The Original Kylie Shows the City of Angels a Good Time
Survivor -- wait,
no, thriver -- Olivia Newton-John is the perfect
headliner for L.A. Gay Pride
An Advocate.com exclusive posted June 10, 2008
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!”
Ryder is a frequent contributor to The
Advocate.
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