Episode 101 — Xanadu: LIVE!

[JulyDiaz 2797]

If you’ve ever roller-skated, then this movie is for you! Recorded LIVE at Largo in Los Angeles, special guest Michaela Watkins joins Paul, June, and Jason to talk all about the Olivia Newton-John & Gene Kelly musical Xanadu. They’ll cover everything from the opening dance montage where the muses come out of a mural portal, the animation sequence that was basically the sex scene, and Gene Kelly’s memory boner. Plus, everyone figures out why Zeus has a British accent during audience Q&A!

[klemjohansen 748]

"There are eight Xanadu's happening."

 

I will totally write drafts for 7 simu-sequels ASAP

[Shannon 2953]

whaaaaaaaat?!? but... it's only Monday!!

 

 

I can't believe my eyes!

 

 

...I'm also kind of ready for this one to pass by because every single time I see the word "Xanadu" I get the song stuck in my head and its SO ANNOYING

[klemjohansen 748]

Muse^Muse

 

Muse to the power of muse. June just cracked the fucking code.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Fantastic episode!

 

One thing that killed me about Sonny was when he quits to open Xanadu, he tells Simpson, "I've worked like a dog to make Tuesday Wednesday," and all I could think was..."did you?"

 

To break it down, Sonny gets hired back after what we are led to believe was him unceremoniously walking out on his boss. Three minutes into his first day back at work, he fucks off to go find some random woman he just met, and then fucks off work AGAIN to listen to records with some weird clarinet playing guy. We are told that he is constantly late for work and his very presence is absolute poison for morale. He is always talking back to his boss, a man who was not only nice enough to give him another shot, but a man that explicitly states that he believes Sonny has the talent to be more than just a record cover painter. Finally, to drive the point home as to what an entitled little prick he is, he breaks into the strange "inspiration studio" thing to impress some girl with his roller skating skills, only to damage the expensive looking "motivation machine."

 

And after all that, not only does he not get fired, he spits it back in his boss' face like a dildo! What the hell?

 

As a side note, it also doesn't help that Sonny's acting style seems to be: "I am from another country and don't speak your language, so I will just nod and smile based on your facial cues and the tone of your voice."

[Cameron H. 23786]

Cover Girl was released in 1944. Xanadu was released in 1980. Is there any chance that in 2016, Michael Beck will reprise his role as Sonny Malone (a la Mark Hamill in the upcoming Star Wars sequels) and pass ownership of Xanadu to the next generation? Some dub-step kid could run into him roller skating down Venice Beach, Greek mythology happens, musical fusion, and...You know what? I don't think I need to write anymore. This shit writes itself.

[ericmci 26]

'Ma-who' Watkins - how does Paul pronounce her name?

[wyldride 285]

Kira is Danny's muse and Sonny is, basically, just some shlub she uses to move Danny into creating the club. I guess, charitably, we can say she happened to fall in love with him along the way. If Kira was just using the image of someone from an album cover painting, I kinda wonder if Zeus ultimately felt sorry for the way Sonny was dicked around needlessly and decided to throw the real woman from the painting into his path (sucks for her).

[klemjohansen 748]

You know that guy who's constantly waffling about whether to go back to school to get his MBA? He's about to get visited by ONJ!

[Cameron H. 23786]

Kira is the daughter of Zeus (God) and is basically a creation of His to fulfill a function, right? Extrapolating from that, does anyone else wonder why God seems to be so invested in the creation of a nightclub filled with juggling mimes, roller skates, people dressed in zoot suits and karate gi, and trapeze artists?

 

Also, to second Jason's thought, if your hierarchy when describing what is a "hot" rock and roll band should be is "electric orange jump suits, synthesizers, heavy percussion, and electric guitars," then your Rock priorities are completely out of whack.

[divaTy 27]

For some reason I was thinking June would love this movie.

[mariami 10]

I can’t believe there wasn't anything mentioned about the best thing that came out of this movie: The 2007 Broadway adaptation. It ran for over 500 shows and won a bunch of awards, including an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for best book, as well as being nominated for Tony Awards for those same categories. It toured all over the US and even got its own tour in the Philippines. I guess there’s something about the campiness and overall ridiculousness of the movie that just translated incredibly well into the stage?

 

Here’s a taste of what the musical was like:

[klemjohansen 748]

"Vaginas that talk would make a better movie..."

 

In a world of art factories that produce giant album covers for some reason and penis-headed mural ladies comes a story of a man and a dream he didn't even know he had- until fate stepped in. Her name is Accountia, the business muse, and she's broken free of Mt. Tronlympus to shake things up down on earth.

 

 

Starring this guy:

 

Sonny: "Here's my idea for a business plan... vaginas that talk."

