Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade
The cast of the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical
That situation will suit many audience members just fine, as this adaptation of the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film tells a love story set in la belle epoque of late-19th century Paris, embellished with a shit-ton of songs (mostly song fragments from popular songs) that emerged during all the years in between. As a result, you have musical mash-ups with bits of My Fair Lady co-existing with Labelle's "Lady Marmalade," and on and on.
Indeed, there are more than 70 songs involved in this 2 1/2-hour carnival of singing and dancing—including songs that have been written since the film opened—and most of them are recognized with audience laughter as a favorite tune suddenly and unexpectedly appears.
In the main, this production is a cavalcade of backstage theatrical skills and imagination, since the hearts-and-diamonds scenic designs (Derek McLane), sexy period-plus costumes (Catherine Zuber), lush evocative lighting (Justin Townsend) and heart-thumping sound design (Peter Hylenski) virtually overwhelm everything else that's going on.
As for the story itself, it's a melodrama (book by John Logan) that couldn't stand up to close scrutiny without being bedazzled like an excessively tinseled and ornamented Christmas tree. A young American dude named Christian moves to Paris from Lima, Ohio (it's in the script, not a local reference to entertain the yokels). He bumps into two scruffy young fellows, Toulouse-Lautrec (Nick Rashad Burroughs, minus the undersized legs) and Santiago the Argentinian (Gabe Martinez).
Soon, they head off to the Moulin Rouge to pitch them a show and Christian meets cute with Satine, the star of the show. She initially thinks Christian is the Duke of Monroth (the excellent Denzel Tsopnang, also an understudy), a possible investor in the show. But no, he's just a rube from Ohio and she falls for him. Unfortunately, she coughs once in Act One and we've all seen enough stage and movie coughs to know where that's headed.
Even with the stakes heightened, the meager story can never match the dazzle of Sonya Tayeh's style-merging choreography and Alex Timber's frenetic yet precise direction—supported by explosions of confetti cannons and more love anthems than you can shake a baguette at.
As Satine, Courtney Reed exerts a powerful vocal presence, especially when she is given the space to sing an entire song through to the end. (We can't be more specific, since the 56-page program wasn't able to squeeze in a song list.) At this performance, the role of her swain Christian was played by understudy Christian Douglas who also sang beautifully but was less successful in creating a compelling character. The owner of the cabaret club, stout Harold Zidler (Austin Durant), offers whatever slight comic relief the show provides. While Durant has a solid set of pipes, he does not command the stage as one would wish.
This shortfall is also seen in some of the chorus numbers, where small dance gestures are not finished and mirror moves are not synchronized with crispness. This may be the result tiredness caused by the effort of touring a show for many months. Still, that's no excuse.
Moulin Rouge-The Musical, a clichéd love story wrapped in miles of theatrical gloss, is visually enthralling and consistently entertaining without leaving a whisper of thought about the time, the people, or their lives
Is it just enough or too much? Hard to say. But it may be the perfect escapist show for times such as these, when everything around us (ie. a former President federally indicted on 37 charges) is so disconnected and disturbing.
Moulin Rouge
Through July 2 at Playhouse Square, KeyBank State Theater, 1615 Euclid Ave., playhousesquare.org, 216-241-6000.
