{"id":5848,"date":"2025-06-22T17:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5848\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T17:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:43:10","slug":"10-things-to-know-about-moulin-rouge-the-musical-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/5848\/","title":{"rendered":"10 things to know about \u2018Moulin Rouge! The Musical\u2019 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, one of Broadway\u2019s most-honored and popular shows, \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical,\u201d will make its San Diego debut with a two-week run at the San Diego Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the 2001 film of the same name, \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, following its 2019 debut at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in Manhattan. Six years later, it\u2019s still regularly among the 10 best-selling musicals on Broadway.<\/p>\n

Since this will be the first time many San Diegans have experienced the musical adaptation of \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d we offer these 10 tips for watching the famously decadent show.<\/p>\n

\"AA still from the 2001 movie \u201cMoulin Rouge!\u201d starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. (20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n

Where it all started<\/strong><\/p>\n

To trace the seed that grew into the Broadway musical, you must go back to 1853, when Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi premiered \u201cLa traviata,\u201d the tragic story of Violetta, a Parisian courtesan who takes one last shot at true love before dsuccumbing to tuberculosis. Audacious Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann credits \u201cLa traviata\u201d for his 2001 \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d screenplay, where the central character, Satine, is a sickly singer at Paris\u2019 Moulin Rouge nightclub. The club\u2019s greedy manager, Harold Zidler, pimps Satine out to wealthy clients and investors, but she falls hard for the English troubadour Christian and has one last fling. Luhrmann\u2019s film featured a score of then-current pop songs.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn historic photo of the Moulin Rouge nighclub in Paris, France.<\/p>\n

The real Moulin Rouge<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Moulin Rouge (French for \u201cred windmill\u201d) was opened in the Montmarte district of Paris in 1889 by impresarios Joseph Oller and Charles Zidler (the inspiration for the similarly named character in the movie and musical). Originally launched as a cabaret, it became a hangout for the French elite and celebrated artists, including painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (who is a featured character in both the movie and the musical). The cabaret burned down in 1915 and reopened in 1921 as a nightclub. Over the years, the club underwent many changes, but it\u2019s forever known as the birthplace and current presenter of the French cancan, where female dancers lift their frilly skirts and high-kick their bare legs. Moulin Rouge remains a popular Parisian tourist destination.<\/p>\n

\"KarenKaren Olivo as Satine and Aaron Tveit as Christian in \u201cMoulin Rouge!\u201d on Broadway. (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n

How it changed for Broadway<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stage adaptation\u2019s book was written by John Logan and directed by Alex Timbers, with choreography by Sonya Tateh. The show got its start in a 2018 out-of-town tryout in Boston. Following the tradition of the film, the Broadway show is a jukebox musical, meaning it\u00a0 features licensed music rather than an original score. The creative team kept some of the most-beloved songs from the film but updated the score with much more contemporary pop songs. The character Satine in the musical is less of a victim of the manager\u2019s demands and chooses to use her feminine wiles to make money for the club, which is her artistic home. Her lover, Christian, is now an American musician who, after Satine\u2019s death, will go on to create the \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d musical in her memory. The musical is also more diversely cast than the film.<\/p>\n

An immersive experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the key elements to the success of Broadway\u2019s \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d is the lavish scenic, lighting and sound design that transformed the Hirschfeld Theatre into the Parisian nightclub itself. Sumptuous and spectacular are words that critics and fans have used to describe the theater\u2019s heavily decorated auditorium and stage. There are enormous set pieces in the balconies, multiple performance spaces on different levels for actors and dazzling lighting. While the experience will be different for audiences seeing the new national touring production, early reviews have been positive.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 musical\u2019s score\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d features a mix of songs from the film and dozens of more contemporary songs by songwriter\/pop stars including Adele Beyonc\u00e9, Katy Perry, Dolly Parton and Rihanna. Producers say the songlist features the work of more than 160 composers.<\/p>\n

\"AriannaArianna Rosario, center, as Satine, in the national touring production of \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n

COVID turns out the lights<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d opened in 2019 to mostly rave reviews\u00a0 and was expected to be a strong contender at the Tony Awards the following year. But a deadly outbreak of COVID-19 in New York City quickly impacted the theater community. \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d was actually the first Broadway show to close due to cases of COVID among the cast. Then New York\u2019s governor ordered all of the city\u2019s theaters shut down on March 12, 2020 (followed days\u00a0 later by thousands of theaters nationwide).<\/p>\n

It would not be until September 2021 before theaters gradually reopened. Many shows that were shut down in March 2020 never reopened, and some that did reopen never regained their momentum and closed. But \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d proved a consistent seller because it offered familiar music and served as a feel-good escape from the news of the day.<\/p>\n

