‘Moulin Rouge,’ now playing at The Al Hirschfeld Theater, was my birthday gift to myself. The ticket price was steep, but I know my self-worth and I more than deserve it. I knew the show wasn’t going to be deep, more fun that’s trashy and easy to digest. I confess remembering that I liked the film version, but honestly, don’t remember too much from it besides the fact that it starred Nicole Kidman.
Boy was I surprised. This was excruciating and difficult for me to enjoy. The book, by John Logan was paper-thin, akin to the Italian operas that inspired it. But I could have easily forgiven that if the music was palatable. but hell, this is a musical, and this show seems to have hastily compiled every disposable pop hit they could find from the past couple of decades. I have heard enough of these songs while riding in Ubers and picking produce at the supermarket, so forgive me if I don’t want to hear them on Broadway forcibly shoehorned into scenes. Songs are mixed and mashed for no reason – just when one grooves into a song, it’s cut mercilessly for another one. I despise pointless mashups.
The cast is competent enough, but I thought Karen Olivo was seriously miscast. Her Sabine is a force, for sure (with a grand sparkling entrance) but you never believed for a second that her character will waste any time for a twinky songwriter from Ohio. Yes, Aaron Tveit as Christian looks good on stage and sings effortlessly, but his Christian seems more scared of Sabine than in love with her – they have the chemistry of two dim bulbs. Poor Danny Burstein tries so hard to bring humanity to the role of emcee/engineer Harold Zidler, but you can only color cardboard various shades of brown.
The show reminds me of something you would see in a Vegas lounge show, or a cruise ship. That’s not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but this is the-a-teh. And I know that the show is polarizing, as I see the young lady next to me sobbing at the tragic ending (oops, I hope I didn’t spoil it for you) If I have to say one good thing about it, then sure I would probably commend its set design (pictures can be taken before the show, perfect for your Instagram feed!) but the heart set looks like it was stolen from Follies’ ‘Loveland,; so… Happy Birthday to me!
I knew the songs from ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ before I knew the show. I was very aware of the popular songs out of context, and to be honest, I kind of did not like them, from the vantage point of their 60’s pop arrangements. When I met Sheldon Harnick, I told him I loved ‘Fiddler,’ everyone in our circle kept on telling him how much they loved ‘Fiddler.’ (I was the non-conformist who told him my favorite was ‘The Rothchilds’) It was only when I started getting deep into musical theater research that I truly appreciated “Fiddler,’ the show, and, really, I hadn’t seen any production of it since the 1990 revival. (I hadn’t really grasped the depth of ‘Matchmaker Matchmaker’ as a aong until I saw it on stage) When I started collecting cast recordings, I was amazed by how many recordings the show had and I devoured each one.
I was introduced to industrial musicals when I started collecting show music. I knew some composers did them to pa the bills, but I was mostly disinterested in them. I preferred listening to the flop shows who actually made it on Broadway. Still, it is great to see that Dava Whisenant has made a documentary partly about them. ‘Bathtubs over Broadway’ is more about Steve Young, a writer who used to work for David Letterman, and his obsession with collecting them. He has a very distinct point of view about it – basically looking for comedy where you least expect it. I would have used a different lens, probably focusing more on how composers and directors juxtaposed these shows versus the real shows they were creating (Susan Stroman touched upon that briefly during her interview) but don’t get me wrong, I found a lot of positive things in the film, it just isn’t totally for me.
I thought ‘Emo The Musical’ wasn’t for me, either, but anything with the word ‘musical’ will certainly get my attention. Neil Trifett wrote and directed the film, and peppered it with some of the most generic songs that all sound like they were too witty for their own good. I hate to even say that this film is not really a musical by its strictest definition. I was mostly bored by this, if I have to be honest and the best thing I can say about it is that it has a great message.
I devoured the first two books about Nate Foster, so for sure I thought I would feel the same about the third (and unfortunately, last) on the series of books about him, written by Tim Federle, titled ‘Nate Expectations.’ When we last saw him, he was starring in a Broadway production of ‘E. T.,’ but the show is kind of floundering, and after it was not nominated for any Tony awards, got a closing notice. So this sends Nate back to Pittsburgh at his old high school, and of course he is somewhat dejected by all this, and has to repurpose and rebrand himself as a student. To be honest, this is the weakest book in the series for me, and it took me a little bit to get back int he groove of it, but it’s still a good and fast read. I still cherish all the Broadway references, of course, and it was a very nice touch for me that his new love interest is Filipino (who cooks him adobo!) I love the fact that his parents are very supportive of his sexual orientation (we knew all of this was coming, for sure) and it was nice to see him close up that way. I hope Federle revisits him at some point as I would be curious where Nate eventually ends up.
I know there are big Wicked fans who worship Rachel Tucker (she played Elphaba on Broadway and West End) but I know the kind of big belter voice that is needed to be Elphaba so I could already imagine what kind of voice Tucker has even though I had never heard her sing before.
I don’t think anyone would argue with you if you said Patti Lupone is one of the biggest, brightest, and most influential actors in the history of Broadway. She certainly has put in her work there, with iconic roles both in musicals and plays. So any musical recording of hers deserve undivided attention. She has just release her new live album, ‘Don’t Monkey With Broadway,’ which was recorded Live at John Engeman Theater in her hometown of Northport, Long Island. And I listened. And I paid attention.
Ramin Karimloo is best known for his leading man roles on Broadway, but he really stands out singing in the Country/Bluegrass vein. In ‘The Road To Find Out: South,” he shows that prowess. This album is part of a four EP set. (West, North, East..) where he sings both a mixture of showtunes and his own compositions in his own style. In this compilation, South, I focus on the show songs: ‘Old Man River’ is sung almost in a plain non-tenor style, and you almost feel like this is a new song, with non of theatricality of the song. And in ‘Eidelweiss,’ we go from the mountains of Austria to Smoky Mountains of the South – and it’s magnificent. I wish I could say more about the self-penned songs. They sound nice, but, honestly, did not really speak to me.
I cannot remember a song from a Broadway show released a single from its cast album. And even more interestingly, a mini album of three songs remixed by various DJs was released. From ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ its most popular song ‘Waving Through A Window’ got a Tony Moran Remix, which is my favorite from three. It’s your typical club mix – house but not too heavy, and most appealing to me, you can sing along to the lyrics. Actually even on the two other remixes, by DJLW and Ludato and Joseph Duveen, the lyrics are always present and none of these three tracks are inaccessible. So the question is: who will want these in their lives. Loyal fans of the show would (and there are a lot of them) For others, your mileage may vary.
Luha Thoughts 