@ the stagedoor: WHOOPI GOLDBERG and the cast of XANADU

Whoopi Goldberg

Cheyenne Jackson

Kerry Butler

Tony Roberts

These photos were taken outside the stagedoor of the Helen Hayes Theatre. WHOOPI GOLDBERG plays the roles of Calliope and Aphrodite in the Broadway musical XANADU through Sept. 7. She joins Cheyenne Jackson (who returned to the show from his recent stint in Damn Yankees for City Center Encores!) and original Tony-nominated star Kerry Butler as well as Tony Roberts, Mary Testa, Curtis Holbrook, Kenita Miller, Patti Murin, Marty Thomas, André Ward and Jacob Ben Widmar.

Born Caryn Elaine Johnson on November 13, 1955 in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, Goldberg is one of only thirteen people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award, including Daytime Emmy Awards. In 1990, she became the second African American female performer after Hattie McDaniel to win an Academy Award for acting. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and two Saturn Awards for her performances in Star Trek Generations and Ghost.Goldberg earned an Academy Award for her work in "Ghost" and was Oscar-nominated for her role in "The Color Purple." Onstage she has appeared in Whoopi, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Based on the cult, roller-disco-themed film starring Olivia Newton-John, Xanadu tells of the love between a goddess and the mortal she inspires. centers on a Greek muse who is sent to earth to inspire Californians during the 1980s. While on earth, she meets and falls in love with an artist and helps him realize his dreams.

XANADU

It was a delight to see the new Broadway musical called XANADU at the Helen Hayes Theatre (240 W. 44th St) earlier this evening. The show is a musical comedy/parody of the 1980 cult, roller skate-disco-themed movie of the same name starring Olivia Newton-John. With the book written by Douglas Bean Carter, Xanadu tells of the love between a goddess (played by the wonderful KERRY BUTLER) and the mortal she inspires (CHEYENNE JACKSON). In a line from the show: "This is like children's theater for 40-year-old gay people!"Even though I never saw the movie, it was not difficult to come on board with the tone of the show from the start. All the cast members were great and funny, but the comedic talent of MARY TESTA and JACKIE HOFFMAN who played the most prominent sisters of Butler's character, were a big hit with the audience. What I didn't get though was having a few dozen audience members on stage, as in a couple of other musicals I saw recently.

The reviews:

New York Times - "Can a musical be simultaneously indefensible and irresistible? Why, yes it can. Witness “Xanadu,” the outlandishly enjoyable stage spoof of the outrageously bad movie from 1980 about a painter and his muse who find love at a roller disco in Los Angeles."

Newsday - "The 90-minute show, which kicked off the new season last night at the Helen Hayes Theatre, is a grand little piece of smart dumb fun."

Post - "Xanadont"

Variety - "Fresh off "The Little Dog Laughed," Douglas Carter Beane has taken the unpromising clay of Richard Danus and Marc Rubel's screenplay and molded it not only into an engagingly goofy spoof of the film itself but also a witty takedown of the Broadway creative climate. Sure, the book scenes occasionally stall, but what looked on paper to be one-note sketch fodder turns out to be an unexpectedly sustained and refreshingly unassuming crowd-pleaser."

Daily News - "Kerry Butler, so good in "Hairspray" and less so in "Little Shop of Horrors," is simply out of this world as Kira. She has gorgeous pipes, great comic flair and puts on a fab faux Aussie accent that could make dingoes howl for more."

NY1 - "And while it's awfully light fare for Broadway, considering the amount of laughs you get per dollar spent, it's a comedy bargain."

Associated Press - ""Xanadu," the jaw-droppingly awful 1980 film that sank Olivia Newton-John's movie career yet couldn't kill roller disco, has been turned into a fast, funny little stage musical."

Newark Star-Ledger - "Sure, "Xanadu" makes "Mamma Mia" look like Shakespeare, but there's strange magic in such madness."

Sun - "Most of the cast members — although, sadly, not Mr. Roberts — spend a decent portion of the show whizzing around the tiny stage in roller skates. (At a recent performance, nearly one-third of the tiny cast was on the injured list.) Making this even riskier is the presence of a few dozen audience members sprinkled around the stage, along with musical director Eric Stern and his tiny but potent orchestra, which does a remarkable job replicating E.L.O.'s synth-drenched sound with just four musicians."

