Movie Musical XANADU Celebrates 35th Anniversary Today

Thirty-five years ago today the Olivia Newton-John/Gene Kelly musical movie XANADU hit the theaters with a mega-smash hit soundtrack.

Over the past 3+ decades Olivia has often acknowledged that, while the movie's script had some issues, the honor of working with Gene Kelly was easily one of the highlights of an already stellar career.

She's also quick to note how successful the soundtrack for the film scored on the music charts.

The soundtrack album hit #2 in the UK and #4 in the US. It was certified Double Platinum in the US and Gold in the UK, plus yielded five top 20 singles.

Three big hits for Olivia:

"Magic" –  #1 for 4 weeks on the Billboard Pop chart, and #1 for 5 weeks on the Adult Contemporary Billboard Chart
"Xanadu" –  hit #8 on the Billboard Pop chart, #2 on Billboard AC chart, and was #1 in the UK
"Suddenly" –  reached #20 on Billboard Pop chart and #4 on the Billboard AC chart

And two hits for ELO:

"All Over the World" – Electric Light Orchestra (No. 13 Pop, No. 45 AC)
"I'm Alive" – Electric Light Orchestra (No. 16 Pop, No. 48 AC, certified gold)

The cult following of the film led to the surprise success of a Broadway musical version of the film, and tonight in Las Vegas Olivia will be premiering the music video of a newly re-worked/remixed version of "Magic" with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi and dance music producer Dave Aude.

But for now, can we just sit back and take in the fabulosity that was the finale of the fab cult favorite?

I have to add - if you look closely you'll see Golden Globe winner and iconic Bob Fosse dancer Sandahl Bergman as one of Olivia's sister "muses." I worked with Sandahl for a long time and THAT was one of the great highlights of my dancing career :)