Arts & Entertainment
Skating into Signature
Gay-helmed musical ‘Xanadu’ gets regional premiere
‘Xanadu’
May 8-July 1
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington
$62-$86
703-820-9771
Charlie Brady and Erin Weaver in ‘Xanadu.’ (Photo by Christopher Mueller; courtesy of Signature)
Had the 1980 roller disco flick “Xanadu” never been made into the same-titled Broadway musical comedy, the clunky Olivia Newton-John vehicle would most likely have been relegated to the narrow shelf reserved for similar cult films.
A mostly awkward paean to mythology and passing fads, the movie’s saving distinctions include an ear worm-y pop score split between Newton-John’s personal composer John Farrar and Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, a parade of curiously hideous disco-era costumes and the fact that it features MGM’s dance legend Gene Kelly on skates in his final movie role.
Happily, the movie has been hilariously reimagined as “Xanadu,” the hit musical that’s poised to make its Washington premier at Signature Theatre this week. What’s most striking about the show is the way it pairs a sugary screen score (“Xanadu,” “Magic,” “Have You Ever Been Mellow,” etc.) with the sophisticated wit of gay playwright Douglas Carter Beane who’s also written librettos for “Sister Act” and “Lysistrata Jones.” He also wrote “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” “The Little Dog Laughed” and “As Bees in Honey Drown.”
Via phone from Manhattan, he describes “Xanadu’s” leap from screen to stage as the brainchild of the movie’s primary producer Rob Ahrens. After being let go by one of the major studios, Beane explains, Ahrens took a surfing trip to Central America. While lying on his board waiting for a wave, Ahrens formulated his next move — he needed to bring “Xanadu” to Broadway. Through mutual friends Ahrens was advised that Beane was the right man to pen the adaptation. Beane was skeptical.
“I knew the film,” he says. “In the early days of HBO, I think they played ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Clash of the Titans’ on an endless loop. Anyone who ever skipped school in those days knew them well. They’re not good. I remember telling my agent that the job sounded like a real résumé stopper. But Ahrens was relentless. He said I could do whatever I wanted, so I took another look at the film. It was still bad — it had become all nostalgia without the cumbersome taste.”
The plot is simple: Greek muse Clio leaves Mount Olympus for early 1980s Venice Beach, Calif., where, disguised as an Australian roller girl named Kira, she hopes to inspire artist Sonny in creating his decisive achievement, a roller disco. When Clio falls into forbidden love with Sonny, her jealous sisters see it as an opportunity to make trouble.
“Greek muses. Inspiration,” Beane says. “That’s the beginning of theater — everything we hold to be good, pure and beautiful. On the other hand, putting a bad movie on stage is the absolute butt hole end of theater. What would happen if I put classic Greek and ‘80s trashiness together? What would Aristophanes say? And I just started writing. I’d found my way in as they say. … I wrote the dialogue as if it were a good Edith Hamilton translation of the classics, but set in the 1980s. In turn, the set designer created a Greek amphitheater that was a really a disco roller rink. The choreographer fused Solid Gold with Martha Graham. The actors pulled out their best classical voices. Everything fell into place quickly; it all worked.”
Xanadu opened on Broadway May of 2007, ran for more than 500 performances and garnered Beane a Drama Desk Award for Best Book. Gay actor Cheyenne Jackson played Sonny.
Signature’s “Xanadu” is directed and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner, the company’s associate artistic director, and stars Helen Hayes Award-winner Erin Weaver and handsome Charlie Brady (“South Pacific” on Broadway) as Clio and Sonny. Local favorites Sherri L. Edelen and Harry A. Winter, and big-voiced recent Helen Hayes Award-winner Nova Y. Payton are also featured.
Gardiner, 28, first saw “Xanadu” with Signature’s artistic director Eric Schaeffer during its New York run.
“As we left the theater, I remember thinking it was the most joyous, funny smart work I’d seen in a long time. I said to Eric that I had to direct this show sometime, someplace,” Gardiner says. “Time passed and he [Schaeffer] randomly told me that we were putting ‘Xanadu’ in this season. He thought it would be a good fit and that I’d be directing.”
He says the show works for reasons that aren’t obvious.
“Audiences love it because it’s funny, but they probably won’t see — and I wouldn’t expect them to see — what a well-crafted piece of theater it is. With its satyr play and party at the end, it’s like a Greek drama. I noticed that when I saw the New York production.”
