Ask the Flying Monkey! (September 16, 2009)

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Send it to aftereltonflyingmonkey@yahoo.com! (Please include your city and state and/or country.)

Q: Does Lucy Lawless regret that they killed Xena? – Craig, Norfolk, VA

A: In fact, she does. In “A Friend in Need,” the two-part Xena: Warrior Princess series finale back in 2001, Xena allows herself to be killed, so she can become a ghost and fight a spiritual being. Later, after Gabrielle finds a way to bring Xena back to life, the Warrior-Princess heroically chooses to stay dead in order to make amends for past sins. The series ends with Gabrielle, a full-fledged warrior at last, carrying on Xena’s legacy.

Gabrielle bids farewell to Xena

But as I’m sure you know, Craig, fans were livid – both at the death itself and over the way she died, which included, um, decapitation.

“At the time, we thought that was a really strong choice,” Lawless told me recently. “I laughed when I heard she got her head cut off. It was such a strong choice — I’m perverse like that.”

But since then, Lawless has had a big change of heart.

“I think it really hurt the fans,” she says. “I wish we hadn’t done it, actually. It’s all like telling a bad placed joke, or laughing at some other group’s expense. You’re like, ‘Come on, it’s funny!’ But then it’s like, ‘But it really hurts people.’ And finally the penny drops and you go, ‘Oh. That’s why it’s not funny, because somebody is in pain.’”

Incidentally, two things struck me about my interview with Lucy. First, she’s as beautiful in person as she is on TV, but second, she’s absolutely nothing like Xena. The truth is, she’s the opposite of serious – very cheeky and irreverent, almost impish.

I’m told she’s previously compared herself to her alter-ego "Meg" on the show, and I’m not sure that’s too far off!

Q: Did Olivia Newton-John ever see the Broadway version of her musical Xanadu? What was her reaction? And was her missing boyfriend ever found? – Reid, Florida

A: “I was there opening night,” she told AfterElton.com last year. “I loved it, I thought it was wonderful.”

Olivia Newton-John in 2007 with Cheyenne Jackson at
Xanadu's Broadway Opening Night Gala

What did she think of the now-camp-classic movie at the time of its 1980 release?

“I was embarrassed by it,” she admits. “I love the music, but the script wasn’t very good, it was not well-received upon release, but people enjoyed it and it attained a different kind of status after that. Now I think it’s a hoot, and I got to dance with Gene Kelly. How amazing is that?!”

Next page! Olivia's vanishing boyfriend resurfaces, and the word on Robert Gant's Personal Affairs.