I have to say I’m not a huge fan of film to stage adaptations, but The Moulin Rouge is one I have been thinking about since I saw the film almost 18 years ago (crazy its been that long).
I caught the opening night performance at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston yesterday and I’m really heartbroken to have to say, this is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. And that’s for many reasons, but most of all because it didn’t inspire the creative team to put anything out there more than BASIC. Yes, I’m saying it, the new Moulin Rouge musical is the “basic bitch” of stage adaptations.
Baz Luhrmann’s film (his masterpiece in my opinion) took the musical to new heights with its opulent design (by the supremely gifted eye of Catherine Martin), it’s stroboscopic pace and dramatic editing, and his use of iconic pop songs to tell the story in place of a traditional score. At that moment, it was the most inspired and modern piece of musical theater I had ever seen. The production helmed by Alex Timbers lacks just that... true inspiration.
It doesn’t help that the book, by celebrated screen writer and playwright John Logan is an amateur mess. Musicals are a structural form all on their own. Many great writers try and fail...this is epic failure. He never chooses a framing device or a way into the material at all and in the end resorts to...*the main character turns to the Audience and tells you what happens* Literally, full plot points are just filled in by Christian telling you how things went. First rule of dramatic writing, show us don’t tell us. Several times the actors say thing like...*and then I sang her this song* (the actor starts to sing ??). The result is of an aspiring play wright who just doesn’t have the knowledge or experience to know what works and what doesn’t. I mean right off the top of my head is the idea of Harold Zidler narrating the show as the master of ceremonies, that he is. It could have worked 1000 times better...maybe the whole concept could have been a show within a show that he and his troop were putting on...SOMETHING! Nothing is developed fully, not even Satine’s illness or how her and Christian actually fall in love. The result is jaw dropping terrible.
And then there’s the direction. Alex Timbers is a master in Tongue in Cheek humor. He’s better at it than most. But when it comes to switching tones as musicals can so wonderfully do, he lacks the judgement in making very serious drama feel believable...it always ends up having an unintentionally campy quality. Multiply that by 10 here. The film expertly shifted between the high camp and the serious tragic love story. This is just bad directing here. Alex is much better at making rag tag theater look better. When he has a budget all that underground theater training goes out the window. There’s also no concept for how the show moves so it feels endlessly random. Characters just walk on or enter whiteout even the thought of where they were before or how it makes sense in the the setting. No rules have been set about how this world of the moulin rouge operates and therefore it has NO RYTHM. Not any of the pacing or fun editing from the film has been studied and tried to translate stage craft wise, not a great decision. And finally, it’s just not creative enough....there are no whimsical transitions or set pieces. There is no real theater here. The absinthe/ green fairy number, supposed to be a very love sick number in which christian ties to catch a fairy winged Satine, is staged as if for a drag brunch in West Hollywood where several dancers in bad wigs and limp fairy wings do mellow dramatic contemporary moves to Sia’s Chandelier under cheap green lights. The ending will give you the giggles....satine dies in Christians arms remember.
Broadway fans will like the massive set pieces by Derek McLane. They are attractive, but They aren’t creative in the slightest. Just big units that role in and out in which most of the things on the stage aren’t used...just there for show. The windmill and the Elephant so whimsically used In the film are just models here. The moulin rouge itself is just a platform with lights around it that come out of the floor. The lighting by Justin Townsend follows suit, no creative theatrical solutions here...satine’s illness moments to create how sick she feels under light are completely missed opportunity. We are never transported to a new world expertly through light.
Sonya Tayeh of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE fame decides story is just not necessary in this musical and resorts to clique ****cat dollesque stripper cabaret movement. It’s not interesting in the slightest. There isn’t even a great modern play on the can can. And the gorgeous tango dance to Roxanne from the film is just cheap looking here. The dance is a sloppy mess here. Missed opportunity.
The music is a HUGE problem in this adaptation. Baz’ team curated the music painstakingly well. All the songs he chose were hits and timeless. They’ve replaced most of the film ones here for more current songs like lady Gaga and sia...it didn’t need it. Plus he knew when to make things serious and when to camp them up. It’s all camp here. They have zidler singing ridiculous pop songs here like Royal and shut up and dance. Satine and Christian do a rolling in the deep/crazy mashup that is just cringeworthy. In fact there are barely any full songs here just hundreds of hooks from famous songs packaged together to try and illustrate a point. It’s so ridiculous people laugh every time they switch to a new one...even when they try to do something serous with them. By the end you hear eh more than ha, form the audience. it gets so tedious. No original songs were written which in my opinion was a terrible choice. In the film come what May was the anthem you walked away with....here, because literally 80 song hooks are used it doesn’t stand out. You go away humming nothing. Justin Levine’s odd and cheap sounding arrangements don’t help. The harmonies are often unappealing.
