From the Archives: Hopelessly devoted to her? Then see Newton-John with the symphony

Olivia Newton-John will perform Saturday with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall.
Olivia Newton-John will perform Saturday with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared Dec. 1, 2012. It is being reprinted today to commemorate the life of Olivia Newton-John.

PITTSBURGH — Olivia Newton-John won’t tinker much with her hit songs when she performs them Saturday with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

“I’ve sang my songs with symphonies before, and they sound lovely,” Newton-John said. “There are no extra challenges, just beautiful additions.

Even with all those symphony cellos, violins and horns at her side, “I do the songs like people remember them and expect them to sound,” Newton-John said. “I mean, I might have heard me sing a song 500 times before, but the audience hasn’t.”

And so the Heinz Hall show won’t be as artistically daring as, say, squeezing into skin-tight pants as she did for 1978’s “Grease,” or writhing around a shower in a leotard singing “Let’s Get Physical,” as famously done in her 1981 music video.

Both those actions brought shock value to a career that until then had been built solidly upon soft-rock hits like “I Honestly Love You,” “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “Please Mr. Please.”

Her late-scene “Grease” transformation — from sweet Sandy to sexpot Sandy — was a calculated risk.

“Spandex was something new then, although that outfit was from the ’50s and was something amazing that had been found in the wardrobe department,” Newton-John recalled in a phone interview. “I was nervous about wearing it, but that was one of the things that intrigued me most about the character, too. But it was nerve-wracking when I first came out on the set, because everyone up to then was used to seeing me as nice Sandy, but when I saw the reaction from the crew, I was like, ‘Wow, what have I been doing up until now?’ “

Newton-John remembered getting cold feet after she finished recording “Let’s Get Physical,” too.

“I panicked and called my manager and said we should pull it, I think it’s too racy, but he said, ‘Too late, it already went to radio,’ “ Newton-John said. “And, of course, it went straight to No. 1 and stayed there for 10 weeks, and was No. 1 in a number of other countries. So it was just like doing ‘Grease’ — I was reticent about doing it, but they became the two biggest things I ever did.”

She said the lesson to be learned is that sometimes you’ve got to take risks.

Her latest challenge is “This Christmas,” a joint holiday album with her “Grease” co-star and friend John Travolta. They perform as a duet for the first time since their movie came out nearly 35 years ago.

Released Nov. 13, the album also includes guest stars Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Kenny G and James Taylor, though the biggest buzz is for the one original song, “I Think You Might Like It,” a sequel to one of their “Grease” duets, “You’re the One That I Want” penned by the same writer, John Farrar.

Plans for the Christmas album were hatched last Christmas, when Newton-John sent a text message to Travolta noting that “You’re the One That I Want” had just become the best-selling duet in pop music history.

“He texted back and said, ‘Hey, I have a thought: What if we sang a Christmas duet together?’” Newton-John said. “I thought about it and said, ‘Hey, why don’t we do a whole Christmas album for charity?’”

Artists proceeds from “This Christmas” will be divided between the Jett Travolta Foundation combating children’s disabilities such as autism, and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

While recording the album “We all felt a wonderful, joyful energy,” said Newton-John, who overcame breast cancer in the early 1990s.

Alas, she isn’t planning to sing any “This Christmas” songs Saturday with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

“Well, I don’t have John with me, or any holograms of him,” Newton-John said.

Fair enough, but will the 64-year-old, multiple-Grammy winner, “Glee” guest star and recent author of a health-conscious cookbook ever make another movie with Travolta?

“You never know, there’s always that possibility,” Newton-John said cheerfully.

Her and Travolta’s “Grease” performances helped make it the most successful movie musical ever.

Her theory on why “Grease” is still vastly popular today:

“I just think it’s the energy that people love. I catch up with it sometimes when I’m at home or on a tour bus — I can watch it now without such a critical eye of my own performance — and I just think people like it because it’s pure and its fun and it’s got such great energy.”

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hopelessly devoted to her? Then see Newton-John with the symphony