"Jazz is the sound of suprise, and Steve Adelson's The Answer's Inside keeps the
unexpected going with the lyrically swinging Chapman Stick, adding a new
dimension to listening."
-Nat Hentoff - (jazz literary legend)
For Bookings Contact Steve directly:
SteveAFran@aol.com
ph-718-258-8705
The many wholly original works of art can, at the support of story or character
or center, summon the stray memory, the more whispery chill of deja vu. They'll
change on the bittersweet recall of better times or drip-drop echoey small
splashes of their worst. Most, however, remember to flip the damn spigot off.
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Moulin Rouge Broadway show tickets at Guaranteed Low Price.
Seeing Broadway's truly lovely-looking, golden-oldie-stuffed Moulin Rouge! The
Musical, starting tonight, I had been reminded time and time (and time) again
not only of life situation when that or this struck tune caught our shared
focus, but of Moulin's religious protagonist. I thought of Baz Luhrmann's 2001
film, also, but the predecessor never escaped my head was Name That Tune, the
older game show where contestants vied to be the very first to recognize that a
tune in as few notes as possible.
In case you're the type of person who frets that jukebox musicals are carrying
over Broadway, prepare yourself to tilt at the windmill that's the stunning,
gaudy, spectacularly overstuffed Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Directed with
extravagant showmanship by Alex Timbers, this adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's 2001
picture may be costume jewelry, but its glow is dazzling.
The location is that the legendary Paris nightclub of this name, along with the
year is ostensibly 1899. Yet the tunes --such as Catherine Zuber's eye-popping
costumes--interval several 150 years of styles. Moulin Rouge! Begins with a
generous slathering of "Lady Marmalade," belted into the heavens by four girls
from sexy black lingerie, long latex gloves and feathered headdresses. Shortly
they yield the point into the beautiful courtesan Satine (a sublimely troubled
Karen Olivo), making her grand entry descending from the ceiling on a swing,
singing"Diamonds Are Forever." She's the Moulin Rouge's main songbird, also
Derek McLane's sumptuous gold-and-red place looms around her just like a gilded
cage.
After falling in with a bohemian crowd, Christian (the boyish Aaron Tveit), a
budding songwriter from small-town Ohio, wanders to the Moulin Rouge such as
Orpheus from the demimonde, his lips as rosy with innocence because the
showgirls' are blushed with maquillage. As unkind fate would have it, he
instantly falls in love with Satine, and she --but she's been sworn, alas, into
the wicked Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu), on whose patronage the club is different.
Additionally, Satine is dying of consumption, as a traditional red-handkerchief
second shows.
The musical provides lip service to proletarian ideals, as enunciated by its own
variant of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (Sahr Ngaujah), but its allure
is the contrary: As Broadway reveals become more expensive and pricier, here is
one which feels and looks expensive. It is a very fancy heart-shaped box of
Valentine's Day chocolates, although you understand exactly what you're likely
to get, every bite is still just a small surprise: occasionally gooey, sometimes
nutty, sometimes fruity, sometimes sweet, sometimes rancid but mostly yummy. And
if there is any consolation to the haters, Moulin Rouge! May prove to be the
jukebox musical to end all jukebox musicals--if only because, one of its
distinct type of jukebox musical least, it is difficult to envision how it can
be topped.
Al Hirschfeld Theatre 302 West 45th Street New York, NY 10036