Jump to content

Moulin Rouge - Boston

nsguy45

By nsguy45
in Live Theater & Broadway

 Share
This topic is 1840 days old and is no longer open for new replies.  Replies are automatically disabled after two years of inactivity.  Please create a new topic instead of posting here.  

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 31
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

  • 2 months later...
nsguy45 Proficient

nsguy45

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'm going for the opening preview. The cast can't be beat.

 

Got lucky to find a couple of orchestra seats (and perhaps had a little help from Amex) :)

I'm assuming your seats were for prior to the delayed opening. Were you able to exchange them? I'm seeing it on the 26th, Orchestra, 2nd row, center. Posts on theatre blogs by those who have seen it since the 10th have been mostly positive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BenjaminNicholas Grand Master

+ BenjaminNicholas

Posted
Posted
I'm assuming your seats were for prior to the delayed opening. Were you able to exchange them? I'm seeing it on the 26th, Orchestra, 2nd row, center. Posts on theatre blogs by those who have seen it since the 10th have been mostly positive.

 

Bingo. I was moved to next weekend.

 

Based on the song list, this show could do well with a wide variety of audiences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nsguy45 Proficient

nsguy45

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My seat is beneath the windmill. I sure hope it's more secure than the beam that fell above the Colonial stage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BenjaminNicholas Grand Master

+ BenjaminNicholas

Posted
Posted

Electric is how I would describe the audience for this show. They ate it up.

 

My main concern for this show is the casting of Aaron Tveit. There's just something missing from his character. He sings it fine, if not a little bland, but the spirit of the bohemian poet is definitely missing from his Christian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bencleve29 Experienced

+ bencleve29

Posted
Posted
Electric is how I would describe the audience for this show. They ate it up.

 

My main concern for this show is the casting of Aaron Tveit. There's just something missing from his character. He sings it fine, if not a little bland, but the spirit of the bohemian poet is definitely missing from his Christian.

I felt similarly - but I chalked it up to some lack of chemistry with Karen Olivo - who also sounded great - but something was missing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nsguy45 Proficient

nsguy45

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thoroughly enjoyed it Thursday evening from the 2nd row of the Orchestra. Aaron, Karen, Danny and frankly the entire cast were great. Sets, costumes, choreography were outstanding. Yes, there's an obvious lack of chemistry between Aaron and Karen. From where I sat, their seven year age difference was evident, especially with Aaron playing Christian boyishly in the earlier scenes. They both sing beautifully, together and separately, but there's no passion between them. An usher told me there's still no Broadway theatre available for it. Shame if it lost its Boston momentum waiting for a theatre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
edjames Mentor

edjames

Posted
Posted

This article in today's NYPost from columnist Michael Reidel:

 

The hype around ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ is growing

By Michael Riedel. August 2, 2018 | 7:25pm

 

riedel_moulin1-1a.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1

 

Danny Burstein stars in the Boston production of "Moulin Rouge! The Musical."

 

Moolah-la: They’re sure spending a lot of money on “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.”

 

The stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s vertigo-inducing movie musical is budgeted at $30 million — and that doesn’t include the lavish party the Ambassador Theatre Group hosted Sunday night for the reopening of the Boston theater it played in.

 

The Champagne flowed before the show debuted as an Acela-load of Broadway power brokers marveled at the magnificently restored Emerson Colonial Theatre across from Boston Common.

 

Tommy Tune towered above the crowd, clad in black tie, white gloves and a red “Moulin Rouge!” sash. Tune has a long history with the theater. He engineered the stunning turnaround of “My One and Only” at the Colonial in 1983, transforming a dog of a show into a Tony-winning sensation. Tune was so moved to be back there, he told friends he’s thinking of directing and choreographing a revival of “Grand Hotel.”

 

For now, the Colonial has a winner in “Moulin Rouge!,” with a world premiere people were calling “sensational,” “thrilling” and “powerful.”

 

Directed by Alex Timbers and designed by Derek McLane, the show stars Aaron Tveit as a struggling composer in Paris who falls in love with a cabaret performer, played by Karen Olivo, and six-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein is the cabaret’s host.

