Review: Moulin Rouge, at the Piccadilly Theatre, London

I’m back in London again! YAY! The main event being a belated birthday afternoon tea in the Shard (holy…!), but of course I was going to extend my stay and see some bits and pieces. 

And first off is a surprising choice for me: Moulin Rouge. 

This spectacle is of course based off the Baz Luhrmann film, which I must be honest and say… I have ever seen all the way through. Ok, put down your pitchforks a second: I tried but it was too much of a fever dream, had to stop it, and then forgot to start it up again. Whoops

Don’t you worry, karma had its due: I had the ending spoiled for me years ago. 

Just like RENT, Moulin Rouge has basis in Puccini’s opera La Boheme. Set in 1899 Paris, we follow struggling artist Christian, who while on a trip to the famous Moulin Rouge with some new Bohemian friends, falls head over heels in love with the club's star, Satine. But a foil comes between our two lovers in the form of The Duke, who feels that he owns Satine as part of the deal to keep the theatre open. 

What follows is a story of, well, as they say in the show: Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love. 

Immediately as you go up the stairs (well in my case anyway), and enter the auditorium, is that the theatre is a sea of flashing lights and red velvet curtains. A giant turning windmill on one side and an elephant on the other: the Piccadilly Theatre has been turned into the Moulin Rouge itself. 

It certainly is the opposite of when I was last at the Piccadilly - for Annie. 

And it takes your breath away. This is the biggest treat of Moulin Rouge. Just as the film is a crazy spectacle, so is the stage musical, perhaps even more so. 

There's an electricity in the air from the moment the first bass notes of Lady Marmalade begin. 

The staging, the choreography, Olivier-winning costumes of pretty corsets everywhere: everything shimmered, and everything was big. This is the kind of spectacle that would come to mind when you think "West End show". 

Having said that though, Moulin Rouge wasn't really on my radar for a while. That all changed when I heard about the cast change, and particularly who would be playing our leads: Jamie Muscato (BKYLN, Heathers), and Melissa James (The Magician's Elephant, Gypsy). 

What a perfect pair! 

James is getting the West End leading role she deserves, a Sparkling Diamond in every sense. In Muscato's case, this is the best I have EVER seen him. He may be known for playing bad boys recently, but it seems he was born to play Christian; he was so sweet, sincere, optimistic and lovable. His version of El Tango de Roxanne could maybe rival Aaron Tveit's; and I would NOT mind at all if his Come What May haunted my dreams every night. 

I must say though that this is a very strong ensemble cast as well, with some incredible dancers. There's a lot of styles in Moulin Rouge, from the traditional cancan to the 2nd half opening up to Bad Romance as an Argentinian Tango. 

Everyone gets their moment to shine, but one other person I would like to mention is Craig Ryder, who covered the club owner Harold Zidler: a bit sleazy, but still charismatic, and only does what he does so that the club won't close. Oh, and also Ben Richards' Duke, as a right piece of work, and got booed at his bow like a pantomime villain. 

Just like the film, this is a jukebox musical, and there are A LOT of covers in here. So many in fact that a couple of the numbers are mashups of various bits and pieces. Some of them really work like Truth Beauty Freedom Love and Crazy Rolling being able to set the scene/drive the plot as well as being an amazing mashup end of; others, if you don't mind me nit-picking, especially The Elephant Love Medley don't gel together as well and seem to play the audience for them to react as "Oh I know this!". 

This I think is the perfect special occasion show 

Couple of reasons: one being the spectacle as stated before, two is that you and your family/friends/date will hopefully recognise quite a lot of the material, and three, because tickets are quite expensive. I was lucky in that I had a voucher given to me by my boss for my birthday, meaning I nabbed my ticket for £17 instead of £50-something; and that was in the gods. 

If you do decide to go for this though, the Moulin Rouge is an incredibly good time. It's not one to be taken TOO seriously, and instead be swept up in the glamour and romance. 

Was I expecting to be watching a flashy guilty pleasure like a perfectly placed piece of fancy and calorific Biscoff cheesecake with all the sprinkles and a sparkler shooting out of the top? Yes 

Was I expecting my eyes to well up at certain moments.... *no spoilers in case*. No; I wasn't. That may have been the biggest surprise of all.