And the usually pitch perfect taste of costume legend Catherine Zuber is off key here. The men look like they are wearing. Rented tuxedos from Men’s warehouse, the women like they bought lingerie from one of those adult sex shops. It looks cheap. Christian’s looks are cheesy and make him look like a John Paul Gaultier perfume model more then a struggling writer. Satine’s looks are are as blah as I’ve ever seen when it comes to Zuber a work. Her women always have a stunning moment. She gets one here as the duke buys her a new dress fit for his mistress. It still looks like a reject from her production of my fair lady that just won the tony award.
The casting has question marks here. The biggest problem is Aaron Tveit. He just is not talented enough to pull off Christian. I truly don’t understand his career in the musical theater....as a cute young boy, yes I get it....next to normal and hairspray. As an adult man who needs more than a high voice al la American idol to entertain an audience, not a chance. He is the equivalent of a boy band member. After they age out of teen audiences their relevancy is 0. This is one of the worst lead performances I have ever seen In a professional musical. He is literally just turning left because the director said so. Not an ounce of motivation. The songs have no journey just him belting them out because he can. His voice has no color or emotional depth. When he sings Roxanne in this version it is just plain corny. He has no idea how to navigate this song as an actor because he just isn’t skilled enough....an actor who got work very early and never bothered to really study how to do it. It’s embarrassing. He and Karen Olivo have 0 chemistry, when they kiss its cringeworthy. She of course, is gorgeously voiced and a great idea for this in theory, but is just not a skilled enough actress to make it work and her energy is too hard. She was never better than I’m in the heights where she played type more. What she does have is 100 percent commitment to her choices, but they are just all mellowdrama. You don’t feel bad for her in the slightest because you don’t believe that this girl can be manipulated like you did Nicole Kidman’s emotionally fragile Satine from the movie. She does know how to create a journey through song though and has a wow moment with the song fireork in the first act. Danny Burstein finds laughs as Zidler and makes the most of the cheesy, now gay character. Something about what they’ve done to his character feels too soft and weakling though. The stars of this show are the sexy funny Ricky Rojas as the Latin lover Santiago and the supremely talented sahr ngaujah as Toulouse ( his material is really some of the most questionable and he makes it work somehow).
But Tam Mutu steals the show as a very different duke. This duke is charming and smolderingly gorgeous.....the only problem is tam and Karen have great chemistry. And because he is so gorgeous and generous by offering to change her life you can actually see why she would go for him. HUGE MISTAKE in the casting. You end up wanting her to go with the duke. They should have taken their cue from the brilliance or Richard roxburgh from the film. Strange looking, not great in social situations. When tam demands to have Satine sleep with him....it’s kind of hot. The chorus is ok. Three dancer women as satine’s friends have a small storyline. One of them being a drag queen, a beautiful voiced Jeigh Madjus. He feels gimmicky using modern drag lingo. Something about their energy with the strange arrangement of lady marmalade and the bad directing doesn’t work.
This show needs another year to work it out....right now it feels like a a show in Vegas (that would need a heck of a lot more real spectacle) or a cruise line production that just needs pretty singers. This is not broadway show ready.....a more story driven book with a real structural device in which to tell it, a more creative direction with some out of the box whimsy In terms of design, a new leading man, and some real editing down of the popular music so the real anthems pop is desperately needed. Right now this is a bomb.
You really needed to start your own thread for this? Many people agree with most of the points you raise, including me, although I think you take a few a bit too far. While it may not be a critical hit, you can't argue that the audience loved it and will most likely be a box office hit.
Broadway audiences are vary sauvy. I think this is too basic to make it a real hit...yeah it may get a year or two , but unless they make big changes I don’t see people fallin in love with it. I’m one of their targe audience members...fan of the film, avid theater goer. I could not in good faith recommend this to someone who asked.
Great review: honest and blunt. I can’t believe they’ve updated the music, that’s not necessary as the ones from the film are classic and timeless. I don’t buy Karen as Satine. I love the porcelain, doll-like complexion of Nicole, as it makes her appear more tragic.
