Alan Souza
On August 8, 1980, the world was blessed with a musical fantasy film that flopped at the box office but became a ‘so bad it’s good’ cult film with a devoted following. The film wasn’t helped by the leaden acting of its lead Michael Beck (who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but on that film set), but was buoyed by his leading lady Olivia Newton-John, what would become the last acting role of the legendary Gene Kelly (he would appear as himself hosting segment for the That’s Entertainment movies) and a soundtrack album that was better than the movie and has gone on to become a classic with an A-side consisting of songs by Olivia and a B-side with songs by Electric Light Orchestra, with the final number including both ONJ and ELO singing the title song (Cliff Richard and The Tubes were also featured). That movie is Xanadu. One of the guiltiest movie pleasures of the 1980s. (It’s even said to have inspired the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards.) The story combined classic 1940s fantasy with 1950s and 1970s and ’80s musicals, with a bit of Greek mythology thrown into the mix (ONJ’s character is one of the Muse’s come to Earth to help a struggling artist), but it just didn’t click with audiences.
Surprisingly, or not, a Broadway musical based on the movie opened in 2007 and ran for more than 500 performances, earning an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Best Book. It was also nominated for the Tony Award in both of those categories plus Best Actress in a Musical and Best Choreography. Unsurprisingly, the show’s writer, Douglas Carter Bean, didn’t think the movie’s script was good enough to be adapted, so his version is influenced by the movie with a lot of parody references, but also includes more Greek mythology (as well as borrowing some plot points from 1981’s fantasy flick, Clash of the Titans). The musical starred Kerry Butler, James Carpinello, Tony Roberts, Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman. Unfortunately, Carpinella injured his foot rollerskating during a rehearsal and up-and-coming actor Cheyenne Jackson was selected to replace him in the lead role of Sonny, scoring both Drama League and Drama Desk nominations for the role.
After the show closed on September 28, 2008, a short tour was launched at the La Jolla Playhouse on November 11, 2008, with the production moving to Chicago in January 2009 until March 29, when it then moved to Japan for a month. A new national tour launched in December 2009. Now, ten years later a brand new national tour is ready to take the country by storm under the direction of Alaz Souza, whose work includes productions of Camelot, My Fair Lady, Beauty & the Beast, The Full Monty, Rent, Oliver! and Damn Yankees, to name a few. And the production hopes to bring in a whole new set of fans with the casting of RuPaul’s Drag Race favorites Jinkx Monsoon and Ginger Minj. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Souza by phone about the upcoming tour, and he is obviously full of anticipation to get this show on the road and in front of audiences.
The following is a condensed version of the phone interview, edited for clarity and space.
— CD:How did the tour come about?
★ AS: The Broadway musical was made about ten years ago. I thought the show was funny, it was tongue-in-cheek, and the actors were skilled at that kind of satire. It was a good time. This version is adapted by the same writer but reduced from nine actors on Broadway to five for the tour and four musicians with several of them playing multiple roles. It’s a bit more screwball. It was fun to read the script again, the writer is a master comedian and structure and it’s written like an old-fashioned musical, but it runs alongside the movie for the fans. The writer saw the show originally as a mocking of classical Greek theatre, and that played to the preview audiences, but once it opened it became ‘movie movie movie’ for those audiences. There are a couple of moments that are a direct homage to the movie, but he thinks of it as its own play. And when the director receives a script, no matter how many times it’s been done before, he looks at it like he’s seeing it for the first time, trying to erase all that came before from his head and look at what it is and why it’s funny.
When I was talking to the producer, I brought the idea of casting Jinkx Monsoon and Ginger Minj, and he said, “Do you know them,” and I said no, but I’ve seen Drag Race, usually in hotel rooms late at night and at bars because I don’t have a television in New York, and I think it’s funny. But I’ve seen their individual shows because both of them have been brought to my attention. Some colleagues suggested I see Jinkx’s show The Vaudevillians because I’d appreciate how smart and how funny she is, how well constructed the show is and she can really sing. And I’ve seen Jinkx Monsoon Sings Everything, which was hilarious, and I saw her show at Joe’s Pub, which was terrific. And Ginger, the same thing. A colleague said, “You should think of a project for Ginger Minj,” because she’s theatre-trained, and I saw the show and got it.
