Jan. 14: Legwarmers and musical magic

We had tickets to Xanadu tonight for this season’s Broadway in Portland lineup. This was one of the shows we kinda laughed about when we saw it was coming, because HELLO? Wasn’t that, like, the worst movie of the ‘80s? And someone made a Broadway musical about it? And it was a big enough hit to go on tour? Hm.

This was the first show we’ve had scheduled since I started chemotherapy, and being that I’m just two days past my most recent treatment, I wasn’t sure I’d feel up to getting dressed up and going out tonight. Fortunately, the prednisone I take the few days after chemo seems to be making me more energetic than usual, so right now I’m feeling as close to normal as I have in a long time. I took a nap this afternoon, but I woke up ready for a night on the town!

Neither Victor or I had any idea what to expect of Xanadu. I knew the music would be good, or familiar, anyway. But I tell you, this was one of the funniest shows we’ve been to! Actually, what made it funny was probably more that we expected it not to be nearly so entertaining as it was. (We thought the same thing a few years back when we saw The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee—that musical was a zillion times better than we ever imagined.) So we spent a lot more time laughing during the performance than we did looking at our watches, and that’s always a nice way to spend Date Night.

Before the show started, the ladies sitting behind us were asking each other what they knew about the plot. One said she’d read that it was like “Greek mythology meets the Valley Girl.” That turned out to be a pretty accurate description, weirdly. I wrote on my Facebook status tonight that I thought it was “big, silly, disco ball fun”—also succinctly correct.

The horribleness that was the 1980 movie was famously reviewed like this: “In a word, Xana-don’t.” But the stage musical was, in my opinion, definitely a Xana-do! smiley  We were glad I felt well enough to go out, and glad we took advantage of Grandma’s Free Childcare and went on a date tonight.

Also, I need help deciding where the disco ball I now HAVE to have in my house would look best. Family room? Kitchen? Entry? Ooooh, yes! The entry! That would definitely set a tone for our home décor that would be… um… unmatched by the décor in the rest of the house. Alright, maybe the disco ball’s not such a good idea…

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