Here's a bit more information on WonderRobbie....from the New York Post.
CAN'T 'XANADU' IT ENOUGH
By MANDY STADTMILLER
October 16, 2007 -- BRANDON Purves has seen the Broadway musical "Xanadu" 85 times. (A similar though lesser achievement, he's seen the film 500 times.) He still cries when the cast sings "Suspended in Time."
He is what is known in theater circles as a "Fanadu." These are the ultra-super-die-hard fans of the '80s roller-skating fantasia turned genuinely hysterical Broadway play currently enjoying its fourth month of a successful run at the Helen Hayes Theatre.
"Fanadu is a bit generic now," Purves delicately chides me at the outset of our interview. "I prefer Du Crew."
Of course he does.
"We're die-hard fans," the 28-year-old Du Crew member elaborates, "not the creepy stalker-types you sometimes encounter with these things. The show is amazing. The writing is brilliant. It's hilarious. Why wouldn't you want to see it multiple times?"
Describing herself as "probably Queen Fanadu," 36-year-old Heather Hoban has seen the play 21 times - even though it's meant commuting from Los Angeles where she resides as a singer-songwriter.
"I'd be there every night if I could," she offers. "It's a combination of things - the music, the dancing, the cast, the colors, the costumes, the clever ideas, the innocence, the way it's put together. It has a mysterious quality that draws you in."
The cult appeal of "Xanadu" extends even to those who've never seen the original movie. Huge Disney buffs with a young "Xana-Baby" (their words), Andrew and Mei Francese are so devoted to the play, and specifically to the hilarious charm of star Kerry Butler, that they swap baby-sitting duties and go see the play solo. Between the two of them, they've seen the show 60 times.
"I was at the theater opening night," says Andrew Francese, a 40-year-old insurance underwriter from Brooklyn. He and Mei bought all the cast members Build-A-Bears dressed as their characters. "CNN used my line that the show was like a 'large Zoloft,' the cure for depression," he says.
Don't believe the Franceses?
Then take WonderRobbie's word for it. Rob Tursi, a k a WonderRobbie, is a 26-year-old real estate secretary from Long Island who describes the show as a "90-minute slice of pure joy and happiness that I need in my life." He should get a cut of the action, considering the YouTube video he taped as a "review" of the show has had more than 6,000 hits and been directly responsible for several audience members attending.
"Now when I go to the show, people stop me in the line and say, 'Hey, aren't you WonderRobbie? I loved your review! That's why I'm here now!'" he explains. "I guess my Xana-ddiction is infectious, and I couldn't be prouder."
Kind of like when he actually met the woman who is the Holy Grail for anyone who would give serious thought to the question "Are you a Fanadu or a member of the Du Crew?" That would be the opening-night meeting with the mystical, muselike Australian creature that is Olivia Newton-John.
"I didn't have anything to sign," he recalls fondly. "But she said 'Hi' to me, and that was all I needed. I think I teared up a little."
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