The music is one of the worst parts of it. It gets more laughs than it gets taken seriously. That’s not a good thing when it comes to a musical. Karen is just too hard as Satine.....she’s right and wrong for it at the same time. I think a better director could get it out of her but she’s just so strong on stage.
I posted in the other thread -- one thing I left out is it seemed to me that some of the audience "participation" (hooting, clapping, laughing) was sweetened. I'd hear clapping and not see any clapping until a second later.
standingovation79 said: "I have to say I’m not a huge fan of film to stage adaptations, but The Moulin Rouge is one I have been thinking about since I saw the film almost 18 years ago (crazy its been that long).
I caught the opening night performance at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston yesterday and I’m really heartbroken to have to say, this is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. And that’s for many reasons, but most of all because it didn’t inspire the creative team to put anything out there more than BASIC. Yes, I’m saying it, the new Moulin Rouge musical is the “basic bitch” of stage adaptations.
Baz Luhrmann’s film (his masterpiece in my opinion) took the musical to new heights with its opulent design (by the supremely gifted eye of Catherine Martin), it’s stroboscopic pace and dramatic editing, and his use of iconic pop songs to tell the story in place of a traditional score. At that moment, it was the most inspired and modern piece of musical theater I had ever seen. The production helmed by Alex Timbers lacks just that... true inspiration.
It doesn’t help that the book, by celebrated screen writer and playwright John Logan is an amateur mess. Musicals are a structural form all on their own. Many great writers try and fail...this is epic failure. He never chooses a framing device or a way into the material at all and in the end resorts to...*the main character turns to the Audience and tells you what happens* Literally, full plot points are just filled in by Christian telling you how things went. First rule of dramatic writing, show us don’t tell us. Several times the actors say thing like...*and then I sang her this song* (the actor starts to sing ??). The result is of an aspiring play wright who just doesn’t have the knowledge or experience to know what works and what doesn’t. I mean right off the top of my head is the idea of Harold Zidler narrating the show as the master of ceremonies, that he is. It could have worked 1000 times better...maybe the whole concept could have been a show within a show that he and his troop were putting on...SOMETHING! Nothing is developed fully, not even Satine’s illness or how her and Christian actually fall in love. The result is jaw dropping terrible.
And then there’s the direction. Alex Timbers is a master in Tongue in Cheek humor. He’s better at it than most. But when it comes to switching tones as musicals can so wonderfully do, he lacks the judgement in making very serious drama feel believable...it always ends up having an unintentionally campy quality. Multiply that by 10 here. The film expertly shifted between the high camp and the serious tragic love story. This is just bad directing here. Alex is much better at making rag tag theater look better. When he has a budget all that underground theater training goes out the window. There’s also no concept for how the show moves so it feels endlessly random. Characters just walk on or enter whiteout even the thought of where they were before or how it makes sense in the the setting. No rules have been set about how this world of the moulin rouge operates and therefore it has NO RYTHM. Not any of the pacing or fun editing from the film has been studied and tried to translate stage craft wise, not a great decision. And finally, it’s just not creative enough....there are no whimsical transitions or set pieces. There is no real theater here. The absinthe/ green fairy number, supposed to be a very love sick number in which christian ties to catch a fairy winged Satine, is staged as if for a drag brunch in West Hollywood where several dancers in bad wigs and limp fairy wings do mellow dramatic contemporary moves to Sia’s Chandelier under cheap green lights. The ending will give you the giggles....satine dies in Christians arms remember.
Broadway fans will like the massive set pieces by Derek McLane. They are attractive, but They aren’t creative in the slightest. Just big units that role in and out in which most of the things on the stage aren’t used...just there for show. The windmill and the Elephant so whimsically used In the film are just models here. The moulin rouge itself is just a platform with lights around it that come out of the floor. The lighting by Justin Townsend follows suit, no creative theatrical solutions here...satine’s illness moments to create how sick she feels under light are completely missed opportunity. We are never transported to a new world expertly through light.
Sonya Tayeh of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE fame decides story is just not necessary in this musical and resorts to clique ****cat dollesque stripper cabaret movement. It’s not interesting in the slightest. There isn’t even a great modern play on the can can. And the gorgeous tango dance to Roxanne from the film is just cheap looking here. The dance is a sloppy mess here. Missed opportunity.