Tony troubles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tony nominations are usually announced in early May of each year, followed by the awards ceremony in June. With theaters closed indefinitely, Tony producers decided to postpone the nominations announcement for a few months, not realizing how long the lockdown would last. When it became clear theaters would be closed for an extended time, an abbreviated list of of Tony nominations was finally announced on Oct. 15, 2020. But the winners would not be announced until nearly a year later, on Sept. 26, 2021.<\/p>\n

Many of each Broadway season\u2019s musicals tend to open in the spring months because it\u2019s peak tourist season and a way to keep new shows fresh in the minds of Tony voters. But because several planned spring musicals were never able to open due to the pandemic, some of the musical categories for nominees that year were sparse. The Best Musical category had just three nominees, and \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d star Aaron Tveit ended up all alone in the lead male musical category.<\/p>\n

When the awards were finally handed out in 2021, \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d won 10 trophies, including Best Musical. Other Tonys went to the show\u2019s director, choreographer, orchestrating team and its scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers. Tveit, who played Christian in the musical, won his category, and Danny Burstein, as club manager Harold Zidler, beat out four competitors in the featured actor in a musical category.<\/p>\n

\"UCUC San Diego graduate Danny Burstein won his first Tony Award for his featured role as Harold Zidler in the Broadway production of \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Diego connection<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Burstein accepted his Tony Award for \u201cMoulin Rouge,\u201d he was exuberantly cheered by fans and friends in New York and in San Diego.<\/p>\n

Burstein earned his master\u2019s degree in acting from UC San Diego in La Jolla in 1990. While a student there, he performed in a La Jolla Playhouse production of \u201cMacbeth.\u201d Then six years later he was performing in \u201cTime and Again\u201d at the Old Globe in Balboa Park when he met his wife, the famed musical theater performer Rebecca Luker.<\/p>\n

They married in 2000 and both went on to very successful Broadway careers. But in 2019, Luker was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and in March 2020, Burstein was hospitalized and nearly died from COVID-19. He later recovered and served as Luker\u2019s full-time caregiver until she passed away on Dec. 23, 2020, at age 59.<\/p>\n

Burstein was nominated for seven Tony Awards before winning for \u201cMoulin Rouge.\u201d He received a thundering and prolonged standing ovation from the Tonys crowd. In his speech, he thanked the Broadway community for supporting him and his wife during her illness. He earned his eighth Tony nomination last month for his role as Herbie opposite Audra McDonald in the Broadway revival of \u201cGypsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the actor who took over the role of Zidler when Burstein stepped down, Eric Anderson, also has a San Diego connection. During the late 1990s, the Orange County native starred in multiple musicals at Vista\u2019s Moonlight Amphitheatre before heading to New York where he has appeared in eight Broadway shows. Anderson was starring as Capt. Hook in La Jolla Playhouse\u2019s \u201cFly\u201d musical when the pandemic arrived in 2020. He was one of many members of the \u201cFly\u201d cast seriously sickened by the virus.<\/p>\n

\n

UCSD grad Danny Burstein calls \u2018Moulin Rouge\u2019 Tony nod a \u2018wonderful rush\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The show\u2019s growth<\/b><\/p>\n

Today, \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d has productions in the New York, London, Germany, South Korea, Australia and the Netherlands. There\u2019s also a world tour and a just-launched 2025 North American tour, which kicked off earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas. San Diego is its third tour stop. The touring cast is headed by Arianna Rosario as Satine, Jay Armstrong as Christian and Robert Petkoff as Zidler.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Matthew Murphy<\/p>\n

Robert Petkoff and company in the national touring production of \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n

Rougeheads<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like most long-running musicals, \u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d has its own hardcore community of fans, who call themselves \u201cRougeheads.\u201d Amanda Pinsky may be the show\u2019s biggest American fan. She runs the Instagram account @moulinrougefanfanfans<\/a>, which has nearly 11,000 followers. She has seen the musical more than 100 times and uses her account to update followers on cast member departures and new arrivals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Moulin Rouge! The Musical\u2019<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> Opens Tuesday and runs through July 6. 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through July 6.<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown<\/p>\n

Tickets:<\/strong> $56.25 and up<\/p>\n

Online: <\/strong>broadwaysd.com\/upcoming-events\/moulin-rouge-the-musical<\/a><\/p>\n

\"JayJay Armstrong Johnson and Arianna Rosario in the national touring production of \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d (Matthew Murphy)<\/p>\n

Originally Published: June 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT<\/p>\n