MOULIN ROUGE! Broadway Casting Thread- Page 15

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/22/25 at 3:13pm

Who here's seeing Wayne and Taye's first performance tonight? 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/22/25 at 3:13pm

(double post)

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/22/25 at 3:16pm

David Harris just shared on stories that he’s going to be rejoining the tour in Tempe, Denver, and Mexico City, covering the current Duke’s paternity leave. 

Does anyone know what happened to his cancelled return to Moulin Rouge on Broadway? Or his disappearance from Old Friends?

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/22/25 at 11:20pm

Musical just posted a snippet of tonight’s encore megamix and bows. Brady sounds / looks FAB:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMbzjpSNSDs/?igsh=MXR4aWJibnB4bW1hdw==

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/23/25 at 10:08am

EDSOSLO858 said: "Musical just posted a snippet of tonight’s encore megamix and bows. Brady sounds / looks FAB:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMbzjpSNSDs/?igsh=MXR4aWJibnB4bW1hdw=="

Brady does seem very comfortable and confident, and sounds excellent. Diggs looks about as uncomfortable as I’d expect. He will probably be the worst-sung Duke in the history of the show if his Fiyero is anything to go by. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/23/25 at 11:29am

Wayne is always comfortable on stage, just right at home. I honestly don't know why Taye still does Broadway. He was so weird and uncomfortable during Hedwig, it was truly painful.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/23/25 at 11:49am

Sutton Ross said: "Wayne is always comfortable on stage, just right at home. I honestly don't know why Taye still does Broadway. He was so weird and uncomfortableduring Hedwig, it was truly painful."

Wayne should have done Hedwig, not Diggs. Diggs was also a terrible Billy Flynn.

[Left Coast Theater Enjoyer]

Posted: 7/27/25 at 2:43pm

Was there Weds.  Wayne Brady, as expected, shines and is a charismatic Zigler.  Christian Douglas looked like a longtime Broadway vet, not someone who had his Broadway debut the night before.  Ashley Loren is even better this time.  Diggs...WTAF.  Saw this on twitter that captures the thoughts of myself and several around me

https://x.com/nicciclaspells/status/1948995218545483847

 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/27/25 at 2:52pm

Wow if the comments on that X thread above (about Diggs forgetting his lines and making them up) are correct, he should be fired.

Can you imagine if Diggs and Boy George opened together in the show? We would have ended up somewhere far away from Paris during their scenes…!

[Left Coast Theater Enjoyer]

Posted: 7/27/25 at 3:26pm

Yes, there was a noticeable amount of, um, improv when I saw it.  I'll leave it at that...

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/27/25 at 9:08pm

Yeah, I saw the show at 5pm today and everything still looks good, everyone sounds good. Wayne is fantastic, energetic, and just really fun. I'm not sure why Taye wants to be on Broadway again but he straight up made up, like, full chunks of dialogue out of thin air. It was.....well I've never seen anything like it on stage before. Bizarre.

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/27/25 at 10:25pm

I’m seeing them toward the end of Taye’s run. I know when I saw his first week of HEDWIG, he was ROUGH - like I wasn’t sure he was gonna make it. At the relative same time, he was also finalizing his divorce with Idina Menzel and I want to think that may have played with his headspace a bit, especially considering HEDWIG is a bear of a show that’s mostly just one person and an onion’s worth of emotional layers.

Hearing that he’s floundering as the Duke is remarkably less forgivable. While I get that he hasn’t done stage acting in over 10 years, this seems like a natural role to re-enter the game in - a supporting role that just has to be suave, cocky, and can carry a tune with menace. He doesn’t have much in the way of choreography and isn’t really featured until midway through Act I. I’m curious as to what the barrier is, especially since he had at least 3-4 months to learn his lines

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 4:34pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Video-Taye-Diggs-Shares-That-His-Son-Cant-Stand-Musical-Theater-20250731
 

Neither can Taye, based on the effort he puts in. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 6:41pm

DottieD'Luscia said: "I saw on Instagram that Nicci Claspell was brought in with 2 hours notice yesterday to play Satine. She previously played Nini on tour, and a brief stint with the Broadway company late last year."

What's Nicci's role with the show now? Was she set to join the Bway company? Because she's gone on as Satine, Nini & Arabia quite a bit since this happened. Vacation cover?

[Crusty Bagel]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 7:24pm

I saw the matinee yesterday, Nicci was great. The standout was definitely Christian Douglas who was amazing.  I thought Wayne Brady was fine, and Taye was also fine, not terrible but serviceable although he did mess up a line and had to start over.  The shows in good shape. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 8/1/25 at 9:31pm

Crusty Bagel said: "I saw the matinee yesterday, Nicci was great. The standout was definitely Christian Douglas who was amazing. I thought Wayne Brady was fine, and Taye was also fine, not terrible but serviceable although he did mess up a line and had to start over. The shows in good shape."

