 'Don't Walk Away' scene), the decision to have the cast to lip-sync rather than sing and a fabric design of a fabric mural so the stage Sonny can skate right into without hurting himself. Giving the production a slight surreal quality, the actors weren't playing the characters, they were playing the original Xanadu actors playing the characters. Billings such as "Cheryl Lynn Bowers as Olivia Newton-John as Kira" were the norm here. Even the muses had a more active role in this version as stage hands changing props between scenes.
'Xanadu Live!' was planned to be a one-time performance, and it would have stayed that way if it weren't for a couple of audience members, Amy Pietz (who's acting résumé included 'Caroline In The City' and, currently, 'Rodney') and her husband and fellow actor Kenneth Alan Williams.
The performance on that night went down very well. "I really had one of the best audience experiences in theatre that I ever had," Amy said of that night's performance to Broadway to Vegas.com, "It was so joyful. It was the antithesis of New York and Los Angeles theatre in that it took itself seriously - not."
Being a small fan of both Olivia and Xanadu as well a desire to be producers, they brought the script, it's director and the original 'ONJ/Kira' actress (Cheryl Lynn Bowers) to the 99-seat Glascon Theater in Culver City, CA for a scheduled one month run.
After setting up a small office in Burbank and a web site, the group, now known as XL! Productions, announced a casting call for dancers for the XL! west coast bow in Casting West magazine. This small ad suddenly got a huge response, and not just from perspective dancers. Some fans got wind of the production and began to wildly circulate the ad through various Xanadu-related web sites (The Xanadu Preservation Society and Only Olivia being the major ones). One fan even made plans for an unofficial XL! fan-site.
"We received e-mails from fans all over the world," added Amy. 'There are people in San Francisco, D. C., and Vegas who want to produce this show. It dose have a huge following, although the following is underground. And, those underground fans are waving to surface. They are very happy that we are giving them the opportunity to surface."
Also planned was that this production would also serve as a fundraiser for The American Cancer Society (Olivia is a breast cancer survivor) and Broadway Cares. There was also a matter of who had rights over the script for public performance. Thanks to the records from the Writers Guild Of America, they managed to find one of the original Xanadu screenwriters, Marc Reid Ruble. He gave the XL! folks his permission provided that his name wouldn't be used for the stage production credits.
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