 

John Logan (“Red”) wrote the script, and the score is bursting with songs by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith and others. The standout numbers from the 2001 movie, including “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “Minnie the Moocher,” are there as well.

 

McLane’s sets spill off the stage to engulf the entire theater, which has been painted a deep, luxuriant red. The audience gasped in delight at Catherine Zuber’s costumes, one more extravagant than the next.

 

Zuber’s last stint at the Colonial was not a happy one. She was fired from “Seussical the Musical” there in 2000, the first of many heads that rolled in Whoville on that $10 million flop.

 

Her return to the Colonial with “Moulin Rouge!” is, by all accounts, a triumph.

 

Critics, including some heavy hitters from New York, are seeing the show this weekend, so look for their reviews on Monday.

 

The only carping I picked up is that the show’s high-voltage energy becomes a bit mind-numbing by the second act.

 

“There is no let-up,” a source says. “It’s spectacular and it’s gorgeous, but it’s a bit relentless. They have to find some moments for it to breathe. But there’s no question it has the makings of a big, big hit.”

 

Global Creatures, an Australian company that made millions producing dinosaur shows, is backing the show. It’s also opening the $40 million “King Kong” on Broadway this fall.

 

The company has yet to announce “Moulin Rouge!” for Broadway, but sources say it will arrive here in the summer of 2019, possibly at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, now home to “Kinky Boots.”

 

But if you happen to catch “Moulin Rouge!” in Boston, where it runs only until Aug. 19, make sure to slip into the ladies lounge and get a look at the marble table.

 

The chips in it were made by Bob Fosse when he was tapping out numbers on top of it during the 1978 out-of-town tryout for “Dancin’.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites
leeper Collaborator

leeper

Posted
Posted

I saw "Moulin Rouge" earlier this week. What follows is merely my reaction to the show, and shouldn't be considered a review. As most have mentioned, the set, costumes, choreography, lighting, etc. are all magnificent. The singing is all great. The crowd seemed to eat it up. For me, the contemporary songs that provide the music for this "jukebox" musical, completely took me out of the show almost every time. Some audience members near me were loudly gleeful every time a song they knew was being performed. As far as the lack of chemistry on the part of the leads noted in some of the comments, for me, whether they had "chemistry" or not was hard to ascertain since their job seemed to be primarily to be "song horses" for the pop ballads selected for the show. They did this with great distinction. The most successful character for me, was Danny Burstein's, mostly because he didn't have as many insipid songs to sing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RyanDean Mentor

RyanDean

Posted
Posted

I had a great time. Not a brain-sprainer, but genuinely diverting. Olivo is stellar, Tveit impressive & Burstein a treat.

And I do confess to enjoying the "name-that-tune" mixtape approach to the jukebox genre.

Looking forward to its arrival on Broadway...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
edjames Mentor

edjames

Posted
Posted

NYTimes, Ben Brantley says it's a "smart, shameless and extravagantly entertaining production". Keep an eye out, with reviews like this producers must be handled around the conference room table, on their smart phones, etc to try and find a theater soon. Perhaps some unlucky production will close early or not open at all?

 

://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/theater/moulin-rouge-the-musical-review.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

 

Review: Hit Songs to Sin By in a Smashing ‘Moulin Rouge!’

merlin_142001289_3d1ba098-df64-4af1-b10c-8bcaf1241151-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

 

BOSTON — The jukebox has exploded.

 

Its pieces zoom through the air like candy-colored shrapnel, whizzing by before the memory can tag them and making the blandly familiar sound enticingly exotic. I’m talking about the recycled pop hits, mostly of a romantic stripe, that make up the seemingly infinite song list of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” at the Emerson Colonial Theater here.

 

By the end of this smart, shameless and extravagantly entertaining production

you’ll think you’ve heard fragments of every Top 40 song of lust and longing that has been whispered, screamed or crooned into your ear during the past several decades. You may even believe that once upon a time you loved them all.

 

Part of the genius of Mr. Luhrmann’s original version — which starred Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor as doomed lovers in a Bohemian, fin-de-siècle Paris — was that it put mainstream, latter-day radio songs into the context of a verismo costume opera like “La Traviata.” Not for nothing was Elton’s John’s “Your Song” the ballad most memorably

.

