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Tri-State Theater

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In Xanadu Did Kubla Khan / A Stately Pleasure-dome Decree

The Broadway musical Xanadu will be ending its run soon, according to this story on Playbill.com:
Xanadu, the Tony-nominated musical based on the infamous flop film of the same name, will play its final performance at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre Oct. 12.

When it closes the musical will have played a total of 49 previews and 528 regular performances.
I have to admit that the movie is a guilty pleasure, if just for Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John, and friends who saw the musical on stage were surprised to find they enjoyed it. The story is silly and lightweight, but it's also sweet and the show includes some fun songs.

The good news is, the show is getting ready to go on the road - so hopefully it'll pay a visit to a nearby theatre someday soon and we can judge for ourselves.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the title of this post, it's the first two lines from the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1798 and first published in 1816. The first five lines are the most famous:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
You can read the whole thing right here. How about that - some classic literature with your theatre news. Not every blog offers that kind of service!

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