DPAC's Hyper-Energetic Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Combines Over-the-Top Dance and Music with Love

Austin Durant plays Moulin Rouge manager Harold Zidler Moulin Rouge! The Musical (photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which won ten 2020 Tony Awards®, including the Tony for Best Musical, exudes so much energy that you can skip the gym the day that you see it at the Durham Performing Arts Center. It's hard to beat a show that combines over-the-top Dance, Music and Love, while being a showy show about the grubby, exciting, and passionate reasons to be in show business.

As with Baz Luhrmann's 2001 movie, Moulin Rouge, the story is told and moved along by dialogue and a pastiche of lyrics and music from a number of popular modern-day songs. The 2019 Broadway and 2021 West End musical has updated some of the songs that the movie used and added several new songs with lyrics by Justin Levine.

Baz Luhrman's 2001 movie and the 2019 Broadway musical are set in the Moulin Rouge, a real fin de siècle cabaret of the same name, which opened in Paris in 1889. We are transported to a cabaret where poets and industrialists rub shoulders, where title and money are irrelevant to having a good time. Moulin Rouge is a place where your desires and fantasies can run amok.

Christian (played Friday night by (Christian Douglas, substituting for John Cardoza) is a handsome poet with little income. Shortly after he arrives in Paris, he falls in with two other starving artists, Santiago (Gabe Martínez), an aspiring actor, and Toulouse-Lautrec (Nick Rashad Burroughs), an aspiring playwright. The trio go to the Moulin Rouge. Christian is soon in love with the cabaret's star, Satine (Courtney Reed), and she is in love with him. But, this is a musical and there have to be complications....

John Cardoza and Courtney Reed star as Christian and Satine in Moulin Rouge! (photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

The Moulin Rouge's owner and emcee, Harold Zidler (Austin Durant), is broke. Desperate to keep the troupe together, Zidler sells the establishment to the wealthy the Duke of Monroth (Andrew Brewer) and agrees to just be the cabaret's manager. Monroth, too, is in love with Satine, who is the reason that he bought the Moulin Rouge.

Monroth soon starts to court Satine, and Harold Zidler pressures the young woman to give in. The only way Christian and Satine can embrace and kiss is acting in a new play, written by Toulouse-Lautrec and scheduled to be presented as the Moulin Rouge's opener under Monroth's new ownership.

Off stage, during rehearsals of this play-within-a play, Santiago is in love with one of the showgirls, Nini (Libby Lloyd). Nini warns Satine that the Duke of Monroth is a cruel man beneath his indulgent surface.

Monroth has been very indulgent to Satine, showering her with gifts -- a palace, new clothes, and diamonds, When Satine hesitates to give him her heart, Monroth threatens to close the Moulin Rouge, putting the entire cast out of work, leaving her and them to perform and panhandle on the streets again. What Monroth cannot own with money, he buys with threats.

The North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, playing now through Sunday, May 14th, at the Durham Performing Arts Center,
stars Nick Rashad Burroughs (left) as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gabe Martínez as Santiago (photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

Will Satine marry Christian for love and impoverish herself and all her friends? Or will she marry the Duke of Monroth, ensuring that the Moulin Rouge and her friends will continue to prosper? Plus ... Satine has her own secret though, which she has kept even from Christian. So, in the end....

Let's move on to the review.

The story takes place on a fantastical, over-the-top set by Derek McLane. Catherine Zuber's costumes shimmer wildly with colorful, sexy, and fantastical flair.

Sonya Teyah's choreography creates an almost nonstop spectacular spectacle, keeping up with Alex Timbers' briskly paced directing. In an interview, Tayeh commented she starts by creating "way-over-the-top and then pairs the dances down until they are just 'over-the-top.'"

Andrew Brewer plays the Duke of Monroth in Moulin Rouge! The Musical at DPAC (photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

Justin Townsend's light show and glitter design is a character in itself.

The acting is universally superb, and the viewer can understand why looking at the long and impressive resumes of the principals. All the principals are young and attractive, but Austin Durant easily dominates most of the scenes in which he appears as Harold Zidler, owner and emcee of the Moulin Rouge. Durant has the most outrageous and over-the-top part.