 

That’s because it was your song, too. By dressing up the melodies you sang in the shower in opulent gaslight-era drag, Mr. Luhrmann created an equalizing paean to love ballads of all ages. The soundtrack of the commuter’s daily life acquired a purple grandeur, with Bowie, Labelle and Madonna assuming the velvet cloaks of Verdi and Puccini.

 

That’s because it was your song, too. By dressing up the melodies you sang in the shower in opulent gaslight-era drag, Mr. Luhrmann created an equalizing paean to love ballads of all ages. The soundtrack of the commuter’s daily life acquired a purple grandeur, with Bowie, Labelle and Madonna assuming the velvet cloaks of Verdi and Puccini.

 

But the creators of this presumably Broadway-bound, $28 million spectacle — directed with wit and heart by Alex Timbers, with seductive, funny choreography by Sonya Tayeh — have tinkered artfully with their archetype, translating the cinematic splendors of Mr. Luhrmann’s universe into more earthly pleasures. This “Moulin Rouge!” captures the sensibility of a movie-loving movie in a theater lover’s language.

 

The glamour is still here, but there’s a lot more grit. And we’re far more aware of the mortal flesh of the characters. This show also knows that a lot of new songs have flowed under the earbuds since 2001, and the list of those now included occupies three columns of infinitesimal type in the program.

 

Among them are hits from Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine, OutKast, Lorde, Sia, Beyoncé, Pink, Britney Spears, Adele and Katy Perry, for starters. (You may pause here to bow your head to Justin Levine, the show’s music supervisor.) There are also some new repurposed oldies, so when the villain of the piece (the sadistic Duke of Monroth, played to the hilt by Tam Mutu) is allowed to introduce himself it’s with the opening lines of the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil.”

 

 

The heroine is still named Satine, and she’s still the vedette of the louche nightclub of the title, which is run by her old pal, Harold Zidler (Danny Burstein, delivering a master class in pandering, sentimental seediness). On film Satine was embodied with a porcelain fragility and Marilyn-esque breathiness by Ms. Kidman, a silver-screen phantasm about to evaporate.

 

 

 

merlin_142001286_6d510c85-fb19-4885-ac8d-320536e051e4-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

 

 

 

Here she is played in a more realistic key by a sensational Karen Olivo (a Tony winner for “West Side Story”), and no matter how bare her costumes, this Satine is wearing her sex appeal like a suit of armor. In John Logan’s baldly written (and still trimmable) new book for the show, Satine is a feral survivor of the streets who began turning tricks at 13. Like Harold, her partner in deception, she sees love — or the illusion of it — as a commodity for profit.

 

This transactional element is signaled from the get-go. Derek McLane’s fab psychedelic valentine of a set — a cornucopia of nesting pink hearts — is on full display when the audience arrives. And it is soon inhabited by corseted men and women with proffering gazes. (The plush, sin-ready costumes are by Catherine Zuber.)

 

Men with top hats and phallic cigars join these creatures of the night. Two women move to the edge of the stage to slowly swallow swords as they caress each other’s thighs. And when Mr. Burstein’s Master of Ceremonies raises his cane, it spurts confetti over the audience. He promises that he and his crew can service you, “no matter your sin, no matter your desire.”

 

And then there’s that smashing little rendition of an immortal ode to the working girl, “Lady Marmalade,” performed as delicious raunch-and-roll by Robyn Hurder, Holly James, Jacqueline B. Arnold and Jeigh Madjus.

 

At this point, you may think you’ve wandered into a Gallic variation on “Cabaret,” or immersive naughty nightclub pieces like “Queen of the Night.” And when Ms. Olivo makes her entrance on a trapeze, singing “Diamonds Are Forever” with a

, she is just the sort of flower that would grow from such fecund soil.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
bostonman Grand Master

bostonman

Posted
Posted

Saw the show on Sunday afternoon. For me it was a huge jolt of fun on an otherwise blah rainy day.

 

Enough has been said about the design elements - and all is true - the look of the show is gorgeous and commanding, but also inviting. (I compare this to The Lion King, where to be honest, my eyes and brain were exhausted by the middle of Act II - there really is such a thing as too much of too much, and ultimately I found that show very disappointing because of that. This show, to contrast, had just the right balance.)

