Review: Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love! MOULIN ROUGE Brings All That, And More, To The McCallum

The Tony Winning Best Musical MOULIN ROUGE was the highly anticipated opener to the McCallum's Broadway Season and it brought an enthusiastic audience all the promised spectacle, glitz, excess, bawdiness and More, More, More!!! There is much to love about this thrill ride of a production -- but the real headliners of this jukebox musical are Justin Townsend's lighting, Derek McLane's scenic design and Sonya Teyah's Tony Winning choreography. They stole the show, even from the superbly talented cast! 

John Logan's book is thin and the show sometimes feels like it doesn't know exactly what it wants to be -- sometimes cheeky, sometimes overly melodramatic, sometimes grasping for "realness" and sometimes shtick that doesn't exactly play -- but none of that matters. It is eye candy, ear candy and a sensory explosion of escapism. And fun! Just as in Baz Luhrmann's film, the show's ample musical catalogue (over 70 songs, to be precise) generally weave seamlessly into the book, make total sense to the characters and story arc, and are extremely satisfying. Some of the songs added to the stage version, that were not in the film, like Katy Perry's Firework, sung with tremendous honesty and tremendous vocal prowess by Santine, and Act 2's Opener Backstage Romance feel like they were written solely for the musical and solidify the moment rather than taking the audience out of it. Personally, I was not a fan of some of the musical "mash-ups" and some of the lines from songs delivered as "dialogue" that brought some laughter but not necessarily in service of the show itself.

The production was extremely well cast. Arianna Rosario and Jay Armstrong Johnson, as Satine and Christian the star-crossed lovers, delivered praise-worthy performances, both vocally and dramatically, and their chemistry was unmistakable. Johnson's portrayal of Christian sometimes wandered off into sitcom-land and felt more "caricature" than character -- but his performance at the end of act two redeemed all for me. His agony as the loss of Santine and his final Come What May left the audience wanting more. Bobby Daye's Harold Zidler was the consumate Master of Ceremonies and brought the perfect blend of charm, cheekiness and seediness to the role. The supporting cast members -- Jahe Kearse's Toulouse Lautrec, Danny Burgos Santiago and Kaitlin Mesh's Nini were all standouts.  But, for my money, Andrew Brewer's Duke Of Monroth gave the musical's tour de force performance. He was riveting and took command of the stage at every turn, bringing a strength and sexiness to the role that almost begs a sequel for the Duke. 

The sound was disappointing -- it felt over-produced and through the first twenty minutes of the show, until the ears grew accustomed to the way it was going to sound for the duration, it felt almost like it was coming through an AM radio, lacking clarity and sharpness from voices that truly know how to sing the roof off of the theatre. 

As I said at the outset, the true strength of MOULIN ROUGE lies in the lighting, the scenic design and the choreography. They were truly, themselves. characters in this story and were, in my opinion, the primary impetus that brought the audience to their feet!! Teyah's storytelling through movement left me, at times, both breathless and speechless and the dance ensemble was nothing short of remarkable. 

MOULIN ROUGE is not to be missed. For anything I have written that sounds like "finding fault" -- it is matched ten-fold with everything the is right. The musical runs through December 14 at The McCallum and I urge you to get to the box office and snatch up any remaining tickets. It is definitely the antithesis to, and the antidote for, the distressful state of the country that lies outside the doors of the theatre. For tickets and more information visit www.mccallumtheatre.org.

Palm Springs Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. HAIRSPRAY (Desert Theatricals)

22.6% of votes

2. NEXT TO NORMAL (CV REP)

22.4% of votes

3. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (Palm Canyon Theatre)

21.1% of votes

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