As a part of her 30 Music Years Concert Tour, she had just performed on Sept. 10 at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami, Florida. The next day suicide hijackers crashed four airliners into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania, a national disaster that took the lives of almost 3,000 people. In Dayton, I remember hearing fighter jets screaming skyward out of Wright-Patterson AFB as they patrolled the skies. All other planes were grounded by the FAA. No planes were permitted to fly anywhere in the United States. It was a very ominous time for everyone.
Meanwhile, Olivia Newton-John’s tour was celebrating her many great hits, including Summer Nights, You’re the One I Want, Physical, and Xanadu. Plus, she was still riding the wave of her role as Sandy in Grease, a movie with an original budget of $6 million that grossed more than $400 million, and had produced perhaps the best-selling album of all time.
She had previously committed to perform in Dayton on Sept. 13 at the Heart-to-Heart gala for the Kettering Medical Center Foundation to be held at the Victoria Theatre. Conscious of her own health battles, and conscious of her commitments, she was determined to make it to her next concert. Since she could not fly, she drove from Miami to Dayton and arrived in time to perform.
Her performance was mesmerizing. The Victoria Theatre was sold out. I remember how thrilled I was to even be in the audience, and how especially thrilled I was to have seats close to the stage. Olivia Newton-John walked out to a standing ovation for her mettle and grit in even making it to Dayton. She then opened her concert to a hushed audience as she spoke from her heart about the understanding, sympathy and respect she had for the victims of 9/11 and for all Americans. The love in her heart spewed out to the audience. It truly was a Heart-to-Heart experience.
That concert will always be a special part of the legacy of Olivia Newton-John as she endeared herself into the minds and hearts of our community. And for that one evening, the Victoria Theatre became a very special place, a mystical place filled with awe. It was Xanadu.
Dayton attorney Merle Wilberding is a regular contributor.
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