Moulin Rouge was quite a significant part of my college life as I was obsessed with it. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet informed me that old can be new again, and Moulin Rouge reminded me that not only old can be new again, but if done properly, it can spin into its own. There was a period that songs I sang along the college corridors were nothing but titles from the movie. And together with my interest in Nicole Kidman as an actor at that time, it was nearly a whole year with nothing but Moulin Rouge in my head.
Years later, here comes the musical.
It bound to happen I guess, being part of the current trend of remake, reimagine, reboot, redo etc.
I still wanted to go and see it, though not without my scepticism.
Surprisingly, I did enjoy the spectacular on stage. Maybe not to a point of what the original did to me (after all I have grown older, though don’t know about wiser), but it was still an enjoyable experience.
Before I jumped into what I think about the production, one thing I need to raise is that, your experience will be drastically different if you haven’t seen the movie original. That’s the general feedback in the foyer when I was chatting with some fellow audience members during the intermission. So, if you haven’t seen the movie, I will not recommend you to see the movie before going, cos it will inevitably spoil your experience.
Production-wise, it was of high production value in my opinion. The stage sets phased in and out seamlessly despite being limited by some permanent fixtures on the wings. Yes, it was incredibly red, but that’s what you expect when the show is called Moulin Rouge right? The windmill on stage left reminds you what show you are in for and the cast members came in and out for limited interaction with the audience prior to the main show.
If you have seen the movie, the show’s opening marked the first major difference between the movie. Without going too much into it, I personally like the movie opening a lot better, as it had a more dramatic impact in my opinion. However, if you have no pre-conception about the movie, the opening is just fine – it is energetic, with the well-known tracks (either you have or have not seen the movies you will know) pumping out without a single drop of reservation.
It is a show about a show business about showing off. So, it was expected that energy level stays high most of the time and the cast managed it. But of course, it is also about love and beauty, so when the ballads are presented, we got moments of tranquillity. This does not mean the waning of energy though, it just morphed into a completely different kind of energy – the cohesive kind of energy as compared to the French cannonball tempo in other sections of the show. I was quite impressed that they managed to transit from numbers to numbers so smoothly, and, despite having lots of covered versions (a signature of the original), they all seemed to be belonging to the same world, whether you are Britney Spears, Madonna, Sia, etc. I always found it amazing how Baz could blend different genre and style of songs together so effortlessly. But that’s part of what Moulin Rouge is.
The main cast did a pretty good job to recreate the world for the audience. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman are big shoes to fill, and same for Richard Roxburgh. That’s a lot of pressure on the leads. However, I think Des Flanagan, Alinta Chidzey and Andrew Cook did a pretty good job filling the shoes, though sometimes I feel bad that their moments were taken away by the popularity of the songs they were singing. I mean they sang very well, and their voices adapted to the needs of the different songs they needed to belt out. But because of the popularity and how well-known most of the songs are, some audience may unconsciously overlook these actors and singers’ ability, and see them as just conduits for the songs.
For me, I did enjoy the show, despite feeling the first 30 minutes were a bit slow and incoherent for me. But this was my bias with the original movie, as for people who haven’t seen the movie, they thought it was totally fine. What I like is that the supporting characters have a bit more backstory and coverage, so these characters a lot more completed as compared to their original counterparts.
If you are in for some a good high energy show with tunes you are mostly familiar with, I will recommend Moulin Rouge in a heartbeat. Just don’t expect it to be the same as the movie if you have seen the movie – story elements were moved around and songs were updated. Also, hopefully you would not be sitting next to someone who would like to sing along in an out-of-tune manner whenever a familiar tune came up. 😊
