Skip to main content

Moulin Rouge Cinema Vs Broadway


 I recently had an opportunity to see the Moulin Rouge show on Broadway. I was in the Can Can seating (in the orchestra pit) and it was a great deal of fun. After the show I realized it had been many years since I last watched the movie the show is based on (which I am a huge fan of) so I rewatched it. Of course no one expects a Broadway show to be an exact replica of a movie, besides the fact that new songs were added to include current music there would simply be no way for a stage to do everything that can be accomplished with multiple movie sets and digital effects. That said, some of the changes were interesting.

The story for those unaware (if this is the case why are you reading this and not watching this amazing movie first?) is about an English writer who defies his stuffy father and moves to Paris to practice his craft. He immediately falls in with a group of Bohemians who draft him into their attempt to launch a show. They arrange an audition for him with the dancer Satine, who mistakes him for a Duke that the owner of the club she sings at (the Moulin Rouge that gives the movie it's title) has arranged for her to seduce in order to extract financing from him. She falls for the writer, Christian, and together they convince the Duke to finance the show that the Bohemians are writing, while keeping him from discovering that her true affections lay with the writer. I won't spoil what happens when the Duke inevitably discovers the deception.

In the show the characters have been changed a bit. Zidler comes across as less self server and more genuinely concerned about Satine in the show. Instead of giving her away to the Duke, the other dancer/prostitute warns her about him. The Duke himself is made even less sympathetic, being more of an outright villain from the start, and given a history of murder and disfigurement when it comes to the objects of his affection. For some inexplicable reason the story within the story is changed, and instead of a maharaja the villain is a gangster. The Argentinian is no longer narcoleptic. The change I like best is Toulouse-Lautrec also being explicitly in love with Satine. This really gives more depth to not only his character, but his relationships with both Satine and Christian.

Musically I was disappointed that some songs had been taken out of the show to make room for newer ones. But I get it that younger audiences are probably going to be more stoked to hear Katy Perry and Adele than KISS or Paul McCartney. I am baffled, though, at changing Roxanne to be sung by Christian rather than the Argentinian. It was on of the best performances in the movie, and just packs much less punch when done by Christian. I also think they should have kept the Like a Virgin number, as it is hilarious.

While watching the show I thought it was much more open about sex than the movie, but on rewatching realized the movie was quite clear about Satine and Christian getting it on, if not quite as soon as in the show. The show has Satine also getting it on with the Duke. I think perhaps the movie shied away from having their courtesan act like an actual courtesan because they feared a prudish audience would lose sympathy for her if she actually had sex for money. The show also has Christian decide on a more violent course of action than the movie.

The show keeps the buzzwords of Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love, and the key line The most important thing you'll ever learn is just to love and to be loved in return. But the show places less emphasis on the Bohemianism of the characters, and on the quest for Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love through art.  That is partly why I think that while the show is magnificent and a ton of fun and should not be missed if one has the opportunity to see it, it does not quite hold up to the movie. The movie has a spirit the show just doesn't quite capture. There is also a freneticism that a stage show just cannot duplicate, as it would just be too much for an audience to take in. At this rewatch I have to say I was quite happy at how well the movie holds up after over 20 years. So my suggestion would be watch the show, and the movie if you've never seen it (or even if you have), but maybe keep the movie for after the show so as to go in with a fresh perspective for it. Both are fun and engaging and neither will disappoint, even if I do think one is better than the other.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Movies That Really Changed My Life

I have talked about a couple of early movies that changed my life, like  Star Wars  and  The Rocky Horror Picture Show , but I didn't go into detail about how they did so. Star Wars, of course, changed everyone's lives. It was one of those things that made us rethink how we could tell stories and how movies could be made. It nerdified an entire generation and can be said to have led to the culture we have now, dominated by comic book movies and video games. The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened my mind up to different ways of life and expressing sexuality while also promoting messages of positivity and courage in life. (This may not be what people think of when they see that movie, but it's in there. Don't dream it, be it.)  Another movie that really hit me was Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's not-quite-biographical movie about a kid working as a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 70's. The Tiny Dancer scene made me think of times when music had helpe
Post a Comment
Read more

5 Fun Pop Culture Facts Strike Back

  Miami Vice's Fancy Duds Miami Vice was a new benchmark for style over substance in television drama. Not saying it wasn't fun to watch, but that had more to do with the soundtrack and the way the show looked than the writing. The show runners knew this too. That's why the wardrobe budget for the pilot alone was $70,000.00. That's in 1984 money too. Zeppelin's Fourth Led Zeppelin's fourth album technically doesn't have a title, the band wanted the music to stand on it's own. It has been referred to as IV (due to it's being the 4th album obviously) and Zoso (due to the rune Jimmy Page chose to represent him which looks like those letters). The most whimsical title I've seen for it was in the book Rock Revolution published by Creem magazine, who called it @#%&. Paid Laughter If you are smart enough, you can turn any skill into a career, no matter how silly it may seem. Take Ann Shalla, who would laugh at almost anything, and had a v
Post a Comment
Read more

How Pop Culture Made Me Kinky

Fetishes seem much more prevalent these days than they were in the past. Of course moralists will say it is because our society is rotting in decadence. Others will say it is because we are more open and free to express ourselves. Maybe both are true to an extent. But I believe that pop culture has played a part in whatever the reasons are. I believe I can personally trace some of my fetishes back to pop culture, specifically t.v. and movies.  I think everyone knows that there was a bondage element built into Wonder Woman by the creator William Moulton Marston. Well, my very first crush was on Lynda Carter, the actress who played Wonder Woman in the 70's t.v. show. I was too young to watch in first run, but I saw reruns, and it was true love. It may have been in part die to her charm and her wholesomeness, but it also had no little part due to her almost spilling out the top of her red white and blue bustier. Batgirl on the Adam West Batman show had a similar if less strong effect
Post a Comment
Read more