OKC Broadway opens 24-25 season with Moulin Rouge


OKC Broadway opens its 2024-2025 season with Moulin Rouge. The 2018 Tony Award winner for Best Musical makes its national tour stop at the Civic Center through September 15th. Based on the 2001 film by Writer/Director Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge is a dazzling spectacle and a whirlwind jukebox musical. The musical features over 100 songs pulled from popular music, and is jam-packed with chart-toppers.

Each musical number in this show, and they are nearly constant, serves as a medley of pre-released music from popular artists like Sia, The Police, Pink, Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones, and many more. The songs are not so much covered as they are sampled, with no more than a few lyrics taken from each one and spliced together to fit a singular narrative.

Inspired by the real place, The Moulin Rouge was a famous stop in turn-of-the-century Paris nightlife. The fictional version of the nightclub is a seedy, dazzling cabaret where the rich ne’er-do-wells cavort with the working class. The 20th century was a terrible time to be poor, and even worse to be a woman. Both are featured here in a lead character who is as tragic as she is enigmatic. Gabrielle McClinton shines bright as Satine, and her performance pulls as much emotion as can be found amongst the louder distractions.

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Gabrielle McClinton (center) and the cast of the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

It seems the show’s goal is to envelop the viewer into the world of the Moulin Rouge, with all its smoke and mirrors. For two and a half hours, the audience forgets their collective troubles and gets lost in the sparkle of show biz.  

Moulin Rouge loosely follows the movie’s plot, which was a breakout hit for stars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. It came at the peak of Luhrmann’s popularity, and the director’s buzzy, psychedelic films defined the early 2000s. Equal parts cerebral and confusing, the trippy nature of Moulin Rouge aligns closely with the aesthetic of Luhrmann’s cinematic works.

While the plot is there, it gets lost in the melee of the show. Anyone coming to this musical for a night of quiet theater will find themselves much aggrieved. However, if you’re there for a party and a concert, with just the hint of a storyline, you’re well suited to this performance.

While too often large-scale musicals, especially of the touring variety, can result in sloppy, cluttered stages, this one is pristine. It’s polished and well-rehearsed, and it sparkles to the point of being sanitized. While it makes for a dazzling display, much of the grit of the original story gets washed away in blinding lights.

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Max Heitmann, Nicci Claspell, Harper Miles & Sarah Bowden in the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Lighting design by Justin Townsend is sultry and captivating, while the costume design by Catherine Zuber is comparable to the Oscar-winning versions in the movie. Famed choreographer Sonya Tayeh gives the dance numbers an edge, and the ensemble teases the audience in sexy, revealing moves.

While the sheer number of musical mashups is dizzying, the show is more of a musical revue than musical theater. Essentially a concert of Top 40 hits, the show utilizes as many earworms as a two-hour performance can fit.

Theatergoers who are intrigued by a night of pop music roulette will surely have a good time watching this tour. The performances are energetic and there is a high level of talent on display. But the plot is grainy at best, and the most recognizable moment from the movie, “Lady Marmalade”, happens within the first five minutes of the performance. Moulin Rouge opens a robust and exciting season for OKC Broadway. MJ The Musical, another jukebox hit, and Beetlejuice, which shares a director with Moulin Rouge, are among the most anticipated upcoming shows this season.

Tickets are available at okcbroadway.com.


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Adrienne Proctor is a theater and arts writer in Oklahoma City. She's been contributing to the arts reporting space since 2017.