This is the show that is overtaking musical theater TikTok with the viral video of Aaron Tveit opting up for a note in the famous song “Roxanne”. More importantly, Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite movie musicals since I first saw it in high school. I was so excited when it came to Broadway in 2019 and I managed to get a chance to see it in February 2020 with the entire original cast – Aaron Tveit, Karen Olivo and Danny Burnstein.
I was so excited to see this one on tour and see how they took this spectacular show on the road. In the NYC production, they turned part of the audience into a seating arrangement around an extension of the stage. It was basically a baby version of how Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812 transformed the entire theater into the stage. It’s hard to tour something like that, so I figured they would go more the Wicked route and extend the set design down the sides of the stage.
My biggest issue with the musical production of Moulin Rouge is the music. It’s not that any of the songs in it are bad choices or bad in general. If you don’t know, Moulin Rouge is a Jukebox Musical with an original story. What this means is that the songs are popular songs from artists such as Elton John, The Beatles, and more. I understand the need to modernize the score by adding new songs from the 90s and 2000s into it, but what is hard for me to enjoy is that they took some of the songs from the movie and dissected it to add in new music to it from my generation and it comes off a little choppy. A great example of this is the “Elephant Love Medley”. If you want to understand what I mean by the changes in this song between the movie and the musical, listen to both versions of this song and hear the difference.
The sets and costumes were gorgeous, of course, but there was one point of the show in the second act where the set and lighting became a tad bit overstimulating for me. It took me a while to get back to enjoying the show. The scenery really draws you in to the flash and sparkle of the Moulin Rouge during the peak of its time, but also the gorgeous landscape of Paris and the surrounding areas. The choreography was phenomenal: this is definitely a dancer’s show! A show like this always makes me want to get back into dancing and learn the choreography for it.
We didn’t know until we were leaving the show that it was Conor Ryan’s final show in the lead role of Christian. He was incredible and definitely gave it his all for his final show. He did the popular opt up in “Roxanne” that everyone goes crazy for, but he also did another opt up in a different song either right before “Roxanne” or towards the end of Act 1. Courtney Reed is leading the show in the role of Satine and I was excited to see her playing a role other than a princess. I had only previously seen her as Jasmine in Aladdin and wanted to see the range of performance she can give. Overall her performance was great. You could really feel the strength her character has despite the pain she was going through. However, there were just some songs in the show that didn’t fit her vocally and even though I enjoyed it, I could have liked her performance more.
There is a fun audience interaction at the end of the show during the curtain call, so be sure to stick around for that. Overall, Moulin Rouge is an emotional roller coaster. It has a serious and emotional storyline mixed in with some fun and energized numbers. You’ll leave the show feeling like you just partied with the best crew out there.
My favorite songs/numbers from the show were “Roxanne” and “Backstage Romance”. The cast for our performance was Conor Ryan (Christian), Courtney Reed (Satine), Austin Durant (Harold Zidler), Andrew Brewer (The Duke of Monroth), Nick Rashad Burroughs (Toulouse-Lautrec), Nicci Claspell (Arabia), Libby Lloyd (Nini), Gabe Martinez (Santiago), Harper Miles (La Chocolat), and Sharrod Williams (understudy Baby Doll).
Moulin Rouge is currently touring around the country through September 2024 and is also currently running at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in NYC.
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