So I talked to Ginger and Jinkx individually, and first I asked if they liked each other, which made them both laugh and they said yes and thank you for asking, because that could go terribly wrong. I told them I was charged with mounting a new production of Xanadu and thought it would be fascinating to have them as part of a company of actors, as part of a play, and then lean toward their individual talents. Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa originated the roles on Broadway and stole the show. The parts are written for character women, but at the same time my goal is to always make a story. So that’s what’s different to me, to make this about the play and the story and not just doing the things they do, and they both responded very positively. They had both intended to be actors on stage and segued into drag and the two have kind of melded into where they are today. Jinkx was intrigued because I wasn’t asking them to be a novelty act, I’m asking for their breadth of talent. She has the skills to keep the audience right in the palm of her hand. They’re both very different but I’ve been very impressed with how they attend to the audience, attend to the dialogue, attend to the lyrics. We’re way past what a drag queen is.
I remember drag queens before they started lip-syncing, when they would talk to the audience, before it became trendy to do the lip-syncing. I know Peppermint was on Broadway in Head Over Heels and they made a big deal about being the first transgender person on Broadway but that’s about all I heard about Peppermint. I didn’t know anything about the talent or the performance. Here I think it’s very clear as to why it’s Jinkx and why it’s Ginger in the roles they’re in and how they can add to the story. It’s supposed to be funny. This musical is supposed to be a feel-good time. There is a play happening and the story happens to the characters of Kira and Sonny, but when people would ask who was playing Kira I’d say “who cares?” And the prodcuers would say “stop saying that!” I was just saying it to be funny and of course I do care because she’s great (Rachelle Rose Clark), but Jinkx and Ginger do need to be part of the fabric and I think that’s exciting to them. It gives people the chance to see the talent of the individual and then see drag as a piece of that. I’ve spoken to both Jinkx and Ginger about other projects I have ideas for and they told me their ideas which I found really interesting. What I find is really exciting is we’re redefining drag, we’re redefining drag queen, redefining impersonation, redefining gender at this moment in a way that opens doors to opportunities.
They are going to be hilarious. They’re funny when they just talk. I’m working with them as actors, and I told them when the deal was done and we start rehearsals on day one, they are just actors in a play. I don’t think of who they are as personas, or who they are as celebrities, or who they are as drag queens — even though they are in drag playing these female characters — but to me they are actors playing roles. It’s going to allow their talents to come forward and do it in a new light, and I hope that’s thrilling for their fans. I’ve been fascinated to hear people talk about the Xanadu tour all summer, and I just chuckle.
— CD:When I got the announcement about the show coming to town I told some friends who I know are Drag Race fans and they were flipping out. Everyone is totally excited.
★ AS: The two of them are beloved. Anyone you mention them to they just love them. I saw Ginger the day before World Pride Day in New York and it was a boiling hot, sticky day, and she was taking pictures with fans and I walked over to her and said, ‘Learn your lines!’ She said she wasn’t working, she was just there for Pride but got roped into something, and then I felt a raindrop and she said, ‘If it starts raining, the illusion is lost.’ But people were just lined up down the street for a photo with her. How nice to be so beloved.
— CD:Now the tour has not started yet, right?
★ AS: No, the cast is just about to start skate camp. Jinkx got a head start with the choreographer because she was going to join the rehearsals later as she was still appearing in Provincetown, but she’s been picking things up and can already skate backwards and do turns. Mary and Jackie didn’t skate in the Broadway production, just Kira and Sonny and the ensemble, so in this production all five of them will skate. And when I saw Ginger’s show one time, she was on rollerskates. She did the number ‘Xanadu’. I told her I had seen her roller skate and she said, “No, you saw me on rollerskates.” I said then to get ready. We have knee pads and pillows, and she looked at me like she was going to kill me. But she will be rollerskating in Baltimore on September 29. I’m sure of it, in some capacity. Kira is basically on skates for the entire show, and Sonny skates, and everybody else skates in the big finale which will be fun.
— CD:I know the characters played by Jinkx and Ginger are not in the movie, but I read the writer took some elements from Clash of the Titans to incorporate them into the show.
★ AS: He did indeed. I can’t ruin it but it ultimately does funnel into the clash of the titans which is really amusing, and high brow and funny.
— CD:So is all of the music from the movie in the show?
★ AS: Most of the music is in the show with some additional music from the period, and then you’re like ‘what’s that doing there?’ You’re surprised that song is there and then you chuckle.
