It's Her Party - 4 Front

Olivia Newton-John gets physical with 4-FRONT, returns from personal tragedy and faces the next big step in her career -A COMEBACK!

By Ramzi M. Salti, Ph.D.

Olivia Newton-John returns to the limelight with her latest movie, It's My Party and a slew of recording projects on the horizon.

If white bread could sing it would sound like Olivia Newton-John quipped a seventies critic in describing the image and career of the legendary pop icon who, for more than a decade, took America by storm. Such was the image of Olivia Newton-John during the seventies and early eighties, an image of sweetness and girl-next-door innocence that earned her unparalleled mainstream appeal and millions of fans worldwide. It was also an image that stuck so well to the British born, Australian raised entertainer that she has had to fight hard in order to shed it in recent years as she attempted to broach more sobering social issues ranging from AIDS and the environment to her own battle against breast cancer in 1992 an experience which the entertainer has chosen to discuss publicly in the hopes of helping others who may be going through similar ordeals.

If you had told me a few years ago that I would talk about something so intimate, I would have cringed, said the entertainer in a recent speech at the Fire and Ice Ball in Beverly Hills, an event that raised $1.6 million for the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program. But I really felt when I discovered I had breast cancer that I owed it to myself and to other women to be open about it, to talk about it, and to show that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.

At 47, the four time Grammy winner who starred opposite John Travolta in Grease the highest grossing musical motion picture of all time is more outspoken, self-assured, and content with life than ever before, a far cry from the pop diva who once ruled the charts with such MOR hits as I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow, You're The One That I Want, Magic and Physical.

Today's Olivia Newton-John represents the unyielding portrait of a survivor whose life has been enriched by the difficult battles she has had to fight in recent years. She has survived her much publicized bout with breast cancer, the collapse of her Koala Blue clothing empire which at one point operated over 50 franchises worldwide, and her separation from her husband of eleven years Matt Lattanzi with whom she shares custody of their ten year old daughter Chloe.

Once you've faced death, or the possibility of it, you realize you can get through anything.

Through it all, Newton-John has emerged triumphant, throwing herself back into the limelight with remarkable vigor and an unmistakable joie de vivre. Once you've faced death, or the possibility of it, you realize you can get through anything, she said in a recent interview. It made me stronger and more compassionate for other people and more understanding of what it's like to suffer. I've had a very charmed life, I've been lucky. That was a big challenge to get through and I feel very fortunate that I did.

The impressive number of artistic projects she has recently undertaken are a clear indication of her new priorities and lease on life. In fact, she seems destined for a Travolta-like comeback with a slew of upcoming endeavors which include the upcoming US release of her album Gaia: One Woman's Journey-a collection of songs written by Newton-John which primarily focus on her experience with breast cancer and the premiere of her latest film It's My Party, a gay themed movie based on the life of decorator Harry Stein who chose to end his struggle against AIDS himself after throwing a farewell bash that became the talk of the town.

Another incentive for Newton-John to star in It's My Party was the chance to work once again with openly gay director Randall Kleiser, who had directed the singer/actress so brilliantly in Grease. When she was approached to participate in his latest venture, Newton-John felt immediately attracted to film's themes. This film is about celebrating friends and family, she says. It's about love and caring for people; it's about loss and reunion. The character of Nick epitomizes probably thousands of men and women in the world who have AIDS and want to be allowed to die with dignity.

Also contributing to the tight knit atmosphere on the set were other cast and crew members with whom Newton-John seems to have permanently bonded. Among them is actor Gregory Harrison, with whom she had starred in the successful TV movie A Christmas Romance; Margaret Cho, who admits to having been obsessed with Olivia after seeing Grease 42 times; Eric Roberts, whom Newton-John has described as a very thoughtful actor and executive producer Gregory Hinton who, at 42, has shown great integrity in speaking out about his own status as a Hollywood producer who happens to be openly gay and HIV positive. Also starring in the movie are Bruce Davison, Lee Grant, Devon Gummersall, Marlee Matlin, Roddy McDowall, Bronson Pinchot, Paul Regina, and George Segal.

