Picture: Matthew Murphy
The producers of the eagerly-anticipated first UK production of the stage musical version of Baz Luhrmann’s vibrant Moulin Rouge have confirmed the show will now sashay into London’s Piccadilly Theatre a few months later than planned in the autumn of 2021.
Originally due to follow its success on Broadway by opening in London in March next year, the spectacular show will be brought to the UK by Global Creatures, the Australian company behind the hit musical version of Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom which also made its West End debut at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Confirming the short delay to the show’s West End debut, producer Carmen Pavlovic from Global Creatures, said: “Whilst we’re disappointed to be opening a little later than originally planned, we are committed to bringing Moulin Rouge! The Musical to London and look forward to being part of a revived West End.”
With the backing of Luhrmann, the director’s double Oscar-winning sweeping tale of love among the artists in the Montmartre area of France’s capital was brought to life on stage by a team led by award-winning director Alex Timbers (Here Lies Love, Rocky).
Featuring a book by Tony and Golden Globe-winning writer John Logan (Red, TV’s Penny Dreadful) Luhrmann’s highly-stylised vision of turn of the century Paris played out to the sound of an eclectic ‘jukebox-style’ trip through the music of the last 50 years.
Choreography is by Emmy Award-winner Sonya Tayeh (Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for Kung Fu), with music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Justin Levine (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson).
The design team includes: Tony Award-winning set designer Derek McLane (Beautiful – The Carole King Musical); Tony and Olivier Award-winning costume designer Catherine Zuber (The King and I); with double Tony Award-nominee Justin Townsend on lighting; Peter Hylenski on sound; Drama Desk Award winner David Brian Brown (Come From Away) on wig and hair design; and Sarah Cimino (make-up design). Casting is by Pippa Ailion.
Eighteen years after the big screen debut of Luhrmann’s evocative story of a doomed love affair between a writer and a dancer starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge! The Musical premiered in Boston in 2018 and debuted in New York last summer.
The spectacular show was due to tour the US in 2020, and Global Creatures has previously announced plans to bring the show to Luhrmann’s home country of Australia, in 2021.
The ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical original Broadway Cast Album’, which debuted at number one in Billboard’s Cast Albums Chart, is available on Baz Luhrmann’s label, House of Iona, and RCA Records.
Angela Thomas
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