Gardiner admits a weird fondness for the film version. When they were about 5, Gardiner and his twin brother James Gardiner (a talented local actor) spent a lot of time watching it and “Grease,” also with Olivia Newton-John. Gardiner says to enjoy “Xanadu,” the musical, it’s not mandatory to know the movie, but a cursory knowledge of its leading lady and her music, and a sense of what the ‘80s were, certainly helps.
Native to the D.C. area, Gardiner grew up in the arts. He played Tiny Tim at Ford’s Theatre and danced in the “Nutcracker” for 10 years at the Washington School of Ballet. He successfully co-directed and choreographed the terrifically fun and campy “Reefer Madness” and “Jerry Springer: The Opera” at Studio 2ndstage. He was named Signature’s associate artistic director just prior to this year’s season. Most recently he staged Signature’s hit premier “Really Really,” Paul Downs Colaizzo’s play about self-serving young adults and an alleged date rape.
After “Really Really,” Gardiner, who’s gay, says he was ready for something fun. With “Xanadu,” a brisk 90-minute zany sendup of a really bad ‘80s movie, he found his antidote. “It’s been great finding beats, punch lines and gags, but I’ve also enjoyed exploring the show’s real intentions underneath — love and joy and real life emotions. The process has been joyous.”
Young actor Mark Chandler, a pop tenor whose voice is perfect for the score, is thrilled to be cast in the production. As part of the ensemble, he plays assorted characters including one of the Greek muses. And while he’s been singing, acting and dancing professionally for some time, this is his first time on skates before an audience. Luckily, a skating instructor (Gregory VanderPloeg) was brought to bring the actors up to speed.
“Before ‘Xanadu,’ the last time I skated was at a birthday party in L.A. a couple years ago, and nobody was entirely sober,” says Chandler, also gay. “I can tell you, learning to skate has been a bonding experience for the cast. Falling and embarrassing yourself repeatedly does that.”
He and the cast, says Chandler, have a come a long way in little time. Now he’s performing all sorts of tricks — jumps, leaps and cartwheels on skates — and he does them all in gold sequined and lamé booty shorts no less.
“I didn’t know much about the movie. I first watched it after I was cast. It’s interesting,” he says diplomatically. “But the musical is another story. It’s a good time. I promise you’ll walk out of the theater laughing, and you’ll probably have a little glitter on you too.”
a&e features
Doug Spearman takes his chance
‘Noah’s Arc: The Movie’ debuted on Paramount+ last month
There’s no question that when Patrik-Ian Polk’s series “Noah’s Arc” premiered on Logo 20 years ago, it was a groundbreaking creation. The story of a group of Black gay men and their wonderful friendship. The titular arc was that of the cute main character, Noah (Darryl Stephens), and his close-knit circle of friends, including Chance played by gay actor Doug Spearman. This compelling and loving fraternity may, in fact, be what brought viewers back repeatedly, including a 2008 movie, “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom,” as well as the 2020 “Noah’s Arc” short, and now, a new full-length feature “Noah’s Arc: The Movie,” debuting on Paramount+ on June 20. In the movie, filled with equal measures of laughs and tears, Chance, who has faced a devastating loss, finds his dependable friends there, ready to support and comfort him at a moment’s notice. I had the pleasure of speaking with Spearman the morning of the streaming premiere of “Noah’s Arc: The Movie.”
WASHINGTON BLADE: Doug, since the early 2000s, when the “Noah’s Arc” series premiered on Logo, you have been playing the character of Chance, including in the latest installment, “Noah’s Arc: The Movie.” What was it about Chance that appealed to you as an actor?
SPEARMAN: When Patrik (-Ian Polk) called me to ask me to play him (Chance), I was at JFK airport in the baggage claim, waiting for a suitcase. He explained what the part was. The thing that stuck out to me was the fact that Chance was in a long-term relationship with another Black man. And, they had a child; they had a 4-year-old daughter named Kenya. I had never seen two Black gay men raise a child on TV before. I thought it was the most revolutionary thing I’d ever seen. I immediately thought I’ve got to do this because that was something nobody had seen. I thought it was incredibly important to take the part.
BLADE: “Noah’s Arc: The Movie” was, once again, written and directed by Patrik-Ian Polk, who you just mentioned, is the creator of the entire franchise. What’s the secret to your long-standing working relationship?
SPEARMAN: [Laughs] the whole team, all of us, are like a band of brothers. We fight like brothers, we come together like brothers, we hash things out, we talk, because we’re all very different from our characters. I think the challenge of playing these guys and then uplifting these men, playing a part, especially something written by Patrik, is like solving a math equation. There’s always a challenge that’s enjoyable for me as an actor: to try to find out what it is that Patrik wants, and then how do I do it.
