'Xanadu' was notorious for being perhaps the worst movie of the 1980s'. The only worthwhile thing about it was the music half written by Jeff Lynne of ELO(Electric Light Orchestra) and the other half by John Farrar whos' muse was Olivia Newton John who coincidentally played a muse in the ill-conceived film. The principal culprit in the movies downfall was the screenplay which was dumb, and played straight by the actors.

The Broadway version actually opened to favorable reviews and the main culprit for its' success is the book which is still dumb, but this time the actors, the book adapter and the director embrace the dumb, nay they celebrate the dumb and spin the show into a delightful if lightweight delight.

This time the songs are sung by the actors instead of by ELO on the soundtrack and Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson are great and old-pro Tony Roberts has a nice role as Danny a forties crooner once assisted by Kerry Butlers' Kira.

The CD contains a few numbers not on the movie soundtrack including "Have You Never Been Mellow" a Olivia Newton John oldie and perhaps a slight nod to her since she was the original Kira. The music from the movie was always the best thing about it, but now they sound even better on this CD.