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BrumHour saw Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the invite of Birmingham Hippodrome.
By Dave Massey
Moulin Rouge! The Musical at Birmingham Hippodrome: Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐”A stunning production”
Directed by Alex Timbers, book by John Logan
Set in Paris at the start of the 20th Century, the Moulin Rouge is a famous saucy club, which features dancing girls and wealthy men. Satine is their most famous performer. An aspiring writer, Christian, arrives the same night as The Duke. Then a case of mistaken identity causes Satine to begin professionally flirting with Christian instead of The Duke. The fallout from this error shapes the rest of the story.
Fans of the film will pretty much know what to expect: performance, modern music instead of the sounds of the era, and lots of flirting. The plot itself plays out mostly in the same order, and there are plenty of new tracks included from the past twenty years.
The first half was more spectacle performance than plot, whilst the second half delves further into the story, with much more intimate tracks playing out. Sometimes the stage movements were a little distracting, and instead of Satine being lowered into the set, the curtain rises, and she’s just there on a swing.
The sets switch from the lush red stage of the club to the dressing room of Satine, the bohemian loft of Christian’s writer friends, and the expensive drawing room of the Duke.
Nate Landskroner is great as Christian, who is now American; he belts out his numbers with assured ease. Verity Thompson is stunning as Satine, broken, torn, and fragile but dignified. Stealing the show throughout is Cameron Blakely as Zidler, the Moulin Rouge manager, leaning into this role and enjoying every second. My favourite moments were Chandelier/Green Fairy and Come What May. The former of which isn’t even featured in the film.
A stunning production which will wow its audience every single night, Moulin Rouge is at Birmingham Hippodrome until 15th November 2025. Last tickets available here: birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/moulin-rouge-the-musical.