In addition to her acting in the film, Newton-John has contributed a song to the soundtrack called Don't Cut Me Down, a tune she wrote herself and initially intended as an ecological message against the excessive cutting down of trees. The words to the song seem to lend themselves equally well to the plight of people living with AIDS and the way they have often been shunned by a fearful society: Don't cut me down/ For I am innocent/ Don't cut me down/I am your friend/1 sigh when the four winds blow/I cry when the cool rains fall/ I shine in the moonlight's glow/ I am a home for the great and small.

If all goes well, the inclusion of that track on the It's My Party soundtrack should heighten interest in Newton-John's forthcoming US release of Gaia: One Woman's Journey, an album which has already been certified gold in Australia where it debuted in 1994. This deeply personal work, which includes Don't Cut Me Down, marks the first time that Newton-John has written all the lyrics and music to any of her albums herself, the result being a spectacular collection of songs that advocate self-trust, social tolerance, and inner strength.

I find it painful that people are so unaccepting of each other's beliefs, she writes in her introduction to The Way of Love, a theme that is echoed by other tracks on the album, all of which reflect the singer's growing consciousness and open-ness to different world philosophies and religions.

I'm not religious so to speak, she admits. But I'd say I was spiritual and I believe in a higher power. There is something definitely. Her spiritual inquiry has led Newton-John to explore the teachings of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, whose gala she attended in 1993, donating money to help his cause. In addition, she has often credited various Eastern philosophies in empowering her in her fight against cancer.

Her song has been adopted by many Aussie gays and lesbians as an anthem for coming out to friends and family by celebrating one's true identity:

Yet the most poignant track on Gaia is undoubtedly Trust Yourself, a song that has been adopted by many Aussie gays and lesbians as an anthem for coming out to friends and family by celebrating one's true identity: I need to tell the truth/ I can't lie anymore/ I need to do what's right/ I know that's what my life is for/And as life goes on/ Can we still be friends/ Don't let this circumstance/Cause our friendship to end.

/p>.Though the singer may not have intended to broach the theme of gay liberation in that song. its inclusion on the album has heightened long standing rumors concerning Newton-John's own sexual orientation. I don't care what anybody's sexuality is; it's their business, she has retorted. I find it quite amusing that they had to think of something about me, so that's what it was.

Regardless of such rumors, Newton-John has long supported causes that go to the heart of the gay community, particularly AIDS. In 1981, she shocked the nation with her tongue-in-cheek Physical video which featured male bodybuilders walking out of the gym hand in hand (the song itself was banned on certain radio stations in Utah for its 'explicit lyrics). In 1988, she recorded a song for her album The Rumour called Love and Let Live in which she stresses the importance of AIDS awareness and safe sex Two lovers watch the news/ They've got more than love to lose/ As they lay there under cover/Do they really know each other?/ The search is not the same now/It's more than just a game now/ Love and let live/ It can thrill you, fulfill you /But lately it can kill you/Love and let live.

In 1989, she joined a host of celebrities at an AIDS benefit in Washington benefiting the Pediatric AIDS foundation. In 1993, a portion of the proceeds from the publication of her children's book A Pig Tale went to benefit the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS (DIFFA).

Such support for AIDS causes reached its peak when, during the course of a DIFFA benefit in 1992, an emotional Newton-John publicly admitted to her initial fear of AIDS, stressing the misconceptions and ignorance which made her, not unlike others in the mid-eighties, fear a disease she knew little about.

I was very fearful and nervous when I heard about AIDS in the beginning. I feel guilty about it now because a friend of mine [Armando Casio) whom I love very much had AIDS and I didn't see him because I was fearful. The knowledge was so limited at that stage that even doctors told me to stay away, and I was pregnant, so all those things reinforced my fear. Then the more you stay away, the more you feel guilty about calling up; then the person's really ill and you feel like you can't call them now because you've left them all this time. I'll always have that regret in my heart that I didn't make contact with him.

In an attempt to compensate for her self-admitted guilt, Newton-John went on to dedicate her song, I Honestly Love You (written by Peter Allen who himself succumbed to the disease in 1992) to her late friend, Armando Casio. More than just a friend, Casio had also been the singer's long standing hairdresser/makeup artist and had played the male lead in Newton-John's 1984 video clip Shaking You. The performance at that benefit earned her a standing ovation by an audience who seemed to generally appreciate her frank and difficult admission.

