New Meets Retro in 'Xanadu' the Musical

By Madeline A'Hearn and Nolan Darnieder

For many NSCD students, the extent of what they know about the spring musical, “Xanadu,” centers on sparkly roller skates, ’80s disco balls, fluorescent colors, and Greek mythology. As it turns out, “Xanadu” is not just a brand-new musical for NSCD, but also a brand-new direction for the theater department, which is no easy feat; “75 minutes of fun” requires many more hours of preparation than you might think.

“Xanadu,” a stage musical spoof of the spectacularly failed 1980 Olivia Newton-John movie of the same name, follows an ancient Greek muse, Kira (Sophia Hardy ’25), who comes down to Earth to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny (Charlie Ver Eecke ’25). The two decide to start their own roller disco, all the while fighting against conniving Greek deities and their feelings for each other.

To some people, this lesser-known, cult classic production may seem an odd choice. But according to Julia Macholl, the musical director, a lot of factors play into choosing the musical. “[One of the] challenges especially is content,” she says. “Being a JK through 12 school, we have to be conscious of what kind of content we are putting on stage.”

For the past two years, the spring musicals have been “Chicago” and “Little Shop of Horrors,” both of which are darker and for slightly older audiences. At times, this can be a difficult balance to maintain.

“We owe it to the upper school to have our own production,” Ms. Macholl explains. “Yes, we are a JK through 12 school, but it's great to sort of waffle between content each year.”

Other factors in picking the musical include talent and set limitations, as well as the number and gender of cast members. The less-famous status of “Xanadu” is actually a positive factor; being the first high school in the area to do this show makes our theater department unique.

When asked about the infamous roller skates (one song includes the entire cast dancing on skates), Ms. Macholl admits that this wasn’t the initial plan. Originally, only a few actors would skate, but Ms. Macholl explains, “I think it's a really good cast, and the fact that they very much are the epitome of, ‘yes and,’ like you give them roller skates and they're like, ‘yes, I will do it.’”

For the backstage, set design and crew part of this production, theater tech director Austin Gruber is excited for this year's set for a special reason. “We received an extremely generous gift from an NSCD family who wishes to remain anonymous. With this gift, we were able to purchase LED lighting for not only our theater productions, but to use for all events that take place in the theater.” This long overdue update to the theater department's lighting system is particularly exciting for “Xanadu” as the flashiness and lighting effects are one of the pillars of this show. Mr. Gruber highlighted that the lighting system overhaul includes six new moving lights, a new hazer, new wash lights, new cyclorama (cyc) lights and a new lighting control board.

Mr. Gruber also touched on a not-so-new light, the ghost light, set up center stage at the end of every day. Mr. Gruber said that, “the lights never dim on Broadway” and “it was a big thing during COVID that the ghost lights stay on so the theaters never go dark.” Although ghost lights have superstitions, Mr. Gruber simply stated that “the practical use of ghost lights being put out is so people can go into the theater and get to the light switch.”

After talking with both Ms. Macholl and Mr. Gruber, it is clear that there is much to be excited about for “Xanadu’s” March 5 debut. Ms. Macholl hints, “The set design this time is, I think, probably the most, I'd say, extravagant we've done, period, here at North Shore.” Until then, we’ll just have to wait for brand-new neon stage lights to shine on pure fun in leg warmers and roller skates.