What wouldn’t you do for love?
Moulin Rouge! The musical tells the familiar story of a young man who falls in love with a woman he can’t have. But Moulin Rouge! The musical tells the story in such an impressive and entertaining way that it enchants.
Moulin Rouge! The musical is a fairly ordinary Hollywood story. A wonderful, passionate and melodramatic drama where we sing and dance, love and hate, fight and lose. Still, Anders Albie, the founder of the Nordic Moulin Rouge! The director of the musical production is convinced that this version has a very special tone. Its tone is completely different from the rest of the world’s productions. Nordic productions have so far been shown in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo.
“Our version of the Moulin Rouge! The musical is completely our own. The productions made so far, for example in New York, London and Melbourne, are all the same production. Our presentation is different, and it clearly has a Scandinavian flavor. But the story itself and the great music and dance are of course the same.”
“We love and appreciate this story. It has to be recognizable in our own lives and, of course, familiar from all the old classic storybooks,” says Anders Albien. He has a long international career behind him as a director of major musicals such as Hairspray, Flashdance, Spamalot, Jersey Boys and The Book of Mormon .
Although the Moulin Rouge! The musical has its own unique plot, it is influenced by classic love stories. Through the characters of Christian and Satine, one can recognize many other lovers from history, such as Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology, who love each other deeply but are forced to separate when Eurydice dies and Orpheus is unable to save her from the underworld. Alexandre Dumas’s The Lady of the Camellias and Puccini’s opera La Traviata have also been natural sources of inspiration, as they are set in 1890s Paris during the Belle Époque era. Back then, courtesans were courted by men they could never have, and eventually they died of longing and tuberculosis.
“The musical is classic entertainment and the plot twists are familiar, but the audience of the 21st century still appreciates it today. The world of the performance we created will hopefully feel both inspiring and modern, but it will also reflect the time and place of the event and everything related to them. It includes burlesque and Paris, but also dancehall and vice. And it comes at a time when tuberculosis took thousands of lives. When we started working on the musical, the coronavirus pandemic was still a big part of our daily lives, and it was very special to experience how we suddenly again collectively got scared of people coughing on the street,” says Anders Albien.
Albien’s production has a distinct Nordic tone that can be seen both in the visual design, which is influenced by the Art Deco style, and in the interpretation of the characters and how they live and work in 1890s Paris. Because even though Satine and the other performers at the Moulin Rouge live hard lives and are in many ways dependent on men’s money and attention, they are also strong-willed single parents who struggle to provide for their children and gain control over their own lives.
“In many ways, these women were the forerunners of the suffragettes and fought for women’s rights in society. They earned their own money and thus represented liberation and independence,” says Anders Albien and also explains how being Nordic affects the director’s way of working.
“I don’t want kitsch and a “me, me, me” attitude, but rather an “all together” attitude. Hopefully, the Scandinavian idea of equality and respect for others will also be reflected in the direction, as Moulin Rouge! A musical is a production that can only take off if everyone on stage and behind it helps. This might be a Scandinavian way of thinking,” says Anders Albien, who, like many others, was excited when he saw the Moulin Rouge! film.
“I thought: What! What is this? I don’t usually like incoherent descriptions of historical events, but I still sat there and it seemed completely natural to hear that the song Lady Marmalade was sung in Paris in the 1890s. The lifestyle of artists and bohemians probably aroused more disapproval then than it does today, but we humans have not fundamentally changed. When I watch old documentaries on YouTube that have been converted into color, I see people I could just as well meet on the street today. We humans have our annoyances, joys and love stories, just like 130 years ago.”
Moulin Rouge! The musical’s universal story – in which a boy meets a girl but faces numerous setbacks – has been woven into a strong, never-before-seen show with stunning dance numbers, enchanting vocals and magical staging – an experience that transcends the everyday.
“However, the love of theatre is greater than reality! I hope that everyone who sees the Moulin Rouge! In the musical , you feel like you have been on a rocking journey across the oceans, but you have arrived at the harbour without seasickness, just happy, satisfied and excited,” says Anders Albien.
Original text in Danish: Kirsten Weiss
Edited and translated into Swedish: Amanda Albien
Translated into Finnish: Peppi Lehmussaari and Kaisa Pelkonen