VIDEO: On This Day, July 10- XANADU Opens On Broadway
The original Broadway production starred Tony-nominees Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson.
On this day in 2007, the musical adaptation of the cult classic film Xanadu opened at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre.
Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson starred in the musical that featured a book by Douglas Carter Beane and a score including the hits, "Magic," "Xanadu," "Party All Over the World" and "I'm Alive"
The score was written by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. Lynne wrote and produced all of the music of Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O). Tony-winner Christopher Ashley directed the production.
This musical myth, set in the year 1980, tells the story of one of the nine muses of ancient Greece who comes to earth to inspire the greatest of artistic achievements - a roller disco. Along the way she falls in love, bumps into an Old Acquaintance and for the first time, feels the desire to create herself.
The original Broadway cast also featued Tony Roberts as "Danny" (played in the film version by Gene Kelly), and Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa as the evil Muses "Calliope" and "Melpomene," respectively, Xanadu's cast also features Curtis Holbrook, Anika Larsen, Kenita Miller and Andre Ward.
