A beguiling, glitter-soaked fever dream, Moulin Rouge! The Musical dazzles — with just enough grit and soul to cut through the pop gloss.
Energetic, sexy, and Bohemian, the glamour of the Moulin Rouge exudes from the rise of the curtain to the final encore. Retelling Baz Luhrmann’s box office hit, the transition to the theatre appears so seamless it feels born for the stage. The spectacle is all-enthralling: from the high-kicking chaos of the Can-Can to a passionate Argentine Tango, the burlesque enchants through an incredible cast. The set is no less opulent, the iconic, red-lit Windmill and sumptuously gilded elephant frame the stage, illuminating the auditorium. The production glides seamlessly through the seductive glamour of the nightclub, to Montmartre’s cobbled streets and sidewalk cafés, to the stylized pomp of the Champs-Élysées parade.
Through all this sumptuousness, Luhrmann’s classic love story still shines through. Idealistic yet penniless, Christian (Nate Landskroner) comes to Montmartre chasing the Bohemian ideal, devoting his life to the search for truth, beauty, freedom and love. Christian falls deeply for the star of the cabaret, the “sparkling diamond” Satine (Verity Thompson), who descends in glittering spectacle upon a swing from the stage’s ceiling. As tragic as she is heroic, Satine’s glamour is undercut by deathly consumption and her ruinous love-triangle, caught between survival through concubinage to the wealthy Duke and her idealistic desire for Christian. Half-muse, half-martyr, Thompson’s powerful performance is a central tenet of the production.
The main modernist twist of the show is the music: a pop extravaganza, which ranges from catchy to cringe in an almost schizophrenic medley of everything from Lady Gaga to Lionel Richie to Lorde … with mixed results. The feat isn’t impossible, Bax Luhrmann himself excels it in the 2013 The Great Gatsby film, translating a cultural parallel of Jazz Age hedonism to contemporary celebrity culture and conspicuous consumption. In the Moulin Rouge! film too, modern music augments the passion between Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Such strategy seems to lack here, however. The battlefield between art and capitalism in the ideological world of Bohemian Paris jars against Beyonce hit singles, whilst the sheer number of remixes resembles more a glitching Spotify shuffle than a thoughtful introduction of contemporary culture. Perhaps the most dispassionate moment comes when, in a moment of wretched inner turmoil and emotional strain, Satine launches into “Firework” by Katy Perry.
Beyond the star-crossed lovers, and certainly their rather saccharine duets, a certain grit and politics of the real Bohemia cuts through. The undercurrent of sexual violence, economic exploitation, proximity to poverty and illness sullies all idealistic glamour. At the heart of this Bohemian dream, Toulouse-Lautrec (Kurt Kansley) embodies the tensions between art and commerce throughout the production. His wide-eyed faith in art’s transformative power sits uneasily beside the spectacle he is attempting to sell. The Duke words it best: “An aristocrat is paying for your proletariat propaganda!”. Still, his belief in the transgressive power of art transmutes effectively into theatre. Perhaps Satine becomes the purest embodiment of this ideal in her defiance of the Duke’s oppressive wealth to choose love, art, and freedom over conventional security, even as it costs her life.
The enticing world of the Moulin Rouge persists after Satine’s tragic death. Barely giving the audience time to catch their breath, the Burlesque is back, a sizzling finale of sensuality and provocation. As the cabaret continues, the timelessness of Moulin Rouge! transcends: the story of dreams, romance and tragedy is brought vividly to life at the Playhouse this night, leaving a dazzling imprint long after the final bow.
Images by Johan Persson via The Edinburgh Playhouse
