The cast of Moulin Rouge!
(Picture: Matt Crockett)What a shame. This long-awaited, much-delayed Broadway adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s high-camp 2001 film musical has razzle-dazzle style but precious little substance. The big numbers are ravishing, but the central relationship between Liisi LaFontaine’s courtesan Satine and newcomer Jamie Bogyo’s writer Christian is consumptively thin.
Luhrmann’s signature idea of juxtaposing the bohemia of Belle Epoque Montmartre with 20th century songs is worked to death, with everything from Adele to Gnarls Barkley wedged in. And for a show about passion and decadence, full of sinewy, rump-flashing choreography, it’s remarkably unsexy.
