Xanadu on Broadway

Yesterday I just happened to read the NY Times' review of the new Broadway show "Xanadu." I don't ordinarily read the theatre reviews because I don't get to the theatre very often. And yes, it is "Xanadu" based on the cinematic gem by the same name that starred Olivia Newton John, but that is not the part I am excited about.

I am excited because this production stars Kerry Butler and the review is glowing. I attended college with Kerry Butler. We graduated the same year, same theater department. (Clearly she made good use of her degree unlike myself.) While this is hardly her first Broadway show or even her first starring role, the review about her work is amazing. It is really nice to see such great praise for someone you know and who's talent you have always admired. Plus everyone likes to brag about the famous people they knew "way back when."

The article says:

Kerry Butler, as the Greek demi-goddess Clio, who also roams Venice Beach as the Australian mortal Kira, is simply heaven on eight little polyurethane wheels. Or heaven in leg warmers.

...

Ms. Butler is the rare Broadway ingénue who is as funny as she is pretty, and she sings gloriously, too, both in her own tangy Broadway belt and in a devastatingly funny impersonation of Ms. Newton-John’s sweetly sighing soprano. (When Ms. Butler is speaking Australian, she’s actually a ringer for a fresher import from Down Under, Nicole Kidman.) She’s got a lovely line in arabesque on those skates, too! Can Audra McDonald or Kristin Chenoweth do that?