Moulin Rouge Review
Moulin Rouge, photo Matt Crockett
Here’s my review of The Moulin Rouge Musical written for Northern Arts Review.
This show has all the glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing’s Blackpool week, with performances which are equally spectacular.
Based on the Baz Luhrmann’s film, Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, the show is set in 1890’s Montmartre, Paris.
The musical draws the audience in even before it officially starts, with a beautiful set, filled with red hearts, glittering lights and the cast sensuously moving around the stage. It is so stunning it makes your jaw drop open and you really feel you are in a club in Paris’s seedy suburbs.
Moulin Rouge’s story follows a hapless American song writer and musician, Christian, beautifully played by Nate Landskroner. He goes to Paris to find success and instead falls in love with Satine, the Parisian nightclub star and courtesan, of the Moulin Rouge. Nate’s voice was superb and had the whole theatre spellbound
Verity Thompson’s depiction of Satine was equally strong and mesmerising, right from her diamond encrusted entrance, through to the final, dramatic scene. She has a pitch-perfect voice and great stage presence.
There is also very believable chemistry between Christian and Satine which keeps the audience hooked on their emotional journeys.
Satine’s mentor and fixer, Harold Zidler, was brought to life very well by Cameron Blakely. He manages to play the fine line between his character being an exploitative opportunist and someone who really cares about Satine and his club’s performers. His comic camp performance was often hilarious and the audience loved it.
The musical numbers and high energy are an essential part of Moulin Rouge’s appeal. I’m pretty sure there are more chart hits, movie theme tunes and pop anthems in this production, than will be sung in all the Empire shows for the rest of the year. The songs were definitely crowd-pleasers including Diamonds are Forever, Lady Marmalade, Your Song and Bad Romance. They come fast and furious with one particular quick-fire scene where they are reduced to a few bars. Occasionally I found this a bit too frenetic. At other times, however, there was a lovely synergy of the music and storyline which worked very well. It added poignancy.
A strong antagonist adds great spice to any musical and James Bryers as the Duke hit just the right note, with menace and treachery in abundance.
Special mention must also go to Brazilian performer Rodrigo Negrini, who plays Santiago and Kahlia Davis, who is Nini. Their dance skills were fantastic and a real pleasure to watch.
A big shout out to the whole ensemble as well, who are stage for most of the performance and fundamental to this musical’s pace, which makes the whole theatre feel electric.
Throughout show the sets and costumes are stunning, Parisian rooftops, chic apartments and the Moulin Rouge club itself, with the huge centre pieces including the Eiffel tower, work well. There is the show’s trade mark red and black everywhere and used to great effect. I also loved the bright, technicolour can can dancers’ costumes which looked like they had jumped out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. He is also in the show and well played by Kurt Kansley. In real life the artist designed Moulin Rouge posters. I also really enjoyed the finale and its explosive finish.
I saw this show twice, once on the opening night and again last night. I didn’t think it could improve from the first performance but it definitely did, with even more energy.
There is one tiny reservation about this musical which is that the story is a bit lightweight and doesn’t really do justice to the huge amount of work in the performances and enormous spectacle
But if you are looking to see a show for a great time, super songs you probably know well and love, with tremendous performances, then this will definitely fit the bill.