Jackson County Community Theatre preparing for dinner theater show ‘Xanadu’

“Xanadu” was released as a movie in 1980, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, but it received negative critical reviews and was noted as one of the worst films of the year.

When it opened on Broadway in 2007, however, “Xanadu” received positive critical acclaim as the first new musical of the 2007-08 season. It was one of the best reviewed shows of the season and received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Tony Award nomination.

Those involved in this year’s Jackson County Community Theatre dinner theater production of “Xanadu” are hoping for similar positive reviews.

It will be staged as a dinner show at 6 p.m. Feb. 17, 18, 24 and 25 and a nondinner matinee at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at The Pines Evergreen Room south of Seymour. Dinner show tickets are $36, and the matinee tickets are $16.

“Xanadu” is hilarity on wheels for anyone who has ever wanted to feel inspired. It follows the journey of a magical and beautiful Greek muse, Kira, who descends from the heavens of Mount Olympus to Venice Beach, California, in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time, the first roller disco.

But when Kira falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation, and chaos abounds.

“It’s funny and it’s campy, and it has got a really recognizable soundtrack,” Stage Director Paul Angle said. “Most people look at the music and go ‘I don’t know what those are,’ and then you hear the songs and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah.’ One of them hit No. 1. Half of it was music written for Olivia Newton-John, and the other half was written by ELO, so it’s got a really great soundtrack.”

Plus, he said the show will make people laugh.

“It’s silly,” he said. “We’ve done some shows in the past that have a little more story. This is kind of light on the story. The original movie is light on the story, but it’s fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

Thanks to some great donations to JCCT, Angle said a new digital lighting system will be put to use in a show for the first time. That includes a digitally controlled disco ball, fog machine, effects and video.

“One of the things that I try to do with every show is to just let people see something that they haven’t seen before,” he said. “This, we went a little heavy on the tech. The story is a little light and fun, so it doesn’t need it, but I just thought, ‘If we can add a little more glitz, we have people on roller skates, so let’s go over the top.’”

Zach Thompson said when he was asked to be assistant director, he was hesitant because he had seen the movie and thought it was terrible.

After some thinking, though, he had faith in Angle making it an entertaining program.

“I said, ‘Prove me wrong,’ and it has,” Thompson said. “The script of it pokes fun at the movie while keeping all of the fun … the stuff about the movie, it’s campy, goofy, in the ’80s. They make jokes here and there about it while keeping the same music. It’s a lot more entertaining.”

Angle was glad to have Thompson come on board.

“I knew he would come around,” Angle said.

It also helps to have a strong cast for the show. Skyla Fields plays the lead role of Kira, Curtis Nowling portrays Sonny Malone and Matt Nieman acts as Danny Maguire.

The muses are Katrina Hardwick as Calliope, Stephanie Strothmann as Melpomene, Mars Rogers as Thalia, Brinna Sharp as Euterpe, Natalie Whan as Erato and Job Willman as Terpsichore.

“It’s a cast that has got a lot of experience, and they were attracted to it because it can be fun and the music. It has been fun watching them,” Angle said. “They’ve really just latched onto the material and had fun with it. That’s really the goal of any theater is to give people a good time, and this show fits that bill.”

Fields said she wasn’t knowledgeable about “Xanadu,” but she did some research before auditioning.

“I haven’t done a musical since ‘9 to 5,’ and I missed it,” she said. “Personally, I was battling with some mental, personal stuff, and I thought one of my biggest passions is this, and I thought I would do it again. And I knew Paul was directing and that Job was going to be in it, so I wanted to do it, for sure.”

Going into auditions, Fields said she has an idea which role she wants, and she was glad to be cast as Kira.

“When I was watching the videos of Kerry Butler from ‘Xanadu’ on Broadway with Cheyenne Jackson, it’s a whole new character I’ve never done before, so I wanted to try to be like her but also take my own spin on it,” Fields said. “Kerry Butler says herself that she takes a spin off of Olivia Newton-John and she makes it her own. She was also in ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ so it’s totally different, and I’m just kind of piggybacking off of the two.”

She has liked embracing the role of Kira.

“What I like about her is that she is very powerful and she has got this really raw personality where she knows what she’s doing, but at the same time, she’s kind of just free-flowing and just having fun,” Fields said.

She likes the message of the show, too.

“To me, I think what it means is when you find it in your heart to want to create something, no matter how ridiculous or crazy or off the wall it is, there will be someone who can find you and inspire you just as much as you inspire them because that’s what Kira and Sonny are all about,” Fields said.

“She came to Earth to inspire him, but at the end, he inspires her,” she said. “He tells her ‘You can create whatever you want. If you’re with me, you can have the powers, you can create whatever you want,’ and that’s what Xanadu is.”

Hardwick has a unique role with the show because she is the choreographer along with being an actor.

“The last production I acted in was dinner theater three years ago,” she said, noting she took a break when she ran for a state representative seat and started her own dance, health and fitness studio.

“Since they asked me to choreograph this and it’s a very music-heavy, dance-heavy show, I was going to be spending a lot of time here for rehearsals anyway, and I thought, ‘Why not audition and see?’ because it would just be a little bit of extra time, really,” she said.

Being a big fan of late ’70s, early ’80s disco and that genre of music and the style, Hardwick was drawn to the show.

“The movie ‘Xanadu,’ I just remember how campy and extra it was as a kid, and I’m kind of extra,” she said, smiling. “This show is so funny, and I’m a sucker for a good comedy.”

She said she has had a blast rehearsing with the cast, and she’s ready to take that to the stage.

“Musicals are really hard because besides just memorizing your lines and your blocking, you have to work on the music, learning to harmonize, learning dance and these harmonies aren’t easy,” Hardwick said. “They are really pretty, but they are not easy, but we have fun doing it, and everybody has really dug in, and I’ve been impressed with it. Everybody has really worked hard.”

If you go 

What: Jackson County Community Theatre’s dinner theater production of “Xanadu”

When: Dinner show at 6 p.m. Feb. 17, 18, 24 and 25 and nondinner matinee at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19

Where: The Pines Evergreen Room, 4120 N. U.S. 31, Seymour

Cost: Dinner show tickets are $36, and the matinee tickets are $16 (purchase online at jcct.org or call 812-358-5228; add $1 for buying online)

Stage director: Paul Angle

Assistant director: Zach Thompson

Production manager: Karen Haas

Musical director: Ron Duncan

Cast: Skyla Fields, Curtis Nowling, Matt Nieman, Katrina Hardwick, Stephanie Strothmann, Mars Rogers, Brinna Sharp, Natalie Whan, Job Willman