 

Those who feel that the exceptional Olivo and Tveit didn't have the right chemistry, or that Tveit seemed a bit miscast in the character - I disagree. Maybe things have developed during the run and I was better off seeing it now instead of earlier. Who knows? In any case, I bought it. I also have to say I didn't see an issue with Mutu's portrayal of the Duke - comments from others set me up to think he was going to be much more charming than I thought he was, lol. In a plot that really is one-dimensional (one of my only real quibbles with the show itself), I think he found the right balance between being a credible love foil (which I think is important), and a man only after power and possession. The story makes it clear what kind of creature he is - Mutu was right not to concentrate on playing that so much.

 

In general, the entire cast worked together so well - obviously the precision and specificity in the choreography/movement was drilled to the nth degree, but it all looked natural to me, rather than rehearsed. It's a long show (running time listed as 2:40 - I think it ran a bit longer yesterday) and could afford to be cut down just a bit, to be honest, but for its length it's certainly a helluva workout for the entire cast, and it doesn't show. It feels fresh, not routine.

 

And on that - Olivo and Tveit especially should get a lot of credit for their stamina. Satine is a monster of a role, but Olivo doesn't seem fazed. And Tveit is faced with a very tough sequence of "big singing" in the 2nd act (Chandelier / Roxanne / Crazy / Rolling in The Deep) that, as a musical director/vocal coach, made even me go "how is he doing this 8 times a week???"

 

As for the score - well, it won me over. As someone who myself is fond of creating what in this day are now called "mash-ups" (I prefer the older term "medley" lol), where a phrase of one song leads to something in another song, and on and on, Justin Levine's new arrangements for this musical version are outstanding. Yes, there were plenty of audible reactions (especially laughter) from the audience as familiar tunes appeared, but frankly, I feel that's something this musical embraces with class. There's never a sense of "wink wink nudge nudge" as the next hit song comes out of nowhere - they just play it all honestly as if they were all new songs coming out of the specific moment. It was clear that the show was written in expectation of the audience response, but it never played it FOR the laughs. The few moments where a song was there for a true sense of broad comedy (Danny Burstein's Zidler seeming appropriately and charmingly mismatched as he started to sing "Shake It Out" for instance) also worked well because we weren't getting that kind of gimmick for the whole show.

 

The only moment in the show that gives me some pause is the post-show/curtain call. The ending of the actual musical play is very dark (as is the majority of Act II) and did have me shedding a tear (as did the high emotion and stunning choreography for "Roxanne", and a few other moments as well). But then, all of that goes away and we're treated to that moment I never much like in the big musicals that do it - the "extended reprise" ending. I've never liked the Joseph "Megamix" for example (and have never done it when I've done the show), I'm not really even a fan of the endless reprises that happen at the end of Dolly (though at least there, it builds on the joy of the final scene in an a fitting way IMO). I totally understand why the writers of Moulin Rouge felt the need for that "happy ending" pickup - but for me it went on way too long, and ironically (being a post-show moment) it did take me out of the show. I think I would have gone for a much shorter version of the same idea and found it more fitting. But, I doubt they will change it from what it is, because they know that in general, the sequence is a huge crowd-pleaser, and I get that. I guess they felt they needed something rather overreaching to contrast with the story's bleak ending, but still...

 

But, perhaps the best thing of all was seeing this triumph of a show in this venue. If any of you don't know the disgustingly shameful recent history surrounding the possible fate of this historic Colonial Theatre, you can look it up. I've seen many shows here in the past, and I can say the renovation work is truly beautiful. Even if the show weren't as good as it is, IMO, just being "part of the event" (thank you, Mr. Sondheim) was a thrill in itself. Thank god this theatre was preserved, and that they had this huge and daring premiere to start its new era.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Contact Info:

The Company of Men
5834 C. North Kings Hwy #4343
Alexandria, VA 22303

Email: moderators@companyofmen.org

Help Support Our Site

Our site operates with the support of our members. Make a one-time donation using the buttons below.

$10 $25 $50 $100 $200

Make a recurring donation

Additional Resources

×
×
  • Create New...