Courtney Reed as Satine is a glowing wondrous beauty, playing both seduction and slapstick with equal ease. Andrew Brewer as the sinister Duke of Monroth is tall and handsome, making a believable foil to Christian Douglas' young poet Christian. Nick Rashad Burroughs as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gabe Martínez as Santiago, Christian's friends, add just the right amount of Greek chorus background and provide comic relief.

The show is over-the-top -- and that is the reason for its widespread appeal. And I advise staying for the encore, when the actors take their bows.

Gabe Martínez and Libby Lloyd star as Santiago and Nini in Moulin Rouge! at DPAC (photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

John Logan's MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (In Person at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 6, 7, and 9-14), based on the 2001 film co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, directed on Broadway and tour by Alex Timbers, choreographed by Sonya Teyah, presented as part of Truist Broadway at DPAC, and starring Courtney Reed as Satine, John Cardoza as Christian, Austin Durant as Harold Zidler, Nick Rashad Burroughs as Toulouse-Lautrec, Andrew Brewer as the Duke of Monroth, Libby Lloyd as Nini, and Gabe Martínez as Santiago (Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham). DIGITAL PROGRAM: https://issuu.com/dpac0/docs/dpac_moulinrouge_digital. DPAC TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URvoPnj1csY&t=2s. MOULIN ROUGE! VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/MoulinRougeMusical. THE PRESENTER/VENUE: https://www.dpacnc.com/, https://www.facebook.com/DPACNC, https://www.instagram.com/DPACNC/, https://twitter.com/DPAC, and https://www.youtube.com/user/DPACLive. 2023-24 TRUIST BROADWAY AT DPAC SEASON: https://www.dpacnc.com/truist-broadway/season/truist-broadway-at-dpac-2023-2024. DIRECTIONS: https://www.dpacnc.com/plan-your-visit/directions. PARKING: https://www.dpacnc.com/plan-your-visit/parking. DPAC COVID-19 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: https://www.dpacnc.com/events/latest-updates-on-events-at-dpac/reopening-faq. THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR: https://moulinrougemusical.com/us-tour/home/, https://www.ibdb.com/tour-production/moulin-rouge-the-musical-527336, https://www.facebook.com/MoulinRougeBway, https://www.instagram.com/moulinrougebway/, https://twitter.com/moulinrougebway, and https://www.youtube.com/MoulinRougeMusical. TOUR CAST: https://moulinrougemusical.com/us-tour/cast/. TOUR CREATIVE TEAM: https://moulinrougemusical.com/us-tour/creative/. MOULIN ROUGE! (2001 Jukebox Musical/Romance/Comedy): https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/moulin-rouge, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009/, https://prod-www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/452492/moulin-rouge/#overview, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulin_Rouge!. MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (2019 Broadway Jukebox Musical/Romance/Comedy): https://moulinrougemusical.com/new-york/home/, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/moulin-rouge-the-musical-520636, https://www.facebook.com/MoulinRougeBway, https://www.instagram.com/moulinrougebway/, https://twitter.com/moulinrougebway, and https://www.youtube.com/MoulinRougeMusical. JOHN LOGAN (San Diego, CA-born playwright and screenwriter): https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/john-logan-486440, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0517589/, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Logan_(writer). TICKETS: $35 and up, plus taxes and fees. Call 800-982-2787 or click here to buy tickets. GROUPS (10+ tickets): 919-680-2787, Groups@DPACnc.com, and https://www.dpacnc.com/events/groups-services. INFORMATION: 919-680-2787 or CustomerService@DPACnc.com. Susie Potter's Triangle Arts Review Review.

WHAT: Triangle Review is a FREE weekly e-mail performing-arts and film newsletter, edited and published by Robert W. McDowell since April 2001.

TO SUBSCRIBE: To start your FREE subscription today, sign up in the subscription box at the beginning of this e-mail; or e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE-TR in the Subject: line. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE-TR in the Subject: line.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail all questions, comments, and Letters to the Editor to RobertM748@aol.com. For Letters to the Editor, please include a daytime telephone number in your e-mail.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content in all formats © 2023 Triangle Review and the author of each article. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Triangle Review and the respective authors is prohibited. Triangle Review maintains an archive of past issues. To request copies of past articles and/or issues, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com.