Survivor -- wait, no, thriver -- Olivia Newton-John is the perfect headliner for L.A. Gay Pride
Olivia Newton John wasn’t on roller skates when she opened her gay pride set with the theme from Xanadu -- but her crowd was definitely in a spin. “I’m proud to be here,” she yelled, shimmying around the stage, wearing a slick tuxedo suit and black sequined vest, looking like Madonna’s slightly older, friendlier sister.
Olivia Newton John kept a low profile after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, in the same week her father passed away. Subsequent financial woes and separation from her husband kept her out of the limelight for a stretch. But she’s been increasingly visible, playing Sydney Mardi Gras in February and recently returning from a fund-raising walk along the Great Wall of China, trudging 200 kilometers in 21 days to raise money for the Olivia Newton-John Breast Cancer Center in Australia.
Her closing night Gay Pride L.A. show came ahead of the June 24 DVD rerelease of Xanadu and the July 23 launch of Logo’s Sordid Lives series in which she stars. Based on Del Shores’s 1996 play and 2000 film, the series brings us Newton-John as a mulleted, ex-con bar singer named Bitsy Mae Harling.
There were no mullets (onstage, at least) on Sunday -- just classic pop hit after classic pop hit, with Newton-John performing four songs from her two most beloved movies: Xanadu and Grease. When she launched into “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” a thousand queer voices rose in the air in a collective “But, now -- there’s nowhere to hide, since you pushed my love aside!” and when she donned a cropped leather biker jacket for “You’re the One That I Want,” West Hollywood knew all the words, roaring the immortal “You better shape up, cause I need a man … who can keep me satisfied!”
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Ryder is a frequent contributor to The Advocate.