A musical comedy “Xanadu” was presented by the Washburn theater department at the Neese-Gray Theatre in Garvey Hall.

The play depicts the story of a young artist, Sonny Malone, who is on the verge of giving up on his life when Clio, one of the nine muses of Olympus, disguised as an Australian girl in leg warmers and roller skates comes to save him.

Joshua Jensen, a freshman music performance major, plays the lead Sonny Malone.

“So it’s kind of a star-crossed lovers story but it is set in this really funny ‘80s roller rink setting,” Jensen said. “This show is filled with slapstick comedy and just really dumb and funny and cute things.”

The play is a fantasy story, based on a book of the same name by Douglas Carter Beane. Taylor Moore, a freshman English education major, who plays Terpsicore, one of the nine muses, explains the themes surrounding the play.

“I think there are two main themes, creating art and enjoying what you’re doing, and finding true love,” Moore said.

According to the actors, the play production began in August so they have been working on the show for about two and a half months.

“We have the whole band, the crew, the costume shop, everybody’s coming together for the production and it’s been good. We‘ve all been working well together,” said Trenton Barnecott, a sophomore music education major, one of the actors.

The actors and all the production crew arrive at the theater at noon and rehearse for more than three hours daily.

“It was a very daunting task but I feel that we’ve all handled it very well and it’s going to be an amazing turnout,” said Ruby Johnson, a freshman music education major, who plays Erato, one of the nine muse sisters.

According to Jensen, he was most worried about the singing aspect of the play as he is naturally a baritone or a bass and the show has a lot of high note music. So most of his preparations were on his vocal range.

“I hope they enjoy the music as well because it’s a lot of really cool music. But definitely, the main goal I think is just getting a lot of laughs and having a good time,” Barnecott said.

The cast of the play hopes that the audience has a good laugh and just enjoy their time as much as the cast did delivering the play.

“It’s just so heartwarming honestly. It’s really cool that a bunch of us love theater and have come together to make stuff like this,” said Lesley Ayala, a senior integrated studies major, playing Euterpe, one of the muse sisters.

During the show on Friday Nov.10 several audience members shared their thoughts about the play. One of the audience members of the play was Georgina Tenny, senior lecturer in modern languages.

“Actually Madeline Dumber, who played the evil woman, works in our department so I came to support her and I found two of my students here and that was extra special,” Tenny said. “[I] thought they were amazing. It was funny, entertaining and I really enjoyed it.”

Another one of the spectators was Torey Lightcap, who had come with his family to watch the show after hearing about it on Facebook. He also had similar thoughts about the show. He enjoyed the quirky bits of the play and especially liked how they portrayed the necessity of art.

The remaining show dates are Nov.16, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov.19 at 2 p.m. in the Neese-Gray Theatre. For more event and ticket details go on the Xanadu event details website and more can be found at Washburn Theatre Department.

Read more about the behind the scenes of the “Xanadu” play here.

Edited by Sydney Peterson and Morgan Albrecht