Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire

To avoid a war over who gets possession of Terpsichore's lyre, Xena organizes a battle of the bands in this musical episode that reunites Xena with her mother, Joxer with his triplet brother Jace, and Gabrielle with a lovesick Draco.

Summary
Xena, Gabrielleand Joxer hears the sound of Terpsichore's lyre in the distance. The three rush to find Draco and his warriors about to do battle with Amoria and her Amazons over the Muse of Music's golden lyre. Draco, still under a love spell, shoots Gabrielle a lovesick smile as Xena yanks the instrument out of his hands. But when Amoria resumes taunting him, Draco lunges at her. As Xena separates the two, she begins singing "War," accompanied by Gabrielle and Joxer, to discourage further aggression. Then she announces there will be a battle of the bands in the nearby village of Melodia to decide who gets the lyre. As the villagers of Melodia are swept up in the excitement, they dance and sing original lyrics to "The Telephone Hour."

As bands begin arriving from everywhere, Xena's mother Cyrene also shows up and is surprised that rumors of Xena's pregnancy are obviously true. When she learns that her daughter intends to raise her baby alone, she decides to play matchmaker to find Xena a husband. Xena rejects all the men her mother throws her way and leads a group of townswomen in a lively chorus of "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves."

News of the impending contest also brings Joxer's musically talented and flamboyant twin brother, Jace to town. He introduces himself to the assembled crowd by breaking into an elaborate disco dance routine while singing "Dancing In The Moonlight." Amoria tries to seduce Joxer, which irritates Gabrielle, while Joxer snubs all of his brother's overtures because he's embarrassed to be seen with him.

Meanwhile, despite Gabrielle's continuing rejection, Draco still pursues her and even fantasizes about her while singing "Always Something There To Remind Me." He decides that if he can't have her, no one will. Just as the concert is about to begin, Gabrielle rushes over to Draco to ask him to perform first. He offers one last proposal of marriage and when Gabrielle turns him down again, he decides to incorporate her into his act by forcing her into a go-go-dancer cage that he hoists high above the stage.

As Draco and his henchmen perform "Kick Out The Jams," a fire erupts on stage just underneath Gabrielle as part of a spectacular pyrotechnics display. But before Draco can cut the rope which would plunge Gabrielle to her death, Xena jumps on stage, lyre in hand, and breaks into a hard-core version of "The Xena Theme." Draco's men drop their instruments, grab their weapons and charge the warrior princess. Gabrielle manages to escape the cage, swan dives into the crowd and is passed hand-to-hand away from the stage.

In the ensuing battle, Joxer saves Jace from being struck down and Gabrielle is saved by Xena just as Draco is about to run her through with his sword. Xena and Draco rap as they fight, battling each other while balancing on the heads and shoulders of the concert goers. Xena finally defeats Draco to the cheers of the crowd and, though never officially a contestant, wins the golden lyre. Xena announces that she's going to leave the instrument in Melodia for everyone to enjoy and as an encore, leads her friends and the crowd in a rousing rendition of "People Got To Be Free."

Disclaimer
No Lyres were strung out during the production of this motion picture.

Background Information

 * Originally, Jett was to appear in this episode, but was written out in early production.
 * If you look closely, you can see Xena's Chakram imbedded in the Lyre. This is never explained why.
 * This is Falafel's only appearance on.
 * The songs that appear in this episode (In No Order) are;
 * Sisters are Doing It For Themselves, originall performed by Annie Lennox and Arethra Franklin
 * War, originally performed by Edwin Starr
 * People Got to Be Free, by The Rascals
 * (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me, origanally performed by Dionne Warwick, but released by Lou Johnson
 * Kick Out the Jams, originally performed by MC5
 * The song "Getting Ready", performed immeadiatly after the Opening Credits has it's own set of lyrics, but is written to the tune of The Telephone Hour, originally performed in the musical "Bye Bye Birdie"

Guest Stars

 * Ted Raimi as Joxer and Jace
 * Jay Laga'aia as Draco
 * Darien Takle as Cyrene
 * Gillian Iliana Waters as Amoria
 * Tony Bishop as Alabardus
 * Paul Norell as Falafel
 * Grant Bridger as Farmer Paxon
 * Jim Ngaata as Maximinimus
 * uncredited as Vargus
 * uncredited as Spiro
 * uncredited as Corey
 * uncredited as Sarah
 * uncredited as Leandra
 * uncredited as Phillipus

People
Akhmar

Gods
Bliss; Terpsichore

Places
Amphipolis; Athens; Crete; Melodia]]; Olympic Street; Spain

Other
Amazon; paella; Terpsichore's lyre

Related Articles

 * XWP Soundtrack Volume Five