IF you have reached the stage when you think “O no, not another juke box musical”, think again – because this stage version of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film leaves the rest of them trailing in its wake.
Practically every number, from the spectacularly-staged The Sparkling Diamond to the haunting Nature Boy, fits the storyline, which fundamentally follows the tragic story of beautiful courtesan Marguerite Gautier (La Dame aux Camelias). Catherine Zuber’s eye-catching costumes fit the fin de siecle Paris setting, with staging and lighting to match the costumes. With uninhibited orchestrations that miraculously, like Sonya Tayen’s at times breathtaking choreography, make 20th and 21st century music fit into a 1899 background, this production is a feast for the eye and exciting on the ear.
With a full company to play with, director Alex Timbers doesn’t hold back for a moment, one minute unleashing a vibrant ensemble on a big production number, the next going for surreal effects as Nate Landskroner’s Christian tries to blot out his obsessive love for Verity Thompson’s tragic Satine, via the hallucinogenic powers of absinthe. Nor was this trio afraid to let high drama sail perilously near to sickly sentiment, as Nate and Verity, after proving they could handle big powerful numbers, showed they were just as adept vocally with gentle romance and dramatically heartrending emotion.
Matching Satine and Christian all the way vocally and dramatically came Cameron Blakely’s realistic and supportive Moulin Rouge owner Harold Zidler, Kurt Kansley’s beautifully-judged portrait of the artist Toulouse- Lautrec, James Bryers as the all powerful, rich and vindictive Duke, Rodrigo Negrini wonderfully open and flamboyant as the show-within-a-show choreographer Santiago, and Kahlia Davis, like her character Nini, dying for the opportunity to show us her talents as a performers.
If you want to see how good a juke box musical can be with a cast and production good enough to allow it to reach its full potential, then make your way to the Bristol Hippodrome sometime between now and Saturday 9th August.
GRP