Just “fine” isn’t really a good thing when it comes to star/stunt casting. This show isn’t like CHICAGO where they have ways to change the components to fit each new performer. MR is much more intense and if you can’t keep up and deliver, people will notice.

Case in point for me: Casey Cott, who couldn’t hit a high note even if it was dangling in front of his eyes, and Boy George, who looked so winded about 20-25 minutes in that it seemed like elder abuse by the end.

Playbill Sale!: https://www.ebay.com/usr/missvirginiahamm

[Crusty Bagel]

Posted: 8/1/25 at 10:50pm

I think I might have enjoyed Taye more than Wayne.  I thought Wayne was serviceable but nothing nearly as good as Eric Anderson or Danny Burstein was.  Taye brought a certain swagger to the role that I really liked, he was definitely giving gangster like the show days.  It annoys me that we don’t know what happens to the Moulin Rouge at the end of the show. She dies, what does he do with the theater?  Anyway, there was a glitch on TDF so I only paid 27 bucks that was supposed to be for grads. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 8/7/25 at 11:04pm

Bobby Daye is returning as Toulouse for 5 weeks only starting 8/12

https://www.instagram.com/p/DND-6l1OCvd/?igsh=c2R1cmt3cXo0aW1v

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/14/25 at 12:29am

One of my loved ones saw this tonight and quite liked Bobby and Wayne in their roles. 

Taye was out, so that person didn't miss anything. :)

Updated On: 8/14/25 at 12:29 AM

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 9:39am

DADDY DUKE RETURNS! (Tuesday, Sept 30th)

Honestly, he’s damn good at the role because he offsets his handsome appearance with true menace. 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/David-Harris-Will-Return-to-MOULIN-ROUGE-as-The-Duke-of-Monroth-20250908?_gl=1*146co51*_gcl_au*MTI4OTgzNTAyOC4xNzUyNzY5MDc4*_ga*ODAzNjIxMTE0LjE2MTk2NDczNjY.*_ga_0Y18T6LY3T*czE3NTczMzY2MDUkbzE0MzckZzEkdDE3NTczMzg0NzUkajU4JGwxJGgxOTE1NzIzMzgkZHBodEpROTU3QkJEYms0akpfcU4zZ2ZjeWNGaVpZZjFNVnc.

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 9:45am

EDSOSLO858 said: "One of my loved ones saw this tonight and quite liked Bobby and Wayne in their roles.

Taye was out, so that person didn't miss anything. :)"

I honestly hope they’re giving Patrick Clanton a nice raise with his next contract. Between him covering Andre Ward and Austin Durant (often multiple times per week) earlier this year, and covering Wayne frequently during his stint, I can’t think of another standby in recent memory who has been on so much that he may as well be a principal.

Who covers the Duke now? Dylan Paul left the cast a while ago and Aaron C. Finley, I think, just left/is on his way out

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 10:42am

quizking101 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "One of my loved ones saw this tonight and quite liked Bobby and Wayne in their roles.

Taye was out, so that person didn't miss anything. :)"

I honestly hope they’re giving Patrick Clanton a nice raise with his next contract. Between him covering Andre Ward and Austin Durant (often multiple times per week) earlier this year, and covering Wayne frequently during his stint, I can’t think of another standby in recent memory who has been on so much that he may as well be a principal.

Who covers the Duke now? Dylan Paul left the cast a while ago and Aaron C. Finley, I think, just left/is on his way out"

Jack Cahill-Lemme is the other current cover 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 11:54am

quizking101 said: "DADDY DUKE RETURNS! (Tuesday, Sept 30th)

Honestly, he’s damn good at the role because he offsets his handsome appearance with true menace.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/David-Harris-Will-Return-to-MOULIN-ROUGE-as-The-Duke-of-Monroth-20250908?_gl=1*146co51*_gcl_au*MTI4OTgzNTAyOC4xNzUyNzY5MDc4*_ga*ODAzNjIxMTE0LjE2MTk2NDczNjY.*_ga_0Y18T6LY3T*czE3NTczMzY2MDUkbzE0MzckZzEkdDE3NTczMzg0NzUkajU4JGwxJGgxOTE1NzIzMzgkZHBodEpROTU3QkJEYms0akpfcU4zZ2ZjeWNGaVpZZjFNVnc."

Did we ever figure out why he was fired from Old Friends?

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 12:11pm

I suspect the size of the role was less than he’d anticipated, or perhaps there was more ensemble singing than he’d anticipated, and that this was an “I’m out!” situation.

As many will know from his Instagram, image and optics are more important to him than the average bear, and knowing him socially, the ego is significant.

I’m happy to be wrong, but my guess is that he felt misaligned with the project when he saw what would be required. 

[Dolly80]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 3:59pm

Was he actually fired from Sondheim?