 

... and a special appearance by Olivia Newton John on FUCKING ROLLER SKATES!

 

Accountia: "Is this a product people buy or is it like a restaurant or maybe a theme park?"

 

Sonny: "I don't know. Why not all three?"

 

Music cue: ELO

 

 

"Twat You Say?" A gynecological musical comedy coming this summer, rated PG-13

[Shannon 2953]

I can’t believe there wasn't anything mentioned about the best thing that came out of this movie: The 2007 Broadway adaptation. It ran for over 500 shows and won a bunch of awards, including an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for best book, as well as being nominated for Tony Awards for those same categories. It toured all over the US and even got its own tour in the Philippines. I guess there’s something about the campiness and overall ridiculousness of the movie that just translated incredibly well into the stage?

 

Here’s a taste of what the musical was like:

 

 

you can actually watch the whole stage show on youtube if you wanna

 

 

with Cheyenne Jackson from 30 Rock!

[walterwoodsiv 215]

Apparently Gene Kelly was a real dick. He was abusive to Debbie Reynolds on the set of "Singing in the Rain."

 

From an interview with her:

 

"'Gene Kelly was a little tough and he used to yell at me on the set," says Debbie.

 

"He never wanted me in Singin' In The Rain....'"

 

"Reynolds says: 'My feet were bleeding from all that dancing and when I pointed it out, Gene would say 'Clean it up!' He was very sentimental like that!

 

'What's more, he ended up using the very first take we had done in the morning.'

 

Kelly would also get irritated when he felt she wasn't looking enthusiastic enough on camera.

 

'If I wasn't smiling, Gene would yell at me to smile more. During filming I thought my cheeks were going to crack from all that smiling.'"

 

I would love stories of Gene Kelly yelling at the people who made this movie.

 

Link to the article: http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/393594/Debbie-Reynolds-I-ve-still-got-a-song-in-my-heart-at-81

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

Cover Girl was released in 1944. Xanadu was released in 1980. Is there any chance that in 2016, Michael Beck will reprise his role as Sonny Malone (a la Mark Hamill in the upcoming Star Wars sequels) and pass ownership of Xanadu to the next generation? Some dub-step kid could run into him roller skating down Venice Beach, some Greek mythology happens, musical fusion, and...You know what? I don't think I need to write anymore. This shit writes itself.

Its name: "Xana2". BAM.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

you can actually watch the whole stage show on youtube if you wanna

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_-mYomx1nw

 

with Cheyenne Jackson from 30 Rock!

I'm generally not a fan of musicals anyway, but I think that with each layer that gets thrown on to the original (the musical based on the film, the film based on the musical based on the film, etc...), it becomes LESS enjoyable, because part of the enjoyment of a good BAD musical or movie (that gets a musical remake of some sort) is the lack of self-awareness since much of the fun or humor of it often comes from its ineptness, whether it's bad writing, bad acting, or any combination of things that makes it great in ways that were completely unintended.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Y'all

 

"A double feature of Xanadu and another musical released at about the same time, Can't Stop the Music, inspired John J. B. Wilson to create the Golden Raspberry Awards (or "Razzies"), an annual event "dishonoring" what is considered the worst in cinema for a given year. Xanadu won the first Razzie for Worst Director and was nominated for six other awards."

 

This movie was so bad that it created the Razzies.

[JaimeGandarilla 85]

No one mentioned how the end song is almost literally the song from the Cantina scene in Star Wars.

[DataAngel 1]

That had to be a recording studio with sets in it for some reason, because it couldn't have been where they shot music videos. Music videos weren't "A Thing" yet when Xanadu was released.

[GaryLee 3]

Created an account just for this movie, just to drop this link:

 

[pepperjack 303]

That had to be a recording studio with sets in it for some reason, because it couldn't have been where they shot music videos. Music videos weren't "A Thing" yet when Xanadu was released.

 

Music videos weren't a thing in the US then. They were in England, though.

[mariami 10]

 

 

you can actually watch the whole stage show on youtube if you wanna

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_-mYomx1nw

 

with Cheyenne Jackson from 30 Rock!

 

Cheyenne Jackson is such a hot piece of man, and he looks specially great in roller blades. I guess I know what I'm watching tonight.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

Created an account just for this movie, just to drop this link:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqg4Z_8bbdI

Hold on, if you create an account to make comments immediately after the posting of a live episode, the only thing you're allowed to do is complain about the audio quality! This is etched in stone somewhere, I'm sure of it! Or not. I guess I don't know how to react to polite first-time commenters...

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Had a bit of a rough time with all the talking over each other in this ep, but god did I laugh at what I did catch.