Moulin Rouge! The Musical - This Windmill Turns out Some Incredibly Entertaining Fun

 

Let the Show Begin Credit: Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

    When Christian (Christian Douglas) leaves home in Ohio looking for adventure and romance in Paris, he doesn’t know what he’s in for. Soon after arriving in the City of Light, he’s chumming around with the artists and bohemians on Montmartre who frequent the infamous Moulin Rouge.

    As the club’s impresario, Harold Zidler (Robert Petkoff) likes to say, and I paraphrase, Moulin Rouge is not a place but rather a state of mind. It’s the notorious hangout where starving artists, ne’er-do-wells, prostitutes, and sodomites rub elbows with aristocrats, titled royals and the crème de la crème of Parisian society in a sybaritic free-for-all.

    Even before the show starts, the audience is treated to a brilliant red and white light set that looks like some gigantic box of Valentine’s candy on steroids. It’s the first taste of scenic designer, Derek McLane’s teamwork with lighting designer, Justin Townsend that‘s a harbinger of more wonderful things to come.

    Soon Christian, a young naïve writer from America’s Middle West, meets the woman of his dreams, a voluptuous actress with a shady past who goes by the name of Satine (Gabrielle McClinton).

    There’s trouble a brewin’ because the self-indulgent Duke of Monroth (Andrew Brewer) has his own eye on the actress, who has to have the best pair of gams since Betty Grable.

    I was taken aback when the show got started with a feisty group of Can Can girls who began to groove to the pop disco hit, “Lady Marmalade.” What? I jolted to attention, not expecting the familiar American hit but something more Francophilic. It was the first song in a playlist of mixed tunes that included hits by artists as varied as Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Rick Astley, Abba, Katy Perry and more, each wrapped around the narrative like swaddling around a newborn babe.

    With the Moulin Rouge (French for red windmill), its long, propeller-like vanes beckoning from the window of McLaren’s version of an artist garret in Montmartre, the dazzle continues with Sonya Tayeh’s spirited choreography (and yes, there is a Can Can), Catherine Zuber’s magnificent costumes (don’t miss Satine’s regal white outfit topped by the largest hat you’ve ever seen) and Townsend’s richly colorful lighting that changes into some of the most brilliant hues that have ever lit a stage. (Wait till you see what magic he does when Christian and company start drinking absinthe, and the stage is enveloped in an eerie green glow).

    Besides her extraordinary shapely figure and long legs, McClinton, a CMU grad, is quite the actress and singer. Keep an eye open for the way she makes her exit right after she puts the kibosh on her romance with Christian.

    As Christian, Douglas has the requisite boyish charm and innocence, the zeal of a true romantic and the fidelity of a white knight tutored in the ways of chivalry. His signatory love duet with McClinton showcases the fine quality of both their voices.

    The romance and intrigue are relieved by quite a bit of humor which largely comes from Petkoff as the emcee and club owner, who tries to keep his debt ridden enterprise going in an extremely tricky and delicate situation.  Besides his talent for milking the comic lines in the script, even Petkoff’s gestures, mannerisms and overall demeanor have a way of tickling the funny bone.

    As the Duke, Brewer is the ultimate villain, so convincing with his menacing ways, that I hissed and booed him at curtain call, something I rarely get so riled up to do. Admittedly, he does have a sonorous singing voice that made bearable his villainous presence.

    As the revolutionary artist Toulouse -Lautrec, Nick Rashad Burroughs is a standout, both for his stunning portrayal of the artist not afraid to challenge and stand up to the Duke, but as a romantic whose lyrical musings about his adoration for Satine touches the heart.

    As frenetic and exuberant as Act One is, the second half of the musical takes a darker tone. As the star-crossed lovers try to maneuver out of their soul crushing predicament, the arc of the narrative seems beyond having the happy ending that would bookend the musical‘s high-spirited, feverish beginning. Without giving away the tale’s ending, let’s just say it might be advisable to take along a packet of tissue in case you’re the sensitive sort.

    Take heart, though. Moulin Rouge’s book writer, John Logan and company have a trick up their sleeve that creates a celebratory finale worthy of a riotous New Year’s Eve combined with the pyrotechnics of a perky Fourth of July. Vive l’amour. Vive La Moulin Rouge.

    As my theater companion remarked on the way out of the Benedum, “Flawless, absolutely flawless.”

    Moulin Rouge! The Musical is at the Benedum Center in Downtown Pittsburgh, Seventh Street at Penn, through October 8. For tickets, phone 412-456-666 or www.trustarts.org.