Moulin Rouge! The Musical: Palace Theatre Manchester – Live ReviewMoulin Rouge! The Musical
Palace Theatre Manchester
Thursday 21st 2025 

Most jukebox musicals feature the songs of one artist, but not Moulin Rouge! The Musical that offers over 70 classic tunes in a couple of hours. Paul Clarke joins in the musical mayhem. 

There are jukebox musicals and then there is Moulin Rouge! The Musical which is in a different league altogether. Most jukebox shows like Mamma Mia focus on the songs of one artist, but Moulin Rouge features short snippets of a staggering 74 songs, from The White Stripes to Britney Spears.

From the moment you walk into the Palace Theatre, you become totally immersed in a show where over the top is an utterly redundant concept as you are faced with Derek McLane’s scrumptious heart shaped set as top-hatted rakes and Can Can girls stalk the stage. Up in the box seats, there’s a massive windmill and a huge elephant head, which will be familiar to anyone who’d seen Baz Luhrmann’s deranged movie version starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.

Before you’ve even started your popcorn, four sultry dancers burst onstage for an exhilarating opening sequence singing Lady Marmalade as Can Can dancers blast out Because We Can, interspersed with Talking Heads’ Burning Down The House. It shouldn’t make any sense, but actually does because it is so gloriously over the top and unselfconsciously in your face, you are just swept along in the glitz and glamour.

John Logan’s book interweaves through the hits an age-old tale of American songwriter Christian, who has come to Paris, where he hooks up with local bohemians living on the rebellious West Bank, including artist Toulouse-Lautrec. Christian meets and falls in love with beautiful courtesan Satine, who is also the star of the legendary Moulin Rouge nightclub, which is in deep financial trouble. Satine reciprocates his naive amour before local gangster The Duke enters, and much to Christian’s chagrin, offers to bankroll a new show, but only if we can have the star performer all to himself. So does love win the day? It’s a musical, so what do you think?

Satine, played by Verity Thompson, is introduced via a bonkers montage of Diamond-themed songs made famous by the likes of Shirley Bassey and Marilyn Monroe. Thompson is by a country mile the star of this show, giving the role of streetwalker turned singer the emotional depth it needs. Her powerful voice easily fills this big space, especially on the witty Only Girl In A Material World montage, where she is joined by dancers in another of Catherine Zuber’s flamboyant period costumes for a high energy routine to Single Ladies   (Put A Ring On It). Big Ballad Come What May is the only original song in the show, and Thompson brings real heartbreak to her duet with the impressive Josh Rose as Christian, who nails his own showstopper, Elton John’s Your Song.

The impressive set design, full of evocative flats, takes two thousand people on a journey through Paris, and a top quality ensemble makes the most of Sonya Tayeh’s always energetic and fun choreography, which makes Bob Fosse look restrained. They are on hand for the Elephant Love Medley as they smash through an astonishing 20 songs in four minutes, including tunes by Bowie, U2 and Tina Turner.

Cameron Blakely is wonderfully sleazy as he channels Cabaret’s Emcee playing Moulin Rouge ringmaster Harold Zidler, who both loves and exploits Satine. Santiago is one of the most pointless characters in musical theatre, who’s only onstage to perform the supposedly sultry El Tango De Roxanne, which is weak; here, it adds nothing, but Rodrigo Negrini does his best with a cod Argentinian accent and a duff role. In contrast, Kurt Kansley brings real pathos to the drunken Toulouse-Lautrec, also in love with Satine, and his touching version of Nature Boy finishes with the line ‘the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return’, which is what this show is all about.

James Bryers as The Duke is almost a panto villain earning a good natured boo at curtain call, although he does execute a trio of Rolling Stones numbers that set out his dastardly nature with great aplomb.

I first saw this show on Broadway, where it was marred by too many rude Americans loudly and tunelessly singing along, so good on the Manchester audience who waited until the More More More! megamix at the end before getting to their feet for a deserved standing ovation, and a lusty sing-along.

If you’re looking for high art, then Moulin Rouge! The Musical is not the show for you. If you want to be highly entertained by a cast with no weaknesses belting out classic tunes all night, and who have totally bought into the absurdity and glitzy chaos, then this is a perfect night out – even if you don’t much like musical theatre.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is at Palace Theatre Manchester until Saturday, 4th October. Book here:

You can follow Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Facebook and Twitter.

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Words by Paul Clarke, you can see his author profile here.

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