Yet Newton-John's efforts benefiting AIDS may pale in comparison to her support of various cancer research projects and organizations. Even before her own diagnosis with breast cancer in 1992, she was actively involved in the Colette Chuda Environment Fund, established by Newton-John's close friend Nancy Chuda whose daughter Colette died of Wilm's tumor, a rare children's cancer, in 1991. That tragic event was followed by the death of Newton-John's father from liver cancer in July 92, the same week that the singer found out about her own diagnosis.

With her months of grieving and chemotherapy well behind her by now, Olivia Newton-John looks radiantly healthy as she embarks on her comeback journey. She is already back on the British charts thanks to her latest duet with Cliff Richard Had To Be taken off Richard's Songs from Heathcliff, a musical stage project in which Newton-John, who recorded the female lead for the CD, is not involved.

In the US, she has written and recorded a song for her daughter Chloe, Christmas Never Felt Like This which appears on the compilation album Mother and Child. She has also recently attended the Sundance Film Festival premiere of It's My Party which opened to critical acclaim. If the movie is indeed successful, then 1996 may just prove to be the year for the 'Wonder from Down Under' to party all over again.

It's My Party, United Artists

It's My Party, a film that basically spans the last two days of handsome architect, Nick Stark (played with absolute compassion and earnest by Eric Roberts, in definitely his best role since The Coca Cola Kid) is in all honesty no party. The movie is very difficult to watch if you've ever known anyone who is dying of any terminal illness, in this case it's AIDS.

That said, the movie gives the opportunity of speaking to a mainstream audience universally, and may be able to find a broad audience, if marketed and distributed well.

In the first third of the movie we are introduced to Nick Stark, his partner, Brandon (played by Gregory Harrison), and the intimate people that make up his life. We watch the feelings of separation that develop between the two men, after we learn that Nick has tested positive. We see the love that bonds people to Nick. The problem with this third is that it never really works. In many ways this could have been dealt with at the actual party, but all this is just a buildup to when Nick decides (after learning that he has lesions located on his brain) to throw himself a party and to leave this world with dignity and grace by committing suicide with the aid of a trusted friend.

The last two-thirds of the movie are what really make the movie work, at the party. We are taken through a deliberate slow pace of Nick's last two days. Here we really meet the people that make up this character's life; from all the friends and family that are just peripheral, to the ones that Nick truly must give up. They in turn must give him up in his decision to take his own life before the lesions make him a comatose vegetable.

Randal Kleiser, the writer and director of this semi-autobiographical independent feature, also produced some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters (Grease, Blue Lagoon), really must have pulled out his Tinseltown Rolodex to cast this labor of love. We are given a party that would rival any true to life Hollywood party with a supporting cast that features Margaret Cho, Olivia Newton-John, George Segal, Lee Grant, Marlee Matlin, Bronson Pinchot, Bruce Davison and cameos by Chistopher Atkins, Cassandra Peterson, Nina Foch, Sally Kellerman, Roddy McDowall, Dennis Christopher, with the list still continuing. The issue is that none of them are really any good, but that still is really not a problem. They're just coming and going without giving any real substance to the film. Again it must be said that this is a party no matter what context the party is going under.

The movie is a small slice of a dying man's life and in most movies that would fall under this particular genre, our emotions as a filmgoer would be subjected to the manipulations of the screenwriter and the director. Not here. I commend Mr. Kleiser for this. Since he knows the audience for this film, he has given us the opportunity for all the lessons and philosophical essays to be short and brief. He knows that many of us have already been there.

It's My Party will probably fall into the gay cinema genre dealing with AIDS. Unlike many of these films, such as Philadelphia (dealt with AIDS and homophobia) or perhaps Longtime Companion (dealt with AIDS and the reason why it exists) the subject rarely comes up. All the characters were written, not as people who were on some deserted island for the past decade, but as intelligent human beings. If a comparison is to be made, it should be made to 1994's Grief (directed by Richard Glatzer), another labor of love that had the main character trying to get on with his life, a year after his partner's passing. This film would actually be a prequel.

I recommend seeing this movie. What comes through the entire production is the love for this film. It is also nice to know that as Hollywood budgets for films continue to hit the stratosphere, that a film made with little money can still make you feel so much.

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