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UPDATE: Comments by Claire Christine Spera at the Statesman's Austin360.com Seeing Things blog, July 23 (398 words)
UPDATE: Feature/review by Shelley Seale for austin.culturemap.com, July 23
UPDATE: Review by Spike Gillespie at her blog Spike Speaks, August 3
UPDATE: Review by Elizabeth Cobbe for the Austin Chronicle, August 9
presents
XANADU, The Musical
Book by DOUGLAS CARTER BEANE
Music and Lyrics by JEFF LYNNE and JOHN FARRAR
Based on the Universal Pictures film
Screenplay by RICHARD DANUS and MARC RUBEL
Directed and Choreographed by NICK DEMOS (director of The Drowsy Chaperone at ZACH)
Music Direction by ALLEN ROBERTSON
July 18 - EXTENDED to October 7
Performances: Tuesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
XANADU Previews July 18-22. Opening & Press Night post-show Champagne Reception is Saturday, July 21. GLBT Wilde Party with pre-show mixer is Thursday, August 2nd.
To order tickets, call 512-476-0541 ext. 1 or visit www.zachtheatre.org. Tickets range from $25-$55. Student Tickets are $18 one hour before show time (with valid ID). Bar opens one hour before show time. Drinks welcome in theatre.
ZACH’s Kleberg Stage, 1421 West Riverside Drive (corner of Riverside Dr. and S. Lamar Blvd.)(click for map)
XANADU is an over-the-top, roller-skating musical that spoofs the outrageously campy 1980s film starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. A beautiful muse descends from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach and inspires a struggling artist to create his biggest dream ... the first roller disco.
"XANADU is one of the funniest things to land on a Broadway stage in ages! It was like ecstasy in Broadway ticket form — that special place where dreams become magic!"
- Vanity Fair
ZACH’s Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley says: “I’ve never been a fan of the film, but I found this stage parody absolutely irresistible on Broadway with its very funny, campy Douglas Carter Beane script that has its tongue planted firmly in cheek.
"Jill Blackwood is perfectly cast in this affectionate send-up of Olivia Newton-John — vocally the resemblance is astonishing and she is hilarious. It is destined to be one of our most fun and entertaining shows ever and is a great way to celebrate the last Mainstage season on the Kleberg Stage before the Topfer Theatre opens with RAGTIME next fall.”
ZACH’s production features an all-star cast: Jill Blackwood, Matthew Redden, Rick Roemer, Lara Wright, Michelle Alexander, Roberto Araujo, Beth Koepp, Jennifer Young, Tyler Jones, Charissa Allen and Josh Wechsler; with Allen Robertson, piano; Bob Overton, guitar; and Arnie Yañez, percussion.
For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog, be a fan of ZACH Theatre on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/zachtheatre, and follow ZACH on Twitter @zachtheatre http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.
ZACH’s production of XANADU is sponsored by Larry Connelly and James Armstrong, OnRamp, Silicon Labs, Brown McCarroll Attorneys at Law, Wells Fargo and Frost Bank.
About ZACH Theatre ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre. Founded in 1933, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving more than 170,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized dramatic, musical and comedic productions that elevate, motivate and stimulate the human spirit under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Now in its 79th season, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding a third theatre to its Central Austin performance campus. The 420-seat, 32,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre will nearly double ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience upon its completion in the fall of 2012 following a $22 million campaign. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.
ZACH Theatre is sponsored, in part, by Applied Materials, Austin American-Statesman, Time Warner Cable, Austin News TV 36, The Dell Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Strong Events, OnRamp, The Mitchell Group Consulting, Kirk Tuck Photography and Holiday Inn, Lady Bird Lake. Also, by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
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