✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review ★★★★★

12 Nov 21 – 03 Jun 23, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Writer John Logan and director Alex Timbers’ Tony-winning, Broadway-charming Moulin Rouge! The Musical is ‘spectacular, spectacular’ – and worth the wait

By Holly O'Mahony on 20/1/2022

8 CW readers are interested
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett
Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review 5 Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review Lucy Brooks
Writer John Logan and director Alex Timbers’ Tony-winning, Broadway-charming Moulin Rouge! The Musical has endured more trials and tribulations to make it onto stage than those of its characters in the play-within-a-play, Bohemian Rhapsody. While ‘consumption’ (tuberculosis) was contagious and deadly, it had nothing on the transmissibility of Covid-19’s Omicron variant, cases of which plunged the Moulin Rouge! company into isolation over the all-important Christmas period, postponing the press night twice. Happily, the West End transfer is more than worth the wait. Moulin Rouge! is ‘spectacular, spectacular’, a gloriously garish and glittery romp through Paris’s lost bohemian scene.


Based on Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 jukebox musical movie, the stage show is narrated by a young composer, Christian (breakthrough star Jamie Bogyo – more on him later) who, like wide-eyed, young Americans before and after him, has come to Europe in search of truth, beauty, freedom and love, but not before paying a visit to a local cabaret club, in this case, the Moulin Rouge.



Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Jason Pennycooke (Lautrec), Jamie Bogyo (Christian), Elia Lo Tauro (Santiago). Photo: Matt Crockett


With the help of fellow bohemians Toulouse-Lautrec (an enchanting, vivacious Jason Pennycooke) and Santiago (a smouldering Elia Lo Tauro), he secures a meeting with the club’s crown jewel, the courtesan Satine (a dignified, alluring Liisi LaFontaine), and the two fall in love. But not so fast: Satine has confused Christian for the Duke (wannabe 'hot ride', Simon Bailey), who’s paid good money to have his way with her. The four creatives, with the help of the club’s emcee Harold Zidler (a slightly too gentle Clive Carter), convince the Duke they’re working together on a new show, the plot of which mirrors the unfolding love triangle between Christian, the Duke and Satine.



Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Liisi LaFontaine (Satine). Photo: Johan Persson


Refreshing the jukebox of Luhrmann’s movie is a medley of pop mashups arranged by Justin Levine, dating the show's development in the mid 2010s. Versions of Sia’s Chandelier, Katy Perry’s Firework (replacing the movie's fragile number One Day I'll Fly Away) and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance are all big-energy highlights, bolstered by the show's strong ensemble. Hits are fused seamlessly throughout, such as when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ number Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend bleeds into Beyoncé’s Single Ladies via Madonna’s Material Girl. At each turn, Levine’s chosen tunes not only capture but enhance the sentiment playing out on stage. Toulouse-Lautrec and Santiago describe the hedonistic underworld of the city’s Montmartre district through Lorde’s 2013 hit Royals. They sing of a ‘torn up town [with] no postcode envy’, where residents ‘crave a different kind of buzz’ – and the song is a perfect marriage for the moment.



Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett


That Moulin Rouge! is such a coup is largely thanks to its designers. Derek McLane’s set, Catherine Zuber’s costumes and Justin Townsend’s lighting rightly all won Tony awards. Together, they transform the stage into an intoxicating riot of multicoloured ruffles, fishnets, bling and endless velvet. It’s flamboyant, OTT and, though conceived before the pandemic, the celebratory outburst we’ve all been craving after two demure years.


McLane’s set, in particular, is a masterpiece. Framing the stage and mimicking the design of Luhrmann’s movie are kaleidoscopic red hearts, while bursting from its balconies are models of the club’s windmill and a life-sized elephant. Playing cleverly with proportions, McLane offers us a bird's-eye view of the city before plunging us down to the streets beneath, where the action is dwarfed by tall stone buildings, lit by Townsend’s warm glowing windows.



Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Jamie Bogyo (Christian), Liisi LaFontaine (Satine). Photo: Johan Persson


While staging, score and script are all replicas of the ongoing Broadway production, which has birthed another copy for Australia, original to the West End show is its cast. Bogyo is the standout performer here – and what a professional debut it is for the RADA graduate! He captures all of Christian’s hopeful, love-sick passion, while his singing voice is note-perfect and caramel-smooth. It’s no wonder he got the gig and exciting to wonder what he’ll do next.


LaFontaine presents us with a less delicate and feline Satine than Kidman's. She's very much a heroine for the 2020s: gutsy, headstrong and fervent, determined to do her bit to save the club from closure.


Is Moulin Rouge! The Musical delightful enough to run for 50 years? It’s unlikely (only The Mousetrap has reached that milestone to date), but will it make its audience stop and cheer? Oh yes.



What Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre review
Where Piccadilly Theatre, 16 Denman Street, London, W1D 7DY | MAP
Nearest tube Piccadilly Circus (underground)
When 12 Nov 21 – 03 Jun 23, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £30 - £173
Website Click here for more information



Up to £173
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett
Booking opened
12 Nov 21 - 03 Jun 23

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, London

Book now

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 24–26 March. Photo: The Parakeet, Kentish Town
Things to do in London this weekend: 24–26 March
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast
Best art exhibitions in London. Photo: Thin Air at the Beams
Top exhibitions on now in London

Editor's Picks

Henry V at the Donmar Warehouse. Credit: Helen Murray
Henry V, Donmar Warehouse review
Looking back: London's best theatre shows, 2022
Looking back: London's best theatre shows, 2022
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Eddie Redmayne 'The Emcee' and Jessie Buckley 'Sally Bowles'. Photo: Marc Brenner
Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • The Blue Posts

    Set in a three-tiered, Grade II-listed pub dating back to 1739, The Blue Posts has a members’ club-meets-traditional-boozer vibe, appealing to those who want to belong to the Soho House set but can’t afford, or don’t fancy paying, the membership fees. The Blue Posts isn’t actually private, but feels it.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Heritage restaurant
    Read more...
    Map
  • Nopi, Soho

    With a menu that changes with the seasons, Yotam Ottolenghi's Nopi always has something new to offer – although certain classics remain favourites, such as its delicious courgette and manouri fritters. It is best to go for lunch – less touristy and less busy – but don’t forget to book.

    Read more...
    Book Map
8

Theatre

musical

West End

You might like

  • Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Eddie Redmayne 'The Emcee' and Jessie Buckley 'Sally Bowles'. Photo: Marc Brenner

    Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Cheryl (Jenny) in 2-22 A Ghost Story. Photo: Helen Murray

    2:22 – A Ghost Story, Lyric Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Henry V at the Donmar Warehouse. Credit: Helen Murray

    Henry V, Donmar Warehouse review ★★★★★

  • The Seagull. Emilia Clarke (Nina). Credit: Marc Brenner

    The Seagull, Harold Pinter Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Anything Goes, Barbican Theatre review. Photo: Samuel Edwards, Sutton Foster, Robert Lindsay. Credit: Tristram Kenton

    Anything Goes, Barbican Theatre

  • Olly Dobson and Courtney-Mae Briggs in Back to The Future, The Musical © Sean Ebsworth Barnes

    Review: Back to the Future: the Musical ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×