‘Moulin Rouge!’ Opening on Broadway in Summer 2019

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Belle Epoque is coming to Broadway.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” the stage version of the beloved film, is hitting the Great White Way next summer. Previews will begin June 28, 2019 on Broadway prior to a July 25 opening night.

The transfer has been in the works for some time. A theatrical reimagining of the big screen musical opened last summer in Boston, where it earned strong reviews, and a great deal of hype for its reported $30 million budget. All that investment appeared to pay off. Variety’s Bob Verini called the show “a socko stage spectacular” and the opening night at the Emerson Colonial Theatre grew a well-heeled crowd that included stage legend Tommy Tune. The production was a sell-out.

The Broadway show will once again focus on a love story between an idealistic writer and a courtesan, all set to a parade of pop favorites that range from Lady Gaga to the Beatles. As with the film, the couple will meet cute in Paris’s iconic cabarets and dance halls.

The cast from the Boston run will make the trek to New York with the musical. The performers tasked with making audiences forget all about Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor include Karen Olivo (“West Side Story”), Aaron Tveit (“Next to Normal”), Danny Burstein (“Fiddler On the Roof”), Sahr Ngaujah (“Fela”), Tam Mutu (“Doctor Zhivago”), Ricky Rojas (“Burn the Floor”) and Robyn Hurder (“Nice Work If You Can Get It”). “!’ will take up residence in the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, which currently houses “Kinky Boots.” That show has previously announced a closing date of April 7, 2019.

“We are thrilled to be bringing ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ to Broadway,” said producer Carmen Pavlovic. “We are especially delighted that the show is going to the Hirschfeld — the perfect theater for this production with its lavish architecture and rich history of landmark Broadway shows.”

The show continues the trend of turning movies into stage shows. Musical re-imaginings of “Pretty Woman,” “Mean Girls,” and “Waitress” are already playing in New York, with a musical version of “Tootsie” and “Beetlejuice” also expected to hit Gotham in the coming months.

“Moulin Rouge!” is directed by Alex Timbers, a Tony Award nominees for “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Peter and the Starcatcher,” and has a book by Tony Award winning “Red” playwright John Logan. Sonya Tayeh handles the choreography with music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Timbers’ “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” collaborator Justin Levine.

An exclusive fan-only pre-sale will begin Nov. 21 at noon. Absinthe not included with tickets.