Olivia wows 'em
Olivia Newton-John UC Davis Rec Hall, Oct. 3
The bill may have read “Olivia Newton-John,” but with her most rabid fan blocking my view (and John Travolta eight feet across the aisle), better than half the show Sunday night took place on the Rec Hall floor.
At first glance, he looked just like any of the myriad concert-goers bedecked in the latest new wave/teeny bopper attire. But the minute the promoter welcomed the audience to the show and our friend raised his trembling hands to his face in disbelief and shrieked, “Oh, my GOD!!!,” there was not a doubt in my mind that this guy was nothing less than possessed.
It all became clear when the poor fellow was escorted backstage to meet Olivia, and his boyfriend explained: “Well, you see, he’s totally into Olivia.” Marching back down the aisle a few moments later, with his multitude of keys, bandanas and Olivia buttons in complete disarray, he triumphantly displayed his autographed 8x10 glossy and Polaroids that proved that he actually met Olivia - in the flesh. “I kissed her!” he screeched, “I’m her number one fan and I proved it.”
Number one fan, no doubt. Wasn’t Mark David Chapman a John Lennon fan? More on our maniac later.
The local geriatric set is out in force tonight, as is the teenaged crowd, to see Ms. Physical. The Rec Hall has been suitably transformed for the occasion, replete with mirror ball and light-inlayed staircases. It’s a bit like being space-warped into a Las Vegas showroom.
The show begins with home movies of and her past glories projected onto a large screen behind the stage. The montage is accompanied by Olivia’s back-up band winding through a instrumental medley that somewhat chronologically corresponded to the displayed image. Build to crescendo and our favorite exercise instructor, clad in a black sequinned mini-dress and black. boots, bursts through the screen to the strains of “Deeper Than the Night”.
In what basically amounted to a series of oldies, Olivia delivered, with the same tired perfection, “Have You Never Been Mellow,” “Let Me Be There.” “Please Mister, Please” and a few of the other pop gems that molded her early career. End part I with “Xanadu,” and exit stage center to a burst of smoke and cheap explosion effects. Our friend in front of us leaps to his feet screaming, and after some fervent applause, crumbles to his seat in ecstasy, spasmodically twitching until the excitement wears off.
To keep the show clipping at its already torrid pace, Tom Scott and his Lawrence Welk combo mark a breathy beat while changes into her next daring costume somewhere in the bowels of the stage. It’s booties and a rehash of her last one in fuschia. Ohmigod, I can see Gucci shaking in his slippers.
Next she launches into a heart-wrenching rendition of another tune from “Xanadu,” “Magic.” When it ends, Olivia goggles and golly-gees at all of the loving applause that the adoring crowd is showering upon her lithesome person. Fawn, fawn, lawn.
Now, she’s gonna indulge us in some of her patented patter. Thank the stars for professional scriptwriters who really know how to make an audience feel loved. Olivia’s delivery isn’t t00 bad. Feigned spontaneity is difficult, you know.
Duet time, folks. “Suddenly,” on opposite sides of the stage, Olivia on the right (appropos) and back-up singer Dennis Tufano on the left sink down their respective staircases to play the star struck lovers, holding hands on the inside and pouring the syrup into their wireless mikes tightly clutched on the outside.
I’d like to meet the people who generate these kinds of shows. The dialogue that must flow during the fabrication of concept must be a fascinating study in marketing tactics and audience-baiting and manipulation.
But they really mucked up when it came to the unannounced appearance by John Travolta. He got up in the middle of the show (with his pair of bodyguards) and made his way to stage, walking past hundreds of concert goers so engrossed in that they were totally oblivious to his presence Those of us in the know were expecting it already, but when?
Of course, “You’re the One That I Want” Olivia and Dennis start it off, go skipping backstage together, John and Dennis make a quick switch, they come back on, and the audience would have gone bananas. Well, as bananas as a contemporary music crowd can get. But nooo Olivia and Dennis finish off the song chop-chop, she changes into white shorts and a UCD shirt and it’s a moving version of “Physical,” with all the verve and charge of a particularly exciting episode of “The Richard Simmons Show.”
The surprise is totally blown by an absurdly obvious introduction and Travolta is wasted on a throwaway sing-along on “Physical” Oh, well.
One final note: Travolta’s appearance was the only low-point in our maniac’s evening (not counting the innumerable spats with his boyfriend). He threw himself into a terrible funk when John and Olivia kissed. But when the show was over, he slumped into his chair, his eyes glazed, looking quite like a close friend had died. Until the next show….
By Scott Vanderbilt, arts editor
Photo caption: Olivia Newton-John, in all of her physical splendor, delivered a thoroughly professional and crowd-pleasing show to 6900 delighted fans last Sunday night in the Rec Hall. Unfortunately, it was utterly forgettable. In fact, I'm not even sure it was Sunday. Maybe it was Saturday....
Jaded hack gets so carried away with the snark that he gets a dressing down from the boss
Clarification
The California Aggie ran the wrong version of Friday’s Olivia Newton-John concert review. The unedited version that appeared made unintended implications about one spectator’s sexual preference. The Aggie apologizes for any confusion this error may have caused.