Moulin Rouge - Piccadilly Theatre

"There's a man standing in front of the train at Lea Hall and the police are trying to get him to move" said the Avanti lady. Knowing that negotiation rather than force is the way these matters are handled these days, we realised that the line blockage West of Coventry was serious. Two £95 Moulin Rouge tickets were in jeopardy of not being used unless we acted fast.

After assessing all options, we raced back to the car, hightailed it to Rugby, and blagged our way on to a London Northwestern train for which our ticket was not valid.

Just the Tube strike to stress over now. With our one hour contingency gone, there would be no time to walk to the Piccadilly. The Tube it would have to be. That turned out to be no worry at all: the Victoria and Bakerloo lines both offered up instant trains, and we made it with 15 minutes to spare.

But we hadn't counted on ATG's hopeless understaffing of the Covid and security checks. The line stretched right round the block. At around 19:25, with a suited lady anxiously talking into her headset, throughput suddenly picked up, with the most perfunctory of checks being made, and we were in our seats on time

Phew! I can't believe we made it! Now to settle in and enjoy the spectacle.

And what a spectacle! The set design and costumes scream FABULOUS. This is camp so high as to be vertiginous. And what an incredibly good job the sound designer has done: a perfectly placed soundscape, and some rocking sub-bass to boot.

We're all hyped up; this is going to be a cracking show.

Except, thirty minutes in, I'm looking at my watch. I'm actually a little bored. The already-thin narrative that I vaguely remember from the film seems to have been diluted to the point of malnutrition. Any building of substance is coming from neither Liisi Lafontaine nor Jamie Bogyo, who are woefully inadequate as the romantically entangled leads. Bogyo has a beautiful voice, but Lafontaine has a melisma-heavy r'n'b styling that I didn't enjoy. Their acting, unhelped by a ropey script, did not convince me they had the slightest interest in one another. I have no idea the sexuality of Mr Bogyo, but I didn't even find his character to be a convincing heterosexual, not that there is such a thing in the real world of course.

The Duke here is a Disneyesque pantomime villain. Only Clive Carter as Zidler and Jason Pennycooke as Toulouse-Lautrec stood out as properly developed rôles.

Part of the set features a giant heart-shaped hole through which we view the dressing room in the Elephant. It sadly epitomises the heart that is missing from this production.

The audience -- mostly unmasked -- who heckled and hollered throughout, were clearly of a different mindset and having a ball.

Oddly, programmes could not be bought from the merchandise stands -- "we're a different company" -- nor from ushers. You had to queue at the bar to get one.

I recommend the pub next door for interval drinks and queue-free toilets.

We were seated in Stalls row B, the first row behind the cabaret seating. The seats on either end of this row have no-one in front and unrestricted view. For the seats in between, there is little legroom, and the seats in front are three inches higher, so the view is impeded more than it should be.

Three stars.

Act 1: 19:35-20:45
Act 2: 21:08-22:19

Poll open! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You pretty much hit every nail on the head mkb - great review

Just getting back from tonight’s performance. I’ve seen this in Boston, before Broadway and then 3 times on Broadway and My God, this was the most egregiously miscast show I’ve ever seen. The problem with “Moulin Rouge” as a stage show is that while the set and staging is fantastic, the book is very weak so the actors need to be magnetic enough to make up for the shows shortcomings. And man, do they absolutely not do that here.

When I’m left thinking that some of the minor supporting cast has far better voices than any of the leads, there’s a problem. I think I could live a million years and never understand the casting of Jamie Bogyo. If someone invited me to their little brothers school play and I saw that performance, I’d probably say he did a good job, to be nice. Just…baffling. Did the producers owe his family a favor?

The others fared better (I suppose) but for the most part, a lot of them seemed miscast and not right for the roles they were in. So while the show still looks and sounds incredible, I’m left with a headache and a mystery of “HUH??” That I’ll never be able to solve.

And since people are wondering, they made several announcements for everyone to wear a mask at all times and I’d say maaaaaybe 20% did. It was at least a respectful audience, not singing or making any sound.

Short feature just now on ITV London News and interview with 2 leads. They had a very short clip of the female lead and, have to say, not the best advert as her voice sounded quite weak.
Also I think a slight exaggeration as they said there were "hundreds" of people backstage.
Also said the show has cost £35 million. I know big shows cost a lot but that figure seems an awfully high.

Erm…

I am truly AGOG that video has been released...

At least I can take the show off my wishlist and save my cash!

WOW. is it the harmonies? is it the voices? the terrible acting and movement??
Is it all of the above??

And these were the best people for the roles??

That video is embarresing.

Disclaimer: Nothing on this earth could possess me to go to this show even with great leads, but still. Oh dear. I'd been quietly thinking everyone must be being a bit unfair with their reviews, but nope. What on earth is going on that those in charge think that's a good advert for their show.

Reading all these pretty negative posts, I feel I have to say again how much I enjoyed this show. Save your money by all means, but you'll miss out. This is one of the slickest and most entertaining shows out there and I would happily go back again and again.

I thought song clips and trailers were supposed to entice you to see a show, not make you want to evade it like the plague.