Review of Xanadu (1980) by Michael C — 26 May 2012

Xanadu was made at an odd time in popular music. The seventies had yet to end stylistically-wise and the eighties really yet to begin (MTV debuted the following year). The Hollywood musical establishment had long since collapsed, though the appearances of Grease and Saturday Night Fever had seemingly proven that hit films with popular soundtracks remained a lucrative possibility. Thus did a film attempt to combine two profitable formulas into one. For the musical they looked no further than combining the superstars of two generations: Greaseâ??s ONJ, and Gene Kelly (he of an infinite number of other and arguably superior films), and for the soundtrack they took the Bee Gees cue in hiring Jeff Lynne to pen the accompanying numbers.

Ah, the Electric Light Orchestra, ELO. One of the more digestible art/baroque/orchestral/progressive/symphonic groups of the 1970s and harboring a future member of the Traveling Wilburys, ELOâ??s popularity had just peaked with the release of their Discovery album in 1979. Truly one of the creative forces of that decade (and unfairly labeled since as being â??Totoistâ??), Lynne proved worthy to the challenge.

And so we have Xanadu, which for better or worse gave us the Razzie Awards and now a winning Broadway musical.