We had a minor moment of panic the other day when Access Hollywood reported that Kristen Bell was up for the lead role in the stage version of Xanadu.
For those of you not familiar with the cheese-a-rific 80’s flick, the cinematic masterpiece featured Olivia Newton-John as a roller-skating muse who comes to earth to inspire a down-on-his-luck artists and an elderly dance gent to open the world’s most bitchin’ multi-level, multi-themed roller rink. But that description just scratches the surface. Other vital facts about the flick: It was dance legend Gene Kelly’s last film. The soundtrack was provided by ELO. There was an animated sequence.
In the filmmakers’ defense, it was 1980 and we imagine there were a lot of drugs floating around Hollywood at the time. How else could something so wrong get made? What we can’t figure out is who thought it would be a good idea to take a dreadful, dreadfully dated movie and put it on stage – and why Kristen Bell would ever want to strap on Kira’s skates.
Well, shows what we know for getting our news from Access Hollywood – the role went to Kerry Butler, recently seen on One Life to Live. Kristen will spend her time pursuing other projects – perhaps an interpretive dance version of the Jackie Gleason/Carol Channing/Groucho Marx counterculture train wreck Skiddoo?
But the news got us thinking – what stage versions of big-screen movies would you like to see your favorite CW stars in? We can see Kristen rocking any of the Molly Ringwald roles if any of the John Hughes oeuvre hits the Great White Way. Or how about Jensen Ackles as a singing, dancing Indiana Jones? We could totally see him belting out the heartfelt ballad “Snakes (Why’d it have to be snakes)”?
Which CW star would you cast in the next big stage remake on Broadway? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Kristen Bell's style choices have ranged from wild, almost overwhelming prints and weirdly constructed gowns to the lovely look she sports at right (yes, we're fans of old-school red lips). 
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