Olivia's Flight into never never land
By Peter Garafola, Gannett News Service
With such salacious series as “Soap” and “Three’s Company” gracing its airwaves, ABC can hardly be referred to as Never-Never Land.
Yet Wednesday, from 7 to 8 p.m. (on KITV), that’s exactly what it will become when singer Olivia Newton-John hosts “Olivia,” a flight into the realm of innocence and dreams-childhood.
“The show is on the premise we never really grow up,” she said. “The set is a playground. I’m very excited about it! It’s great fun!”
GUESTS INCLUDE teen idol Andy Gibb, younger brother (at age 20) of the Bee Gees; the James Cleveland Choir; “Family” star Gary Frank; and ABBA, the hot pop group from Sweden.
“It’s ABBA’s first really big show,” Olivia beamed. “It’s ironic that they’ve had such huge record successes in this country - three gold LPs and a run of gold singles, d singles, including ‘Dancing Queen’ and no one has seen them.”
“I especially love this show because usually a special is just guest, song, guest, song; in this, ABBA and Andy are integrated within it.”
Of course, there is an ample amount of singing, the artists backed by a 26-member orchestra directed by Jimmy Webb, who also wrote some special material for “Olivia.”
SOME HIGHLIGHTS are a medley of Olivia’s hits: “Old Schoolyard,” “Summer Nights,” and a concert segment set in the schoolyard including the tunes, “If You Love Me,” “Dancing Queen,” “Love is Thicker Than Water” and “Rock Me, Roll Me.”
Produced and directed by Steve Binder, with Lee Kramer, Olivia’s manager and boyfriend, as executive producer, “Olivia” also spotlights a clip from “Grease,” her first film effort.
“Grease” also stars the disco dynamo of “Saturday Night Fever,” John Travolta.
“John is very special,” she said, her voice taking on an affectionate, protective air. “I liked John from the beginning. We did a read-through of the script and afterwards, he really wanted me for the part.
“THEN CAME THE screen test, which gave me this option: if I didn’t like myself, I didn’t have to do the film. But we worked well together. John was marvelous to me on the set and helped me a lot, since I was a novice to it all…”
“He’s a terrific guy and we’re still good friends, seeing each other socially on occasion. But Lee is my love interest.”
“With the music and dancing, doing ‘Grease’ was more like fun than work.”
She said she liked the routine of filmmaking. “I like getting up a certain time and going to the set. You don’t have that rhythm when you’re singing, because you have sessions, then you might have a concert, and then you’re on the road. I like staying in one place.”
“Also, when you’re on the stage, you’re just responsible to yourself and for yourself. You have a band behind you, but it’s basically you. In a movie, you’re really not in control; you’re in someone else’s hands.”
More from the Olivia TV special.