Review: Moulin Rouge! The Musical at Sunderland Empire

“…super songs…tremendous performers…this production definitely fits the bill.”

Moulin Rouge! The Musical by John Logan, Sunderland Empire

By Kay Wilson

Moulin Rouge! The Musical has all the glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing’s Blackpool week, with performances which are equally spectacular.

The musical draws the audience in even before it officially starts with a beautiful set, filled with red hearts, glittering lights and the cast sensuously moving around the stage. It is so stunning it makes your jaw drop and you really feel you are in a club in Paris’s seedy suburbs.

Based on the Baz Luhrmann’s film, Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, the show is set in 1890s Montmartre, Paris. The story follows a hapless American songwriter and musician, Christian, beautifully played by Nate Landskroner. He goes to Paris to find success and instead falls in love with Satine, the Parisian nightclub star and courtesan of the Moulin Rouge. Nate’s voice was superb and had the whole theatre spellbound. Verity Thompson’s depiction of Satine was equally strong and mesmerising, right from her diamond-encrusted entrance, through to the final, dramatic scene. She has a pitch-perfect voice and great stage presence. There was very believable chemistry between Christian and Satine which keeps the audience hooked on their emotional journeys.

Satine’s mentor and fixer, Harold Zidler, was brought to life very well by Cameron Blakely. He manages to walk the fine line between his character being an exploitative opportunist and someone who really cares about Satine and his club’s performers. His comic camp performance was often hilarious and the audience loved it. A strong antagonist adds great spice to any musical and James Bryers as the Duke hit just the right note, with menace and treachery in abundance.

The musical numbers and high energy are an essential part of Moulin Rouge’s appeal. I’m pretty sure there are more chart hits, movie theme tunes and pop anthems in this production than will be sung in all the Empire shows for the rest of the year. The songs were definitely crowd-pleasers including Diamonds are Forever, Lady Marmalade, Your Song and Bad Romance. They come fast and furious with one particular quick-fire scene where they are reduced to a few bars. Occasionally I found this a bit too frenetic. At other times, however, there was a lovely synergy between the music and storyline which worked very well. It added poignancy.

Special mention must also go to Brazilian performer Rodrigo Negrini, who plays Santiago and Kahlia Davis, who plays Nini. Their dance skills were fantastic and a real pleasure to watch. A big shoutout too for the whole ensemble, who are on stage for most of the performance and are fundamental to this musical’s pace, making the whole theatre feel electric.

Throughout the show the sets and costumes are stunning: Parisian rooftops, chic apartments and the Moulin Rouge club itself, with huge centrepieces including the Eiffel tower, all work well. I also really enjoyed the finale and its explosive finish. There is the show’s trademark red and black everywhere, used to great effect, and I really loved the bright, technicolour can-can dancers’ costumes which looked like they had jumped out of a Toulouse-Lautrec painting. He is also in the show, as it happens, and was well played by Kurt Kansley. In real life the artist designed Moulin Rouge posters.

I saw this show twice, once on the opening night and again last night. I didn’t think it could improve from the first performance but it definitely did, with even more energy. If there is one tiny reservation to be made, it is that the story is a bit lightweight and doesn’t really do justice to the huge amount of work gone into the performances and to create this enormous spectacle. But if you are looking to see a show for a great time, super songs you probably know well and love, with tremendous performers, then this production definitely fits the bill.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical plays at Sunderland Empire until Saturday 27 June. Tickets are available here.

Kay Wilson is a North East-based writer. She won Runner-Up in the Self-Published category at the Comedy Women in Print awards for her debut novel, The Stand-Up Mam. It was inspired by her own experience of performing comedy for two years and charts the adventures of a perfect mother who does stand-up. It transforms her but blows up family life. Described as ‘hilarious and heart-warming’, signed copies can be bought at The Bound bookshop, Whitley Bay. The novel is also available on Amazon here. Kay has a website which promotes extraordinary women and gives updates on her writing life.