It would be fair to call “Moulin Rouge” the most jukebox-y of jukebox musicals.
The multi-Tony Award-winning show, onstage in a national tour presentation at the Orpheum in San Francisco through Dec. 28, is simply a treat for pop music fans of all ages.
Featuring deliciously reworked tunes by artists from Nat King Cole to Lady Gaga to the Rolling Stones, it’s anything but a cliché. Even theatergoers who don’t like musicals will be charmed by its onslaught of songs that cleverly accentuate and complement the dialog (the book is by John Logan). It’s hard to keep up, in a fun way. Perusing the extensive music credits at the back of the program not only jogs the memory and provides an education, it prompts musings about the phenomenal amount of work someone did to acquire the song rights.
Can any show that opens with a glitzy production number featuring “Lady Marmalade” and “Burning Down the House” be bad? And audience members on opening night reveled in the great variation. I seemed to be the only one amused by the snippet of “I Don’t Want to Wait” (Paula Cole’s theme to TV’s “Dawson’s Creek”), while the significantly younger women seated in front of me went ape over “Chandelier.” There’s something for everyone!
Interestingly, the featured love ballad “Come What May”— the only song from the 2001 movie by Baz Lurhmann and Craig Pearce on which this show is based —is among the least recognizable and interesting tunes. Never mind. It’s only a matter of seconds before another catchy number begins.
The workmanlike story —about a group of bohemians in 1899 Paris who attempt to save their ailing Montmartre cabaret club Moulin Rouge from going under by inviting a cruel aristocrat to bankroll it—does its job.
The lead actor-singers sell it: Bobby Daye as club manager Harold Zidler; Arianna Rosario as Satine, the courtesan who’s the club’s sparkling star; Jay Armstrong Johnson as Christian, the new-in-town American songwriter; Jahi Kearse as Toulouse-Lautrec, an aging bohemian; and Andrew Brewer as the rich, forceful Duke of Monroth.
While it’s no big surprise that Satine’s and Christian’s budding romance is foiled by the evil Duke, it is a delight to watch the bohemian couple’s love bloom in a great rendition of “Your Song,” rivaling Elton John’s original, and then start to unravel, as the Duke wields his power in a fun riff on “Sympathy for the Devil.”
The orchestra, led by Wendy Feaver, sounds great playing the truly phenomenal arrangements by music supervisor/co-orchestrator Justin Levine. The sexy, appropriately seedy corps members are a hoot every time they appear, expertly executing the bouncy choreography by Sonya Tayeh.
As Alex Timbers directs the colorful proceedings with humor, the brightly hued costumes by Catherine Zuber (including can-can tiered ruffled skirts) and period-appropriate scenic designs by Derek McLane nicely evoke the era.
In some ways, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” resembles Puccini’s classic opera “La Bohème” (another Lurhmann production/obsession), and rightly so. Universal themes, and perhaps more importantly, hummable tunes are the stuff of popular entertainment.
“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” continues through Dec. 28 at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $72-$308 at broadwaysf.com.
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