Olivia Newton-John Hopelessly devoted to being herself despite potential of 'Xanadu'
The old-style musical spectacular is taking a comeback and Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly think the timing is perfect.
Both star in the $16-million movie “Xanadu,” due for release this summer, and a front-runner in a pock of productions.
Also due out are John Travolta’s “Urhan Cow hoy: John Belushi’s “The Blues Brothers,” with Dan Aykroyd; “Can’t Stop the Music,” with the Village People, and “The Jazz Singer,” with Neil Diamond and Lacie Arnaz.
In preparation are “Chorus Line,” “Annie,” “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and the biggest of them all, Ralph Bakshi’s animated presentation covering five generations of American music.
“I never thought I’d see it happen,” says 67-year-old Kelly, “much less still be dancing”.
Musicals, it seems, are most most popular in hard times, which might explain their current rebirth.
As one studio executive has noted: “When people are making money and putting swimming pools in their backyard, you give ‘em realism, blood and guts all the way, when depressions take away swimming pools, and blood and guts looks like becoming reality, then you give ‘em escape. You make musicals.” For Newton-John, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
When “Xanadu” came along, she was already getting wide e exposure in “Grease,” which became one of the largest grossing pictures in Hollywood history.
Naturally, “Grease” producer Allan Carr made a bid for her services again in “Can’t Stop the Music,” but he had a falling out out with her manager, and then-boyfriend, Lee Kramer.
So Olivia moved on to “Xanadu, thrilled at the prospect of working with her “all-time idol,” Kelly, while Carr signed Valerie Perrine in her place.
Today, Lee Kramer is confident Newton-John is in the right picture, on which he served as executive producer, “a musical on the scope of days gone by, a blend of the ’40s and the ’80s.”
If this film is the hit he forecasts, it will mean a whole new career for Olivia Newton-John, whose singing has plateaued, with the challenge of other female vocalists lists like Deborah Harry.
Certainly, it is a suitable second act to “Grease.” She says: “I knew this movie was right for me, even before I read the script. It’s a good story, a good idea, and it has Gene Kelly.”
But if it’s anybody’s vehicle, it will be Olivia’s, who is is so sure it will start a trend that she has been dancing solid for almost a year, to be ready for follow-up action.
Regardless, here is a woman who has already notched up success extraordinary even by Hollywood standards, remaining for almost a decade one of the hottest selling singers in the world.
Yet, she is not at all swept up with fame and fortune, still speaking in her native Australian accent, walking in delivering sentences while her “a’s” are still in the parking lot. Her fortune is in glamour, but her heart is in a rural life in Malibu, where she shares a ranch with a bunch of horses and dogs.
She explains: “You can let fame change you, but I’ve come this far, so I’m not suddenly going to be different. Success is something people see from the outside, but I am still the same inside, still have the same friends, still do the same things.”
“And I’ve always been that way. When I was starting out, I went to singing lessons and the man wanted me to change the way I sounded, so I didn’t go back.”
“And when I came to the United States, my accent worked against me for a while. I was told to lose it, but I didn’t want to. I fear that if I change my accent, I am not being me. What has happened to me has happened around me, which is how I want it and how it will stay.”
“Unless you start believing your own publicity handouts, fame is not going to affect you as a person”.
One big change she has made this year is in her personal life, calling off her romance with Lee Kramer, which began 10 years ago when she worked in London.
This is confirmed by Kramer, who says: “There is no longer romantic involvement, but we’re still the very closest of friends and, of course, I’m still her manager”.
“We’re on the same side of the fence, supporting each other. We’re real partners”
Olivia declines to discuss the breakup, but she does credit Kramer for much of her current success.
By Colin Dangaard Special to the Press Gazette