The sumptuous, extravagant, grandiose, lavish, over-the-top set design and lush interior decor of the theatre house for Moulin Rouge! are definitely the MOST visually stunning and impressive I have ever seen. When you walk into the theatre for the first time heading for your seat all you can saw is WOW! Just WOW! The windmill and elephant are so eye-catching you can’t help but admire how they, and everything else - the walls draped in gorgeous deep-red fabric, everything trimmed in gold and lights, the chandeliers, fanciful cherubs, and everything bathed in a red glow - all come together to make a first impression that blows your socks off.
I arrived at the Al Hirschfield way, way too early with the sole intent of being first in the door and taking a LOT of pictures from the mezzanine and orchestra levels - panoramics of the house, close ups of the trademark Moulin Rouge! spinning windmill and whimsical blue elephant from eye-level and below, that neon sign (that commands your attention from everywhere in the theatre), and of the Can Can tables. There’s even an insert in the program that welcomes you to take pictures. And the staff allow you to walk very freely about and take all the pictures you want until about 20 minutes from start-time...
...at which time female cast members dressed in the most erotic of lingerie, men in corsets walking arm in arm, some of them in tuxedos with long slender, fashionable cigarette holders gazing out into the audience, all of them not quite interacting but meeting eye-to-eye with you on occasion, aimlessly wondering about the stage and hanging around the cages set beside the windmill and elephant. Then out comes Aaron Tveit. And the show explodes in a barrage of sights and sounds that make your body come alive with energy.
Danny Burnstein is astounding as Harold Zidler, Moulin Rouge’s owner and impresario. It was simply a delight to watch him. Tam Mutu as Duke of Monroth really put on a show, almost second to none, with a cockiness and strut that outshined everyone when he was in stage. Karen Olivo as Satine and Aaron Tveit as Christian sing well enough, but they just never impressed me in their acting. Neither did Sahr Ngaujah (Toulouse-Lautrec), he was just annoying. So were Ricky Rojas (Santiago) and Reed Lumplau (Pierre). The acting in some parts was just bad. And I’m not talking about the pieces when they were rehearsing the play. That was actually funny. There was something about Karen Olivo and Aaron Tveit that just seemed like they were reading lines or telephoning in their performances. They just never really clicked with me. It was the first time in any show that I’ve never felt some sort of emotional connection to the lead actors. And with the amount of stage time they had, making some kind of connection is important. I know this isn’t a full blown dramatic play, and more a jukebox musical, but I expected some feelings. Nothing.
Moulin Rouge! however still had quite a few scenes, sets, and musical number highlights that were simply amazing and fun. Satine’s descents from above were thrilling to watch, anytime the Can Can girls were kicking it, the set inside the Elephant was opulent, and the pitch to get the Duke to finance the new fake play was like watching an old Keystone Cops routine. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!, The Sparkling Diamond, Firework, Backstage Romance, and El Tango De Roxanne were all extraordinary to see and hear. There is a lot going for this show.
But there just seemed to more more misses than hits. Personally I thought the constant, never ending tidbits of pop music songs and reference inserts grew really tiring really fast. I wanted to leave at the end of Act 1 but stayed just in case I missed something later, you know, especially the death scene ending.
About that ending.
It was like a bad movie where a character just spills their guts and then flops over dead. There’s was no soul, passion, or intensity in that scene. She just flopped over dead. And I was sort of glad because it meant the show was over. But it wasn’t. The show closes with a speech about Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love. And then it doesn’t even stop there.
Out comes Harold Zidler and YES YOU CAN CAN CAN and the show EXPLODES all over again, like it was making up for a crappy ending. Then come the curtain call bows and final can-can dances which lead to a final explosion of confetti and streamers that actually have you leaving the show on an impossible high. Thirty minutes later I’m asking myself what the heck did I just see?
The Spectacular Spectacular was definitely all that. But when it sagged, it was just boring. Even the guy sitting next to me yawned and seemed impatient for the show to end.
I bought the souvenir program, magnet, and coffee mug (which is gorgeous). I’ll have to order the window card from Playbill or Triton Gallery since I couldn’t take it on the bus without risking damage.
And I guess the best souvenir of all are the pictures I have. The memories of the show however are just clouded in a sea of mind-boggling confusion. Would I see it again. Maybe. But only for the eye-popping visuals, and definitely not for the majority of the acting.
Updated On: 8/29/19 at 07:16 PM
