Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin
★★★★☆
The Moulin Rouge is “not a place”, the dance hall’s compere, Harold Zidler, proclaims in the opening moments of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Rather, he says, the famous French vaudeville house is a state of mind.
Adapted from Baz Luhrmann’s unforgettably overstimulating film by John Logan, who wrote its book, and Alex Timbers, the production’s director, the postmodern fantasia of Moulin Rouge! The Musical is indeed a psychedelic experience, part nightmare, part dream.
Just ask Christian (Nate Landskroner), an American innocent abroad, who has travelled to Paris to be an artist and instead finds himself embroiled in a lethal love affair with the dance hall’s biggest star, Satine (Verity Thompson).
There’s more than a touch of pantomime to the theatrical composition of Moulin Rouge! The setting of late-19th-century Paris is as romantic as that of any fairy tale, the story borrows from familiar source material (Orpheus and Eurydice) and Justin Levine’s mind-boggling score shifts restlessly between well-known contemporary pop and rock classics, with more than 60 musical and lyrical references. The fourth wall is smashed for direct audience address, there are men in frocks, and the Duke (James Bryers) is presented as a dastardly villain on whose defeat the whole happy ever after depends.
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Make no mistake, though: this is a thoroughly adult affair, from the saucy styling by Catherine Zuber and the sexy choreography by Sonya Tayeh to the uncompromising ending. Not all popular musical entertainment is suitable for kids.
Make no mistake, either, about the quality of this touring production, which is big-budget commercial theatre at its most impressive. Derek McLane’s lush and lacy heart-framed set is illuminated by one of the best lighting designs (from Justin Townsend) that I’ve ever seen, and the dancers rise seamlessly to the demands of the pluralist style. The main performers shuffle between rock and pop registers without effort, Cameron Blakely’s Zidler joining Landskroner and Thompson as one of the show’s star vocalists.
If mass-market jukebox entertainment is your thing you’ll love Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Even if it isn’t, this production is so good it might just convince you.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre until Saturday, January 10th
