We just say: Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da. It's been 21 years since the music film "Moulin Rouge" hit the box office. Since 2018, the story from the famous Parisian temple of sin has also been a success as a musical. Now the stage version is coming to Germany.
The Australian director Baz Luhrmann does not have too many films in his résumé. But the films he was responsible for all carry weight. There is, for example, his Shakespeare adaptation of "Romeo Juliet" (1996), his novel adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" (2013) or his King of Rock'n'Roll biography "Elvis" (2022). And of course there is also and above all "Moulin Rouge".
With the music film starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, Luhrmann conjured up a pompously equipped love story of a special kind on screen in 2001. The soundtrack undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the success of the flick - above all Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink with their version of the funk classic "Lady Marmalade". Her "Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da" really got every foot twitching.
No question: "Moulin Rouge" was made to conquer the stage sooner or later as a musical. A few years ago the time had come. After its premiere in Boston, "Moulin Rouge!" - as a stage play, mind you, with an exclamation mark - also on Broadway. Last year, the musical scooped up a whopping ten trophies at the renowned Tony Awards theater prize.
Anyone who wants to experience the spectacle live themselves no longer has to travel to New York or London, where the musical has also been running since the beginning of 2022. On Sunday evening, "Moulin Rouge!" as a German-language production and thus for the first time not in the English original in Cologne - and promises to take the hearts of visitors by storm in this country as well.
The Musical Dome in the center of the cathedral city was extensively renovated in order to present the piece in an appealing way. Around 20 million euros have been invested in it, producer Maik Klokow reports. "The transformation of the theater is breathtaking," he promises, adding: "The play itself works even better as a musical than the film, in my opinion."
The fact that the story of the writer Christian and the courtesan Satine he adores in the notorious Parisian temple of sin Moulin Rouge on the Rhine is now coming to new life is probably no complete coincidence. "In my opinion, there is no other city that lives the attributes of the show - truth, beauty, freedom and love - as much as Cologne," explains producer Klokow, adding: "In Cologne, this life-affirming city, there is simply everyone *r welcome - like in our Musical Dome."
While in New York Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo slipped into the lead roles in the original cast, Riccardo Greco and Sophie Berner will be seen as Christian and Satine in Germany. And of course it can also be heard, because the soundtrack from the film has of course also found its way into the musical. Well then: Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da.