— CD:When does the tour start?
★ AS: We tech the show in York, PA on Friday, September 27, and then we have a show in Easton, PA on the 28th, and then we come to Baltimore Sunday morning for a matinee and an evening show and then it goes out from there.
— CD:I looked at your schedule and it’s pretty intense with a lot of cities and one or two performances in each.
★ AS: Yeah, the idea is to get it out to as many places as possible, and if they need to return they’ll return because the show is constantly booking.
— CD:What has this all meant to you personally?
★ AS: What’s exciting about this project, as with any piece that’s been done before, is to figure out how it can be new. How can we make something that people haven’t seen and still celebrate this as what it is for people who love the musical and/or love the movie or who love the stars? How do we not betray any of that but still attend to it in a new way? I always say My Fair Lady doesn’t need us, but if it’s got us and it’s got us at this moment, socially and politically and with all of the awareness that we have, what can we add to that, why tell this story again? And at this moment we need Xanadu. We need a good time. We need to laugh and be silly and have fun.
— CD:And that leads into my next question: What do you want audiences to get from seeing Xanadu?
★ AS: I want them to have a deliriously fun time, I want them to hold their sides and have a really good time. I mean what’s better than making a whole bunch of people laugh at the same time? And there is actually a very beautiful love story. The script is so smart. He’s such a smart writer, and he’s so funny, and he’s so smart in how it’s structured that there is a beautiful, beautiful story about, not only the love story between the two leads, but about the precarious nature of art and life, that he’s a muse for her and that she loves him and wants to maybe not be immortal and how it actually means more if it’s temporary. And the art becomes symbolic because you perish and the artwork remains. So that’s a gorgeous thing about loving one another in our lives, and the importance of art in our lives. It means so much to me that that kind of stuff is in this script that’s clearly also meant to be a silly, good time.
We come together as a bunch of strangers sitting in the dark together, and everybody comes from a different place. You’re a fan of both the movie and Drag Race, someone else is there because it was part of a subscription series, somebody else has never seen Drag Race, somebody else has never seen the movie, some people don’t know these songs, they’re not children of the 80s or younger, so there are all of these people that have to have some kind of communal experience, and the challenge of that is making something that’s going to resonate for everyone. It’s a good challenge and you never know, which is why previews are so important because you’re like ‘nobody’s laughing’ or ‘wait, that’s funny but why is that funny?’ You’re figuring that out together which I think will be a lot of fun for us. I hope we can make our own original version and still please the purists. They are the hardest audience. The people who have seen the movie many times will see the little homages and instantly recognize them. It’s like when the creators of Book of Mormon were asked if Mormons came to the show, and they said ‘oh yes they do’. And when asked how they knew, they said there are little things in the show only Mormons will get and when they laugh at those three spots, that’s how they know. So Doug put in a few little homages to the movie as a gift to those who know the movie.
— CD:I’ve seen other shows that use popular music but that often overshadows the story when it’s just all about the music that people know. I’ve seen productions of Mamma Mia! which were fine but it was all about the music, and then I saw a local production where the director focused on the story and then I got it, I got what the show was about and it was amazing.
★ AS: We don’t want to pretend that we don’t want to be funny, or pretend that we don’t want you to have a good time, we don’t want to pretend that we don’t have Jinkx Monsoon and Ginger Minj, but at the same time my obligation is to the whole which is everyone’s contribution to this story, and that you can identify that, but I don’t know if that’s common. I don’t know if people know what they react to. If you give them a big romp with ABBA songs and they dance around, they have a good time because they’re watching the dancing and they’re singing along to the songs, but you’ve seen it in a different light and it affected you differently. When you take away the trappings of a giant production then all of a sudden you hear the play because somebody figured that out.
— CD:Any finals words?
★ AS: I want everyone to buy tickets and come have a good time!
— CD:Thank you. I can’t wait to see it!
Xanadu comes to Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre for two shows only on Sunday, September 29. From there the show hits the road with stops in Cincinnati, Boston, Rochester, Indianapolis, Charleston, Charlotte, Buffalo, Philadelphia and more. You can find the current schedule on the show’s official website.
Xanadu has a run time of about 90 minutes with no intermission.
Update: The day after this interview was published, the Xanadu tour was ‘put on hold’ according to the official website. We hope that at some point the tour will continue.
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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