Moulin Rouge! Broadway, winner of 10 Tony Awards including “Best Musical,” is a jukebox musical based on the Baz Luhrmann movie about a classic rich man/poor man love triangle set in the legendary Paris cabaret. Remember the song “Lady Marmalade?”
Moulin Rouge Broadway
Moulin Rouge is in open run at the Hirschfeld Theatre in the Times Square Theater District. From $66. 🇫🇷
The Parisian setting is Latin, and Latin actors occasionally star in the show. Since May 2024, Ricky Rojas (Chilean Australian) stars as the Argentine bohemian Santiago who is trying to produce a musical play with the renowned painter Toulouse-Lautrec. 🇨🇱
The musical opened in September 2021. Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie of the same name starred Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and John Leguizamo. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning Best Costume and Best Art Direction.
The story with its tragic woman torn between a rich man and a poor one, may be loosely based on the world’s most popular opera, “La bohème.” It contains one of the most romantic lines in English from the song “Nature Boy.” “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return.”
Luhrmann makes musicals in which songs flow naturally through the story. His work never feels like the cast stopped to do a musical number. He did the same thing with “The Get Down” on Netflix. It tells how hip-hop started in The Bronx.
“Moulin Rouge!” the musical, premiered in Boston in 2018 and opened on Broadway at The Hirschfield in 2019. It won many Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics awards that year. It has 13 Tony Award nominations, although the Tony Awards have been held up by the pandemic until September 2021.
The show has since launched U.S. national, West End and Australian productions.
Lady Marmalade
Readers of a certain age will remember LaBelle’s #1 hit song “Lady Marmalade” (1974) or especially the 2001 soundtrack recording by Christina Aguilera, M´ya, Pink and Lil’ Kim. Corsets, garters and stockings seem to do well on Broadway. This video is what Americans of a certain age think of when you say, “Moulin Rouge.”
The song’s chorus says, “Will you sleep with me tonight” in French. Everything has its price. One of the great lines from the song is, “Why spend my money, when I can spend yours.”
The Real Moulin Rouge is in Pigalle
Moulin Rouge is French for “red windmill.” The real Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Pigalle, the red light district of Paris, France. It’s the home of modern can-can dancing.
In general, French (and pretty much everyone else) have a different relationship with sensuality than Americans. Sex is natural and not exotic or bad. French created our infatuation with high heels by putting them on naughty postcards. Lingerie is French word. French have a natural style too. Living life with a certain French “je ne sais quoi” (indescribable quality) is cherished. We Americans are so uptight that the French concept seems wildly erotic. Enjoy!
The club was founded in 1889. The original building burned down in 1915, but the cabaret was rebuilt. Tourists love it. Not too long ago, the blades of the windmill fell off, but it’s all good now.