Robert Petkoff as Harold Zidler and the cast of the North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.Matthew Murphy/Supplied
- Title: Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Book by: John Logan
- Music and lyrics by: Various artists
- Director: Alex Timbers
- Actors: Arianna Rosario, Christian Douglas, Robert Petkoff, Nick Rashad Burroughs, Andrew Brewer, Danny Burgos, AK Naderer
- Company: Mirvish Productions
- Venue: CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
- City: Toronto
- Year: to Jan. 12, 2025
Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, was a deliriously decadent, supremely silly mash-up of 19th-century French literary tropes – the bohemian artist in the garret, the consumptive courtesan – with 20th-century pop songs by the likes of Elton John and Madonna.
Reimagined as a stage musical two decades on, it’s still as decadent and still as silly, but it now flaunts an enlarged and updated score that also includes hits by Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, among others. Add to that playlist snippets of songs by everyone from Edith Piaf to Talking Heads and you have what may be the ultimate jukebox musical.
The problem with Moulin Rouge! The Musical, now playing at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto, is that this embarrassment of pop riches turns into a running joke – which eventually grows tiresome. There are only so many times an audience can giggle with recognition when actors begin spouting lyrics heard 100 times before. The incongruity of their characters being the denizens of fin-de-siècle France also affords only so much amusement.
On the upside, the numbers are sometimes given an inspired treatment, whether taken from the movie (the exuberant Lady Marmalade cancan, the fraught tango to the Police’s Roxanne) or newly created by director Alex Timbers and choreographer Sonya Tayeh – especially a sizzling second-act opener danced to Bad Romance.
Toronto is seeing the North American tour of the Broadway show that opened in New York in 2019, fell prey to the COVID-19 pandemic’s great shutdown of 2020, then returned to reap 10 belated Tony Awards in 2021. A tranche of those went to the design and there’s no question the production offers a stunning evocation of belle époque Paris.
Derek McLane brings endless changes to his vision of the show’s titular Montmartre cabaret, conceived as a series of heart-shaped archways swathed in luscious red velvet. He’s helped by the equally sumptuous lighting of Justin Townsend: When the show’s bohemians go on a drinking spree, he turns the entire set an enchanting absinthe green. Catherine Zuber’s ravishing costumes run from bejewelled bustiers and filigreed fishnets for the naughty Moulin Rouge dancers to a Renoir-like pastel wardrobe for the cool upper classes promenading on the Champs-Élysées.
The story is also pure belle époque. Christian (Christian Douglas), a young American poet, arrives in Montmartre and is quickly embraced by two fellow artists, the disabled painter Toulouse-Lautrec (Nick Rashad Burroughs) and the Argentine gigolo Santiago (Danny Burgos). They’re creating a musical for the Moulin Rouge – called Bohemian Rhapsody, of course – and they need a songwriter. They also need a star, so they send Christian to woo the courtesan Satine (Arianna Rosario), the cabaret’s dazzling headliner.
But at the same time, the Moulin Rouge’s manager/MC, Harold Zidler (Robert Petkoff), is urging Satine to make nice with the wealthy Duke of Monroth (Andrew Brewer), so the latter will save the financially ailing venue.
As rehearsals begin, Satine is torn between Christian, whom she loves, and the jealous Duke, who can lift her out of poverty. However, we can see by those telltale blood spots on her handkerchief that this demimondaine, like her more famous sisters – Mimi of La Bohème and Marguerite of Camille – won’t be around long enough for a happy denouement.
Adapting Luhrmann and Craig Pearce’s original screenplay, John Logan makes many minor changes but preserves the movie’s zany spirit. That is, until Act 2, when he, or director Timbers – or both – have decided to suddenly take it all seriously, treating this ersatz tragedy as if it were the real thing. The mood becomes ponderous as we’re asked to be moved by a gallery of stereotypes expressing themselves with borrowed tunes.
It might almost work if there were outstanding performances, but unfortunately that is not the case. This touring company is filled with solid talent, but no one is exceptional. Rosario’s Satine has her moments – I liked her nuanced take on Katy Perry’s Firework – but if she’s the alleged “diamond” of the Moulin Rouge, she’s not of the first water. Douglas’s Ohio-bred Christian comes off too much like a slack-jawed hick and only rises to the level of a romantic hero later, with his passionate rendition of the film’s signature (and rare original) song, Come What May.
Petkoff is spot-on as the jovial Zidler, but he can’t hope to match the over-the-top gusto of Jim Broadbent in the movie. Brewer likewise nails the role of the reptilian Duke, a part that has been fleshed out through some choice songs that he uses to seduce Satine – first a Rolling Stones medley and, later, a slick repurposing of Rihanna’s Only Girl (In the World).
Rashad Burroughs evolves from goofiness to gravitas as Toulouse-Lautrec, who carries a torch for Satine – although his lament that he’s unloved because he’s misshapen seems a bit much considering he simply walks with a limp.
The ensemble executes Tayeh’s high-kicking choreography with flair and the whole show delivers the kind of glitzy spectacle synonymous both with Broadway and the real Moulin Rouge itself. I had hoped, though, to be transported by the same surreal lunacy that drives the Luhrmann film. Instead, Moulin Rouge! The Musical opts for something less wild and more conventional. But then, to quote the title of one of its gazillion songs, you can’t always get what you want.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)