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Santa Catalina School Theatre Arts found inspiration in a time of leg warmers and roller skates for the spring musical, Xanadu.

The musical is a parody of the 1980 movie starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly—a campy, funny, silly story about love and art.

Sonny (C.C. Shaw ’23) is an artist in need of a muse. So Clio, leader of muses, arrives in Santa Monica to help him, disguising herself as an Australian named Kira (Anna Halim ’25, adopting a hilariously exaggerated accent). Sonny’s great artistic dream is to open a roller disco, and he finds the perfect location in a dilapidated auditorium, the Xanadu, owned by former big band musician Danny Maguire (Eva Ushakoff ’24). As they begin to transform the theatre, Kira finds herself falling in love with Sonny and wanting to create her own work of art, both of which are forbidden by the god Zeus (Ainsley DiNunzio ’25). Two jealous sister muses—Calliope (Charlotte Juge ’23) and Melpomene (Rehema Kiama ’24)—also threaten to stand in the way.

With music from the original hit soundtrack and lots of ’80s flare, Xanadu is just plain fun. The show featured a lot of impressive dance numbers, including a tap-dancing flashback of young Danny (Delphinia Hayward ’26) and a mashup of what the Xanadu could have been and what Sonny hopes it will be. And from the colorful, over-the-top muses to the Greek chorus on stage throughout the show, everyone understood the assignment: lean into the camp and let the ridiculousness work its magic.

There are still three shows left. Get your tickets today.

See photos from Xanadu on SmugMug.