The music is a HUGE problem in this adaptation. Baz’ team curated the music painstakingly well. All the songs he chose were hits and timeless. They’ve replaced most of the film ones here for more current songs like lady Gaga and sia...it didn’t need it. Plus he knew when to make things serious and when to camp them up. It’s all camp here. They have zidler singing ridiculous pop songs here like Royal and shut up and dance. Satine and Christian do a rolling in the deep/crazy mashup that is just cringeworthy. In fact there are barely any full songs here just hundreds of hooks from famous songs packaged together to try and illustrate a point. It’s so ridiculous people laugh every time they switch to a new one...even when they try to do something serous with them. By the end you hear eh more than ha, form the audience. it gets so tedious. No original songs were written which in my opinion was a terrible choice. In the film come what May was the anthem you walked away with....here, because literally 80 song hooks are used it doesn’t stand out. You go away humming nothing. Justin Levine’s odd and cheap sounding arrangements don’t help. The harmonies are often unappealing.
And the usually pitch perfect taste of costume legend Catherine Zuber is off key here. The men look like they are wearing. Rented tuxedos from Men’s warehouse, the women like they bought lingerie from one of those adult sex shops. It looks cheap. Christian’s looks are cheesy and make him look like a John Paul Gaultier perfume model more then a struggling writer. Satine’s looks are are as blah as I’ve ever seen when it comes to Zuber a work. Her women always have a stunning moment. She gets one here as the duke buys her a new dress fit for his mistress. It still looks like a reject from her production of my fair lady that just won the tony award.
The casting has question marks here. The biggest problem is Aaron Tveit. He just is not talented enough to pull off Christian. I truly don’t understand his career in the musical theater....as a cute young boy, yes I get it....next to normal and hairspray. As an adult man who needs more than a high voice al la American idol to entertain an audience, not a chance. He is the equivalent of a boy band member. After they age out of teen audiences their relevancy is 0. This is one of the worst lead performances I have ever seen In a professional musical. He is literally just turning left because the director said so. Not an ounce of motivation. The songs have no journey just him belting them out because he can. His voice has no color or emotional depth. When he sings Roxanne in this version it is just plain corny. He has no idea how to navigate this song as an actor because he just isn’t skilled enough....an actor who got work very early and never bothered to really study how to do it. It’s embarrassing. He and Karen Olivo have 0 chemistry, when they kiss its cringeworthy. She of course, is gorgeously voiced and a great idea for this in theory, but is just not a skilled enough actress to make it work and her energy is too hard. She was never better than I’m in the heights where she played type more. What she does have is 100 percent commitment to her choices, but they are just all mellowdrama. You don’t feel bad for her in the slightest because you don’t believe that this girl can be manipulated like you did Nicole Kidman’s emotionally fragile Satine from the movie. She does know how to create a journey through song though and has a wow moment with the song fireork in the first act. Danny Burstein finds laughs as Zidler and makes the most of the cheesy, now gay character. Something about what they’ve done to his character feels too soft and weakling though. The stars of this show are the sexy funny Ricky Rojas as the Latin lover Santiago and the supremely talented sahr ngaujah as Toulouse ( his material is really some of the most questionable and he makes it work somehow).
But Tam Mutu steals the show as a very different duke. This duke is charming and smolderingly gorgeous.....the only problem is tam and Karen have great chemistry. And because he is so gorgeous and generous by offering to change her life you can actually see why she would go for him. HUGE MISTAKE in the casting. You end up wanting her to go with the duke. They should have taken their cue from the brilliance or Richard roxburgh from the film. Strange looking, not great in social situations. When tam demands to have Satine sleep with him....it’s kind of hot. The chorus is ok. Three dancer women as satine’s friends have a small storyline. One of them being a drag queen, a beautiful voiced Jeigh Madjus. He feels gimmicky using modern drag lingo. Something about their energy with the strange arrangement of lady marmalade and the bad directing doesn’t work.
This show needs another year to work it out....right now it feels like a a show in Vegas (that would need a heck of a lot more real spectacle) or a cruise line production that just needs pretty singers. This is not broadway show ready.....a more story driven book with a real structural device in which to tell it, a more creative direction with some out of the box whimsy In terms of design, a new leading man, and some real editing down of the popular music so the real anthems pop is desperately needed. Right now this is a bomb."
This is a pitch perfect analysis of the show. My thoughts exactly. 100% agreed. A true shame. Thank you for voicing what I and many others are so frustrated about.
joined:7/18/11
joined:
7/18/11
Posted: 7/30/18 at 4:35pm