Moulin Rouge! The Musical – Birmingham Hippodrome

Book: John Logan

Director: Alex Timbers

Satine is the toast of the Moulin Rouge, of Montmartre, of Paris. She’s the headliner at the Moulin Rouge and has it all: she sings, she dances, and she positively oozes sex appeal. But it wasn’t always like this: born in the gutter, her father had her turning tricks at 13. Nevertheless, she managed to put that life behind her as, watched by adoring fan, Toulouse Lautrec, she gradually rose through the ranks at the Moulin Rouge, a place she now thinks of as home, surrounded by people she thinks of as family.

Upon entering the Moulin Rouge, we are greeted by a dazzling display of extravagant style—vividly costumed chorus girls and dashing men in tuxedos fill the space with vibrant music and flashing lights, awaiting Satine’s entrance. The scene is a breathtaking spectacle of bold colours and sound, all orchestrated under the watchful eye of impresario Harold Zidler.

However, despite this show of confidence and bluster, the Moulin Rouge is in deep financial trouble. Zidler has pinned his hopes on the patronage of the playboy Duke of Monroth, a man to whom money is everything. Zidler hopes that Satine will use her former skills to ensnare the duke and secure funding for the club’s survival, something the cynical Satine is happy to do.

But in a twist that could only happen in musical theatre, a spanner is thrown into the works: newly arrived singer-songwriter-composer Christian has met Lautrec and sidekick Santiago, who are trying to write a new show, hampered somewhat by a lack of musical skill. Recognising his value to them, the unlikely trio set off to ease their way into the Moulin Rouge by Christian sneaking in and auditioning a song for Satine after the show –  at about the time Zidler expects her to entertain the Duke. Mistaken identity and a fraught love triangle are set into place as Satine tries to please everyone all of the time; an endeavour surely doomed to failure.

Based on the 2001 film, Moulin Rouge! The Musical captures the image of Bohemian Paris as encapsulated within the walls of the Moulin Rouge itself. It also shows how thin the veneer of respectability can be through its storytelling, and this is largely down to the book by John Logan and direction from Alex Timbers. As a jukebox musical, it does suffer from similar issues to others of the genre: the songs tend to act as punctuation rather than driving the story, and the lyrics don’t alwas say what we’d expect them to say: for example, the already obscenely rich duke signals his priorities by singing Money (That’s What I Want), some of the lyrics of which don’t quite work in this context.

The whole, especially in the first act, moves at a frenetic pace, and we’re left breathless; after the interval, it slows a touch as we get to see Satine’s dilemma and the reaction of her lovers to it. This pace is supported by a wonderfully camp set from Derek McLane that whisks us between locations and a lighting design from Justin Townsend that moves effortlessly between the sumptuous musical numbers and more intimate, monochrome moments.

But the delivery is down to the cast and the large ensemble, filling even the Hippodrome’s cavernous stage with light, colour and sound. Each member dances the energetic choreography of Sonya Tayeh precisely with powerful voices.

Nate Landskroner brings us the earnest Christian. His deepening affection for Satine is clear and his fine voice soars to fill the auditorium. Verity Thompson is Satine, the torn headliner. She, too, has a powerful voice and belt. James Bryers’ duke is suitably unpleasant if occasionally a touch two-dimensional – one fully expects some twirling of moustachios as his desires are laid bare. Bringing some welcome comic relief are Kurt Kansley’s tragicomic Lautrec and Rodrigo Negrini’s snake-hipped Santiago. Cameron Blakely as Zidler shows his conflicted self too as he struts around the stage full of bluster. His fine voice feels a bit underused.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is in-yer-face non-stop entertainment. If you’re looking for pure escapism, you won’t do much better.

Runs until 15 November 2025 and on tour