Moulin Rouge! The Musical continues at the Piccadilly Theatre, London.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
From the moment you enter the Piccadilly Theatre’s transformed auditorium – complete with elaborately wrought red and gold metal work, giant blue elephant, and lounging, corseted performers – the investment of artistic (and financial) resources is inescapably and impressively evident. In almost every way, this is a great thing. The experience is decadent, opulent, beautiful: everything about it is Moulin Rouge.
Some of the finishing touches just speak to how well ‘Moulin Rouge On Stage’ works in concept; an usher delivering drinks to your seat is close to commonplace at this point in major venues but in these gilded surroundings it heightens the indulgence. However, so much is far from incidental, speaking to the intelligence – or expensive tastes – of the front of house design team: the stalls ‘Champagne Bar’ actually does only serve champagne.
The few weaknesses of the show unfortunately also lie in the jump from screen to stage – though it should be emphasised that these are very few, in comparison to the production as a whole. Baz Luhrmann, director of the iconic film on which the show is based, is well known for his use of modern pop in period pieces. This show takes that concept and, not so much runs, as triple somersaults off a trapeze with it, packing in music and lyrics from around 70 different popular numbers, including those from the film.
The result has some high highs which would rival many of the great jukebox musicals for those unexpected confluences of music and dramatic moment – ‘Your Song’ and, somehow, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ stand out. However, where the use of Adele neatly avoids any bathos, Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ strays uncomfortably towards mawkishness – and not at one of those moments, which are plentiful elsewhere, when the campy melodrama is genuinely delightful.
From this, you can hopefully see that only a small set of moments might fail to properly pack their emotional punch, it’s just a shame that one or two climaxes don’t quite, to borrow the firework metaphor, ‘go off’ as they could. With a couple of better song choices, moments that have a slight whiff of ‘pantomime leveraging noughties X Factor favourites’ would take the show to new heights.
That said, the same techniques deliver fruitfully where comedy is concerned. The trio of new friends, led by romantic hero Christian (Jamie Muscato), put anachronistic musical quotations and the odd knowing wink to excellent effect. Muscato’s vocals absolutely shine. Matt Rixon is joyous as compere Howard Zidler, touting his “sparkling diamond” Satine, the star performer, and Melissa James certainly is that kind of multi-talented act. She leads a similarly stunning ensemble of astonishingly accomplished dancer/vocalists who seem uncommonly able as actors, singers, dancers and acrobats, even by high West End standards. Essentially, what Moulin Rouge leaves to be desired can easily be lost in the dazzling array on show.
Tom Martland
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