Musical Mondays: Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge, the 2001 film, is brilliant, funny, and memorable. It won two Oscars, and it was one of my favorite movies. When I heard they were bringing it to the stage, I was a little nervous. The movie is incredibly campy in the most fun ways but it also quite grandiose. My nerves stemmed from two simple questions: (1) would the campiness of the film translate to the stage in the same fun manner? And (2) would the stage feel appropriately large for what I pictured Moulin Rouge to require? Then I saw a picture of the stage.

This is a picture I took as I walked into the theater about 30 minutes before curtain.

I will give immense credit to the Emerson Colonial Theater, which encouraged people to take pictures and video before the curtain.

The bonkers thing is this is just one of several absolutely drop dead gorgeous backdrops. This play is stunning—and that extends to the costumes as well. It is pageantry; it is theatrics. This show just continues to feel massive in every turn.

Outshining even the scenery and the costuming is the performance of Karen Olivo. Nicole Kidman gave an incredibly strong performance as Satine in the movie, but Olivo slays with such ferocity that it feels the part was written specifically for her. Olivio, who has a Tony for West Side Story and originated the role of Vanessa in In the Heights, gave every member of the audience two thoughts: 1) thank god she came out of retirement and 2) please don’t retire again.

The play is technically sound, and I could write a lot more on the technical aspects. What is more important, to me at least, is that Moulin Rouge is one of most fun times I’ve had in the theater in a long time. And that’s what it felt like this show needed. The Moulin Rouge is one of the world’s most notorious party spots and has been for 200 years. The show needed to match that, and from the opening number, I had a really, really fun time.

Without spoilers to the show, I will say that I am not always a fan of songs that require/request audience participation at the end of shows around the bows. Sometimes it works, but I often feel it is forced and a way to end the show on an artificial high note. With this show, I leapt out of my seat because it just fit the overall vibe of the show.

Ultimately, I can’t see a way Moulin Rouge doesn’t come to Broadway. And if it does, It will also likely win many Tony awards—maybe a ton of them depending on what it opens up against. On a personal note, it is the type of show that even though I’ve seen it in Boston, I will spring for buying much better tickets when it’s in New York.