Olivia to perform Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Sept 15 1982, interview - Pittsburgh Press

SEE Julie Andrews trip through Alpine meadows in The Sound of Music and fly over London thanks to her magic umbrella in Mary Poppins -the hills were alive and a spoonful of sugar made the medicine go down.

See Julie Andrews become a female impersonator in Victor/Victoria and bare her breasts, albeit very briefly, in S.0.B. - my, how we have changed, to a lot of fans displeasure.

Hear Olivia Newton-John sing Let Me Be There and I Honestly Love You in a voice once described as a singing bunny from a 1930s cartoon and with that long. bouncy blond hair and saccharin-sweet face, she was prom queen, girl-next-door and china doll rolled into one.

Now hear Olivia Newton-John sing Physical- Let's get physical... let me hear your body talk. Hmmm. And see her bask in the Hawaiian surf in a skimpy white bikini which leaves absolutely no doubt she's a woman. Double hmmm. How we have changed.

But to very little fan displeasure. And not by design, either.

It really just kind of happened, says Miss Newton-John, who makes her Pittsburgh concert debut at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Civic Arena. Her voice is unbelievably bright, bubbly and is punctuated with self-conscious giggles.

When we found the song 'Physical. I loved it. I was a bit nervous about it at first because it was so very different for me and so daring, but it sounded like a hit record and everyone wants one of those, and it seemed perfect for the '80s.

I was feeling very happy and very free, and I'm very big on physical fitness. It wasn't a contrived thing. When we went to do the graphics, we wanted an outside physical activity where it looked like I was working out, so we went to a beach in Hawaii for two or three weeks and shot the film there.

I had had my hair cut before. I was bored with my hair, bored with the way I looked. The new hair was just more the way I was feeling.

From the girl you'd want to take home to Mother to one you'd rather take home to Father. But the change didn't sit well with everyone.

I have had a few letters, Miss Newton-John, 33, says. My fan club lady always sends me the ones that are negative, but comparison to the ones that were positive they were negligible. Perhaps half a dozen fans wanted to remember me the way I used to be even though they liked the music. That was inevitable. I knew that would happen. I just hoped to pick up some new fans on the way.

By her own admission and choice - however, this may be her last chance to win new ones via concerts.

I thought I would never tour again, and I said I would never tour again, she says. When we made Physical, I said, foolishly now, If the album is a big success I will do a tour, thinking I would be safe, not knowing how big it would be.

Then Physical was doing well and I was supposed to do a movie this summer that fell through and my boyfriend was working, so I thought I'd go on tour this summer. I thought I'd set a goal for myself - I like to set goals for myself and get my voice back in shape and get a great band together and do it.

It may be my last opportunity. I'm doing this for my fans. Most of the letters I get ask me when I will appear again in their part of the country. They want to see me.

When you become popular, you also have a growing desire not to disappoint the people who buy your records or see your movies. I've done about everything I could dream of in recording, films and television. I'm afraid of becoming complacent. So my personal goal at the moment is to see if I can do it all over again.

Miss Newton-John, like the Bee Gees, was born in England but moved to Australia at an early age. She was raised in Melbourne, and although she came from a highly academic family (her grandfather, physicist Max Born, shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1954, and her father was headmaster of Ormond College in Melbourne), music, not higher learning, was her calling.

She began writing songs at the family piano and, at the age of 14, formed a singing group called the Sol Four with three girlfriends. They broke up when singing interfered with school work.

Still, music was what Miss Newton-John wanted, so during the mid-'60s she sang in her brother-in-law's coffee house. At a customer's suggestion, she entered a talent contest sponsored by Australian recording star Johnny O'Keefe and won first place.

The prize was a trip to London, and once there she teamed with another Australian woman, Pat Carroll, and began performing in clubs and on television. When Miss Carroll's visa expired, Miss Newton-John continued on her own, recording a duet with Cliff Richard, becoming a regular guest on his BBC-TV series It's Cliff Richard and starring in the film Tomorrow.

Her cover of Bob Dylan's If Not for You got airplay here in 1971 but wasn't a flat-out hit. It wasn't until 1973 that Let Me B There reached that status, bringing her her first Grammy and starting a string of hits which included If You Love Me, I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow?, Please Mister Please and Sam.

Then came the movie, Grease, with John Travolta. Although it took only three months to film, it took a year to release, a year in which she did no other recording: Even though she had had seven chart singles, she was afraid people had forgotten her.

Hence, an 11-city, hello-it's-me-again I'm-still-alive tour filled with phone an live radio interviews and cocktail-canapé receptions, such as the one at the Hilton Hotel here.

Nobody, of course, knew that Grease buster, producing such hits for Miss Newton-John as You're the One That I Want, Summer Nights and Hopelessly Devoted to You and launching the most successful portion of her career.

Following Grease, she appeared with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck in Xanadu. Although the movie itself was a box-office turkey, it gave her yet another hit with Magic.

As a child, Miss Newton-John once considered becoming a veterinarian because of her love for animals, a love she retains to the point where she canceled a 24-date Japanese concert tour to protest the killing of dolphins by Japanese fishermen. She did not reschedule the tour until the government assured her the situation was being rectified.

Today, she lives on a ranch in Malibu, Calif., with cats, eight dogs, seven horses and her boyfriend, actor Matt Lattanzi.

Let's Get Physical, her television special earlier this year, was viewed by 31 million Americans, and projects like that - and movies are what will fill her time if the concert stage is out.

After 'Xanadu,' I didn't want to make any more mistakes. I agreed to do that film when it was only an idea without a script. I won't do that again, Miss Newton-John says.

Now there are three or four movie possibilities. The most exciting is with John Travolta. It's a comedy with music. We'll play adults this time, not kids. I don't think we could get away with playing teenagers any more.

We've been trying to put together another movie since 'Grease, but nothing good turned up. John developed this story with his own company, and we should begin production next year.

Miss Newton-John also would enjoy a non-singing role if it were the right part. I wouldn't tackle it just because of that because there are so many fine actresses around just if the role were right for me.

One of the roles I'm considering is pretty serious, but it does have some comedy, no singing. I'd love to do a musical, but so few are being made. Maybe it's a lack of story lines or a lack of confidence by the studios in musicals. The last few haven't really worked.

I'd just like to play a grown-up (there's that giggle). I would like to do comedy because I'm a bit of a clown (giggle again). Who knows what will come along? That's the exciting part of being in this business. You never know what will happen.

There's one other thing in my future - becoming a mother and raising a family. Of course, I plan to be married before I start all that.

Olivia Newton-John plans a splashy ending to her Wednesday concert at the Civic Arena. When she goes into her finale, Let's Get Physical, the arena's done will open and fireworks will go off.

By Pete Bishop