Olivia for Royalty - Australian Women's TV Weekly

SHE WAS born in England, lived more of her life there than anywhere else, and now resides in California.

Yet somehow it still seemed perfectly natural that when producers of the Royal Charity Concert, to be televised live from the Sydney Opera House on May 27 at 8pm, were considering famous Australians to be invited home to perform for the Queen, Olivia Newton-John ranked high on the list.

That's because I feel more Australian than anything else, says Livvie fondly of the country where she spent 11 years of her childhood. I still have the accent, I still think like an Australian and most of my friends are Australian. I've often thought, too, that one day I will live there again.

And on this trip home Olivia plans to get to know her adopted homeland better. I'm going to take a holiday after the Royal Charity Concert, she says. See the family, see some of Australia and New Zealand which I've never done. I particularly want to see Queensland. I'm going to buy property soon either there or in Sydney.

After the concert - which will be her only live performance this year the 31-year-old singing star is looking forward to a rest.

We spoke by telephone because she hadn't time for an in-person interview. Work had just been completed on her latest television special and she was still recording and looping the soundtrack for Xanadu, the spectacular $12-million fantasy musical in which she co-stars with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck.

It comes out in August so it will be a year's work by the time it's finished, Olivia says, letting out an audible sigh of relief.

Her first big studio production, Grease, made box-office history as the most successful musical of all time; her last album, Totally Hot, sold over two million copies. Olivia is generally regarded, by film industry pundits, as the hottest female box-office prospect of the '80s.

Yet she's far from complacent about this next big outing on celluloid. Oh yeah I mean uh YES! she laughs when asked if she's feeling nervous about Xanadu. I'm kind of excited-nervous because I think it's going to be good. But you just never know. It could be the best movie in the world and still die. There's no knowing. I tend to think on the dark side and if it goes well I'll be ecstatic, rather than expect it to be phenomenal and be disappointed.

The modesty is characteristic and so is the caution. With Olivia it's not just "look before you leap but rather, as she puts it, "think before you walk.

And that's not always good. she admonishes herself.

While Hollywood producers paced and scripts mounted in her agent's office, Olivia took two years to decide on a film follow-up to Grease, fretting that its success might have been flukey, worrying about whether such a phenomenon could be re-created.

I feel that the second movie is even more important, she says. I thought: Well, I can't really follow it so I've got to be very careful with the next one. Grease was such an incredible success I was so lucky, everything was just right,

I did get quite a few scripts but not as many as you'd think, mainly because I think they were screened before they got this far. But it was the fantasy idea of Xanadu that ap-pealed to me, and the musical element. The girl I play is a muse. not real... I liked all that. It's romantic and I'm a romantic, I guess.

It's a lovely idea. She comes to grant this guy his wish. It would be lovely, wouldn't it, to be able to grant wishes? And it's light entertainment: no violence, no blatant sex, and beautiful music. Every song in it sounds like a hit.

The score will feature several numbers written by record-producer John Farrar, a talented Australian songwriter and composer to whom Olivia gives credit for much of her astonishing success. John is married to former Bandstand star Pat Carroll, and along with dress designer Fleur Theimeyer and Olivia's big sister, Rona Newton-John, now married to actor Jeff Conaway, they are among her closest friends. Fleur, also an Australian, will design Olivia's gown for the Royal Charity Concert, and it's quite possible, Olivia says, that the whole gang will accompany her on the trip.

As well as producing all of Olivia's records, John Farrar wrote Hopelessly Devoted To You and You're The One That I Want, for Grease, the latter being the duet with John Travolta that Olivia dubs her favourite because it changed. my career, my direction.

Not that fans need reminding. but it was the final song of the picture where Olivia went through an on-screen osmosis, changing from the prim-and-proper teenage exchange student to the sexy vamp

The fact that people accepted it and liked it gave me the freedom to try new things in my music, she says. I was always scared of stretching out before. But once you let yourself go and try new things it's very rewarding. She adds with a grateful giggle: Especially if it's accepted.

Emboldened and encouraged by public approval, Olivia went on to capitalize on her new image with Totally Hot and, for the first time. her adoring public was to see sweet Livvie in backless, sequined gowns and sexy poses.

As a person, I suppose a lot of your growth comes from success, she says. Success brings confidence, and confidence makes you try new things. But I've been very lucky in my career, especially with the people with whom I've been involved. No, I don't take all the credit. A lot of other people are involved helping me choose the right direction.

Olivia, who perhaps most accurately can be called a feminine feminist one who likes the idea of equal rights and men sharing all the responsibilities at home, but doesn't enjoy some of the strident voices demanding it says she sees hope for the younger generation of males.

It's difficult for today's women and today's men to know where to stand, she says thoughtfully. Roles have changed. Women are sometimes the breadwinners, and men have to stop seeing that as a threat. If they can relax a bit- see women as women and not as role-players - it can work.

By Susan Duncan

The Royal Charity Concert at the Sydney Opera House on May 27 will be televised live by the Nine Network.