Moulin Rouge.

I revisited "Moulin Rouge" after many years of it running on Broadway with great success. Like many great musicals, "Moulin" has great staging presence. Set to a nightclub, the gaudy reds and velour stands out when you first walk into the theater.

What "Moulin Rouge" does so well is its choreography (Sonya Tayeh). This particular Broadway show uses it swing and ensemble dancers better than most shows I have seen. Under both Tayeh and director Alex Timbers, the cast is so deep that it makes the show that much stronger. The focus in this show is more on the dancers and less so on the music. It normally works the other way, but not here. Here at the Schoenfeld, the two hours and forty five minutes is more about the dancers and the story itself.

In the story of "Moulin Rouge", it is lazer focused on The Duke (David Harris) and Satine (Ashley Loren). As antagonist and protagonist, the two duel at every measure. Satine is a risk taker, she lives for the moment; The Duke is more of a strategist. Where Satine cares about her family at the club, The Duke is all business. His life is a negotiation... it's more fun for him that way.

The musical is pretty close to the movie plot wise. It stays focused to the beautiful lead and her consumption issues. The club itself is in financial peril and the owner does everything he can to keep it afloat. The people who work at the club live in a Bohemian world. Writers and musicians are the most respected at The Moulin Rouge. These people are survivors, they have seen the worst of the worst in life but their art keeps them going.

"Moulin Rouge" is more of a carnival than a club. The atmosphere is always upbeat and optimistic. Even though the themes are seedy, the staff seems to be regal and elegant. The costumes are first rate (Catherine Zuber). While Derek McLane does a superb job with the set, however, he over builds it. Many of the audience members sitting on the side toward the front have limited vision. The ends of the set structure should have been more condensed so everyone in the orchestra can see the entire show and not be partially blocked. This went up the entire first three or four seats on both sides, leaving a large number of people tilting to see.

The first act far exceeds the second act. The dance numbers, the story and the movements were spectacular in Act 1; Act 2 was good, but not great. The story seemed to drag at times making the audience wish it was Act 1 again. John Logan's book seemed to give everything to Act 1 and the result was playing catch up in the second. The emotion never rises to climax the way it did in the first ninety minutes. The songs and dance movements too just didn't add up to the first act. But as a show in general, there are certainly worse shows on Broadway. This one has a lot of memorable moments in it. Many of the songs hit the mark; many of the actors had us at the club in the late 1800's. This Broadway production with some flaws is worth seeing for sure!

My review of "Little Bear Ridge Road will be coming out shortly. The big, big question is why was it so well received by the major outlets like The Post and the Wall Street Journal and not by smaller, independent outlets such as myself? This season has sparked a lot of debate on the quality of theater. Take "This World of Tomorrow" for instance. Why put a hack director such as Kenny Leon in this show? He added nothing to the show and greatly hurt it.

The direction in this play takes away from the acting. Like "Othello" and "Our Town", Leon takes the soul out of this, what could be, a great play.

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