Hollywood Reporter - "Unfortunately, such self-consciousness is not likely to increase your enjoyment of this slipshod enterprise, which belongs more in a fringe festival than on Broadway. Despite running a mere 90 minutes, it quickly proves wearisome in its one-note camp attitude."

Globe and Mail - "The Tony Awards are still 11 months away, but already we can declare that the hands-down winner of the Truth in Advertising trophy is the fizzy new musical which opened last night at the Helen Hayes Theatre heralded by this marketing tagline: "Xanadu. On Broadway. Seriously." For in those four words can be found the sum of this exercise in summer camp: its self-conscious if bold confidence, its wispy tongue-in-cheek charm, the unlikely nature of its achievement, and the theatre-going public's generally incredulous response to the concept."

amNewYork video review - "Very good for the summer in a happy mindless way."

New York magazine reader review - "If, like us, you see it while messed up, the production is beyond marvelous - just make sure you're not seated on the stage; you'll miss some nifty visual effects. And resist the urge to stand up and dance, as you'll piss off the folks behind you. My buddy was having such a good time that she kept flying the devil horn salute and I had to hold her arms down a few times."

BROADWAY BARKS 9

BERNADETTER PETERS and MARY TYLER MOORE hosted the ninth annual BROADWAY BARKS, a star-studded dog and cat adopt-a-thon benefiting New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies. The event, produced by Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS and sponsored by the ASPCA with additional sponsorship by the New York Times, Pedigree, and RCA Small Wonder took place earlier today in Shubert Alley. BROADWAY BARKS helps many of New York City's shelter animals find permanent homes by informing New Yorkers about the plight of the thousands of "homeless" dogs and cats in the metropolitan area.

"In 2006, for the first time in New York City's history, the euthanasia rate for dogs and cats in the city's Animal Care & Control shelters fell below 50%. A total of 20, 581 animals were placed into homes. 9,313 were adopted; 9,937 were transferred for eventual adoption to local shelters and rescue groups; and 1,331 were returned to their owners," said Moore.

"This milestone means we are saving more than half of the dogs and cats in our city shelters," said Ed Sayres, president & CEO of the ASPCA. "We are are proud that New York City's efforts to save the lives of adoptable animals has reached this important benchmark."

Peters, who adopted her dogs, Kramer and Stella, from the ASPCA and AC&C, adds, "It's bringing us closer to the day when we will no longer have to euthanize any healthy and treatable homeless cats and dogs because of a lack of space. As a community, we are most effective in helping animals when we pool our strengths to achieve what is, after all, a shared goal -- the elevation and continued welfare of animals in our society."

A galaxy of Broadway stars joined Peters and Moore, presenting the animals for adoption. Celebrity presenters including Angela Lansbury (Deuce); Audra McDonald (110 in the Shade); Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna (Chicago); David Hyde Pierce (Curtains); Jerry Mathers and Paul Vogt (Hairspray), Priscilla Lopez and Mandy Gonzalez (In the Heights); Christine, Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, John McMartin and Maureen Moore (Grey Gardens); Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler and Mary Testa (Xanadu); Michael Cerveris (LoveMusik); Jo Anne Worley, Beth Leavel, John Glover, Gerry Vichi and Patrick Wetzel (The Drowsy Chaperone); Ashley Brown, Jane Carr, Daniel Jenkins, and Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins); Marin Mazzie, Jonathan Hadary, David Hibbard and Martin Moran (Spamalot); Xanthe Elbrick (Coram Boy); Charlotte D'Amboise and Michael Berresse (A Chorus Line); John Earl Jelks (Radio Golf); Michael Mulheren (Deuce); Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer and John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys); Judy McLane (Mamma Mia); Laura Belle Bundy, Orfeh and Andy Karl (Legally Blonde); Lea Michele (Spring Awakening); Sebastian Arcelus, Jayne Houdyshell, and Kendra Kassebaum (Wicked); Stephanie J. Block (The Pirate Queen).