Few musicals can claim to represent an epoch – Hair is as indelible an image of free-love hippiedom as those photos of flower children in Haight–Ashbury, while The Phantom of the Opera speaks to the hyper-commercialism of the 80s as powerfully as Gordon Gekko – and certainly the producers of Tony-sweeping Moulin Rouge! would prefer not to have their show forever associated with a global pandemic. And yet, after the Broadway cast was ravaged by Covid and Australia’s own production in Melbourne opened months late due to lockdowns, the sheer tenacity of theatre makers has rarely been as keenly felt.
That the musical is about a woman dying of a transmissible disease but doggedly determined that “the show must go on” now seems central in a way Baz Luhrmann couldn’t have conceived when he shot the film on which this stage adaptation is based. Fans of the 2001 film will find much that is similar – a couple of scenes in particular feel so reminiscent of Luhrmann’s cinematic vision the effect is uncanny – but also much that is surprising and new. There are even elements that surpass the original, in spectacle and emotional heft.
Not least of these are the voices. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor are verifiable movie stars but neither is a natural singer. In the Melbourne production, which started performances on the same day as the London show, Alinta Chidzey and Des Flanagan play lovers Satine and Christian. They bring true powerhouse vocal prowess to the score, an important distinction given the extra demands new songs bring. Katy Perry’s Firework, Sia’s Chandelier and Adele’s Rolling in the Deep are all big numbers, and the cast perform them with seemingly effortless skill.
Luhrmann’s central gimmick in Moulin Rouge! imagines that Christian, a penniless composer in Montmartre during the Belle Époque, is so talented that every song he invents is a smash hit, the entire back catalogue of 20th and 21st century pop music sitting idle inside his prescient brain. It allows for the mother of all mash-ups, in a score that ranges from Edith Piaf to Beyoncé, via Elvis and Bob Dylan. Unlike most jukebox musicals, which tend to be lazy and haphazard in their selection of songs, Justin Levine’s musical arrangements and orchestrations are so ingenious, so considered and attuned to the show’s dramatic architecture that the 75 separate songs feel like an entirely integrated composition. It might be a loud night in the theatre, but it’s perfectly calibrated.
Visually, it is sumptuous and intricately detailed. Derek McLane’s set is full of clever references to the film – the boudoir where Christian and Satine first meet looks like an exact replica of Catherine Martin’s original scenic design – and Catherine Zuber’s gorgeous costumes are arresting in tableaux and spectacular in movement. Justin Townsend’s lighting design is dazzling, with its deep reds and warm yellows, but it also shrewdly directs the eye in a show that could easily become visually overwhelming. The overall effect is somehow both endearingly trashy and elegantly opulent.
No one in the cast puts a foot wrong. Chidzey makes a wonderfully dignified courtesan, wearied by her efforts to stave off death and unwanted men. Flanagan is a revelation, charmingly sincere and graceful as the guileless lover. His voice has some impressive depth, and occasionally some rock-inflected power, even if he leans a little too heavily on the vibrato in his upper register. Andrew Cook makes a suitably slimy Duke, and Tim Omaji and Ryan Gonzalez are fantastic support as Toulouse-Lautrec and Santiago. Simon Burke seems born to play Harold Zidler; salacious and carnal, he bounds across the stage like a demented Pandarus.
There is an insane amount of work that goes into a show of this nature, and director Alex Timbers wrings every ounce of gusto from his team. The ensemble devour Sonya Tayeh’s brilliantly eclectic choreography and power through every scene; there isn’t a corner of the Regent theatre they don’t dominate. Moulin Rouge! is a love affair with theatre itself, sensual and passionate and ridiculously entertaining. It takes the dreaded idea of the pandemic play and shoots it into the stratosphere. Melbourne audiences are unlikely to come back to earth for quite a while.
• Moulin Rouge is open at Melbourne’s Regent theatre until 29 April 2022
