This past Tuesday evening, Moulin Rouge! The Musical opened its run at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts for its North American Tour. As with most Broadway shows, you expect a high production value full of dazzle and spectacle, and this can make the formula quite predictable. As captivating as Broadway can be, it can also fall into a familiar blueprint of story arcs, emotional beats, and an engineered sense of awe, rather than a genuine inspiration. Broadway, even with diverse casting and contemporary themes, does have a tendency to cut distinctive narratives for crowd pleasing tactics. Luckily, for Moulin Rouge! The Musical, all the dazzle, all the spectacle, all the glitz and glam, the truth, beauty, and love is a part of its authentic storyline and staging. With a performance that was equally as moving emotionally as it was visually, the world renowned show was predictable in the most spontaneous and decadent way.
Robert Petkoff and the Company of the 2025 touring production of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL – Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade.
With Moulin Rouge! The Musical, directly based off of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film, it’s impossible as a fan of the movie, to not follow the story line closely for adaptations. But the musical has since been updated with recent songs by the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Adele while still keeping some of the old favorites and original songs introduced in the film. Since Luhrmann played a strong role in the development of the musical itself, we still feel like we’re in 1899 Paris, following the beautiful courtesan Satine, played by Ariana Rosario, and the young lyricist and artist Christian, played by Jay Armstrong Johnson, fall in a tragic love spiral in the iconic and very real atmosphere of the Moulin Rouge club in Montmartre district of Paris, France. These two had a chemistry often overlooked in love stories; the magic of laughter and play. While the musical was designed to keep a fast paced story and visual display, both Rosario and Johnson found key quiet moments that made it irresistible to not fight for their love. With insanely talented voices, the musical does lean heavier, for both Satine and Christian’s roles, on the medley of music rather than the choreographic extravagance of Sonyah Tayeh. With voices of clarity and power, both Rosario and Johnson gave superb performances blending both traditional voice techniques with the contemporary songs of today with such dynamic control and expressive range. While their movement skills were not featured as heavily as others in the show, it’s clear their triple threats to any stage.
Arianna Rosario as Satine in the North American Tour of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL – Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
A favorite scene for Tayeh’s featured choreography, was the El Tango de Roxanne, where Nini, performed by Kaitlin Mesh, and Santiago, performed by Danny Burgos, begin their own backstage romance of forbidden love. Toying with the idea of loving someone who cannot love you back, a complicated subplot to the story line, we see an entire cast of coupled partnerships and weight bearing duets join the two on stage for a tense revamp of the modern tango. Mesh herself gave a stunning performance while being lifted by four or five men at once, passing her off in a masterpiece of trust fall collaborative movement. It’s a strong portrayal, choreographically, for Mesh to interpret the need to control her own body but instead play a character who knows it’s an exchange of collateral for the pleasure of others in the end. The push and pull play between Mesh and Burgos was frustrating in the most delicious way. With Christian singing of his own woes for Satine in the background, this is where the choreography truly shined. Tayeh included lots of symbolism for the complicated lovesick plot, with the crossing of arms, lifts to the sky in escape, pulling of body parts, and dragging of feet. There was a defeatism from the cast of women, and a control aspect to the cast of men.
Arianna Rosario (center) and the Company of the 2024 touring production of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL – Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
Equally brilliant to the isolated numbers and movement of Tayeh, is the ensemble work which becomes a storyline of its own. In Moulin Rouge! The Musical, the so-to-speak background dancers are featured just as heavily in their dance and movement as the narrated characters are featured in the script and story. The exciting bit that keeps Moulin Rouge! The Musical on its toes is its weight in all performers. With controlled chaos, the production needs everyone on stage to accentuate the sensuality, the fast paced high energy fever dream that is the absinthe filled bohemian revolution it represents. It’s an inspiring piece of Broadway history, come to light by the intoxicating world of extra, extra, extra, and is not to be missed.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical runs through Sunday, November 1, 2025.
To learn more about the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and to purchase tickets, please visit their website.
Written by Grace Courvoisier for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Robert Petkoff and the Company of the 2025 touring production of MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL – Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade.
