"Moulin Rouge!" Finally Coming To The Stage
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 3:30PM 
You may have heard elsewhere that Moulin Rouge! will finally be coming to the stage fifteen years after coming into our lives. Forgive us for not sharing our delight immediately. When Moulin Rouge! first came out, Baz Luhrman had mentioned envisioning the show in a casino format, but the assembling team sounds more like a promise for a Broadway future: John Logan (Skyfall and the Tony winning Red) will adapt with Alex Timbers directing (Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). The stage adaptation obviously has quite a lot to live up to, both in the high expectations of its admirers and the immaculate craft of the film. Your move, Logan and Timbers.
Once it finally arrives, we'll be waiting with bated breath to see how some of our favorite moments are recreated / reenvisioned for the stage. We polled Team Experience to see which moments they're most looking forward to...
Absinthe Green Fairy
I am most excited to see how we enter the Moulin Rouge for the first time onstage. The entrance in the film is unforgettable, with Kylie Minogue's Absinthe Green Fairy turning slightly demonic and the camera whizzing across Paris right into the heart of 1900's most happening nightclub. A rush like that is unlikely onstage, but with all the incredible stagecraft happening these days, it isn't completely outside the realm of possibility either. It's one of many moments in the film that are uniquely, giddily cinematic, but the sense of occasion and big reveal of the set (sure to be glorious) and characters (sure to be wearing eye-popping costumes) make this the one what I'm most eagerly anticipating. - Denny
Satine's Entrance
The audience (both in the film and watching it) and the film itself holds its breath when Nicole Kidman's porcelain showgirl descends upon the crowd - a moment of abrupt, agape awe to her consuming magnetism. Let's hope the actress playing her has half of Kidman's star power and that the staging adores her as much as Luhrman's camera. - Chris
Spectacular Spectacular
It's not that it's the warmest funniest "let's put on a show" giddiest moment in the film. But that doesn't hurt. It's primarily the fact that the scene in question is the entire movie but in miniature. It's a brilliant bit of screenwriting, reinterpreting what we've already seen and restaging it again for a mock audience, while foreshadowing all the conflicts to come. This number, unlike many of the setpieces in the film, might be even better in a live theater where directly addressing the audience is so organic. We'll be the Duke and they can pitch us Act 2 in minature before the curtain drops on Act 1. - Nathaniel
Elephant Love Medley
At first I thought that anything other than the "Elephant Love Medley" would be wrong (the singing moon, the miniature Eiffel Tower <3 )... - Jose
Surely the first act finale to end all act one finales. Don't you dare sing along, children, this is live theatre we're talking about! - Chris
Like A Virgin
The juxtaposition between actor and lyrics would be as fun on stage as it was on film. Let's get Norm Lewis to do it. That would be something. - Murtada
El Tango de Roxanne
As someone who gets sexual pleasure out of the sound of tap shoes when they hit the floor, I've found myself dreaming about "El Tango de Roxanne" constantly. - Jose
Moulin Rouge! is so inherently theatrical that translating it to stage feels so “duh”. The whole movie is a love letter to the magic of theatre. With performance shaping the scene so brilliantly, "El Tango De Roxanne" feels like the easiest scene to recreate on stage, but would still be the most thrilling. The tension and emotion in this scene is so brilliantly paced and earned, and the capacity for such an epic breaking point to shake up the whole room in a theatre is too tantalising. - Josh Forward
Which scene from Moulin Rouge! are you most anticipating on stage?
Reader Comments (11)
Good Luck casting The Green Fairy,maybe Minogue will be available.
By default, it's going to be the Tango because that should be electric on stage but i'm going to pass out if before the big Come What May reprise, Christian actually does walk out into the theater and starts singing back to Satine in the middle of the audience.
A few weeks ago in Las Vegas, I watched the musical "Baz - Star Crossed Love", an homage to Baz Luhrmann's films Moulin Rouge, The Great Gasby and Romeo and Juliet. It was a disaster from start to finish. Really painful to watch. Well, it's a Vegas show, so it must be a million times inferior to any Broadway show.
OH DERRECK NO. And by that I mean... YES.
My personal answer though would be the same as Jose's and Chris'... And I WILL BE SINGING ALONG. Sorry. Not sorry.
Derreck -- this hadn't even occurred to me and it will end my life. but i'll die happy.
Things I want in the Moulin Rouge musical:
1. Expanding the side character stories like the Narcoleptic Argentinian (he doesn't even have a name for crying out loud), maybe expand the rivalry between Nini "Legs in the Air" and Santine.
2. A new Elephant Love Song Medley, the movie version is too iconic for me. Not every song has to be repeated.
3. A different ending. I don't want a carbon copy of the movie and the sad ending in the movie obviously makes it dramatic, but something had to be drastically different for me to pay >$100 for a ticket.
I can think of a million actor they can cast as Christian but who will they cast as Satine?!?!? She needs to be statuesque, with a fragile voice and and unattainable beauty. Can't think of many on Broadway...
Roxanne is one of my all time favorite movie moments. Ever.
LIKE A VIRGIN better than Madonna's.
El Tango de Roxanne for sure. Always been so deliciously dramatic.
Also ummm, my younger self is LIVING right now because both Anastasia and Moulin Rouge are being made into stage musicals. Been waiting since high school...I mean I'm 23 so it hasn't been that long, but still. For such obvious choices it feels like forever.
The Cancan !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsHS-Rpnh1E