Oh Xanadu. If only I was a 40-year-old gay man, I would have, could have loved you. I would delight in your sequins and disco balls, your glow sticks and roller skates. Giggled at the strutting “sisters” who offer plenty of finger wagging and “Uh uh, no she didn’t!”s. Because Xanadu—a Broadway musical about a boy and his muse making art and making out in 1980s Venice Beach—is camp of the highest order. The writers even admit to it in the best line of the show: “This is children’s theater for 40-year-old gay men.”

Xanadu bills itself as Broadway’s “surprise hit musical,” like even its creators are blown away by how well it’s been doing. Admittedly, when it opened in 2007, it benefited from the 1,000-watt charm of Cheyenne Jackson as Sonny, a bumbling Bill-and-Ted hybrid who wears scandalously short cutoff jeans and wants to build a place that celebrates art: a roller disco. Jackson has since gone on to star in hit Broadway revival Finian’s Rainbow and on NBC’s 30 Rock (he’s the robot), leaving the show wanting for star power.

In this national tour, under the direction of Christopher Ashley (La Jolla Playhouse), the cast is solid, but the jokes they deliver are practically vaudevillian. Some of the biggest laughs came when Kyra (Elizabeth Stanley), a rollerskating demigod who comes down from Mount Olympus to inspire Sonny, employs an outrageously exaggerated Australian accent (a nod to Olivia Newton-John, who starred as Kyra in the 1980 film version of Xanadu ). Other gags involved audience members—a select few sat onstage last night, including the Rat City Rollergirls. Cast members would nibble on their arms, give them massages, sit next to them and eat popcorn. It’s so silly, it makes Legally Blonde look like an Ibsen play. But the show got a standing ovation. Clearly, it wasn’t written for me—it was written for the girl next to me in leg warmers, a purple sweater, and a side-ponytail. And, of course, 40-year-old gay men.

Xanadu runs through January 24 at Paramount Theatre. For ideas on ‘80s attire to wear to the show, check out Style Editor Laura Cassidy’s blog Where What When.