BLADE: I think you do a very good job of it.
SPEARMAN: Thank you very much
BLADE: In the years between “Jumping the Broom” and the new full-length movie, many changes have occurred, and the story addresses some of them, including gay widowhood, which is something that the aging community is now confronting, as well as mental health issues. Please say a few words about how you approached those subjects in the new movie.
SPEARMAN: I had a lot of loss in my life, right before we started shooting. Two months before we started shooting the first series, my mother died. I was going through the grief process through that whole first season. Since then, I’ve lost a lot of people in my life. In fact, when we started shooting the second season, the second week we were shooting, my ex died of a heart attack. I was having to fold that into what I was doing with my life on the set and off the set. You’ve got to show up and you’ve got to do your work. The first two seasons of “Noah’s Arc” are always tinged with the memory of grief. So, when I had to deal with the death that Chance faces (in the new movie), which is a significant death in his life, it wasn’t that hard to reach back, especially the scene in the graveyard. It was something that I unfortunately could pull from personal experience.
BLADE: Shifting gears, the movie features delightful cast surprises, including Jasmine Guy and TS Madison. Did you have a chance to interact with either or both when they were on set?
SPEARMAN: No, I didn’t have any scenes with Jasmine, and I missed her. I wish I had gotten to see her because I actually got to direct Jasmine for a CBS promo shoot for “Queen,” back in the early ‘90s. I had a huge crush on her when she was on “A Different World.” So, I really would have liked to reconnect. But TS and I got to see each other every day because I was in all her scenes. It was extraordinary being around somebody like that. That is one outspoken woman!
BLADE: Even though Beyoncé never makes an appearance in the movie, there’s a lot of talk about her. Would you say you are a Beyoncé fan?
SPEARMAN: Yes! I’m breathing! Yes, I’m a Beyoncé fan. I actually got the chance to meet her. I knew her mom. Her mom was extraordinary to me. She is in the second movie I directed. She also gave us a wedding gown to use in the very first scene of the movie. That family is extraordinarily important to me. Not only just to be a fan, but to be somebody who’s gotten to know them and work with them and see how hard they work. I don’t think anybody works as hard as Tina or Beyoncé.
BLADE: There was a recent news item about gay actor Benito Skinner of the Amazon Prime series “Overcompensating” being told not to bother auditioning for straight roles. As an out actor yourself, how important do you think it is for queer characters to be portrayed by queer actors, and vice versa?
SPEARMAN: Being queer is a multifaceted identity. There’s no one kind of queer person. I think finding the best actor that’s your first circle of casting. I think one of the joys about being an actor is that you get to play different parts. I play straight guys all the time. Dads and husbands and things like that. I think a lot of people are told not to do it. In fact, I wouldn’t be Chance if the actor who was originally cast as Chance hadn’t been pulled out of the series by his agents because they didn’t want him to play a gay character.
BLADE: That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing that. Without giving away too much, the ending of the movie is a little ambiguous, even ending with a question mark. If there was a “Noah’s Arc: The Movie” sequel, would you come back for that?
SPEARMAN: Yeah! A lot of it would depend on what Chance’s journey is going to be like. Patrik and I have conversations like that all the time. He’s very interested and supportive of input. I hope I would be, as we all would be, part of the creative growth with these characters. They live in Patrik’s head, and he writes them, but we’re the ones who have to flesh them out. It’s a conversation, it’s always a conversation.
BLADE: You are currently performing in Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid” as part of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane. What has this experience been like for you?
SPEARMAN: It’s extraordinary! I started on stage when I was seven. There’s nothing like working with a live audience and having that immediacy. I’m working with an extraordinarily talented cast in a really great play, and I have some of the best scene partners I could ever want.
BLADE: Are there any upcoming film or TV projects you’d like to mention?
SPEARMAN: I’m still a writer, and I’m still a director, and I’ve still got scripts that I would like to make. I have a little something that’s a cross between “Treme” and “Bridgerton” that I want to do. I’m always trying to figure out what the next thing is.
Photos
PHOTOS: Montgomery County Pride in the Plaza
LGBTQ celebration held in downtown Silver Spring
Montgomery County Pride in the Plaza was held on Sunday, June 29 at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, Md.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The fifth annual Fredericksburg Pride march and festival was held on Saturday, June 28. A march through the streets of downtown Fredericksburg, Va. was followed by a festival at Riverfront Park.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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