The petticoats fly, the dancers rotate, the hits thunder. From now on, sin reigns in the shadow of Cologne Cathedral. Here the hit film "Moulin Rouge" becomes a musical, but above all a feast for the senses, a celebration of diversity and a homage to pop culture.
Anyone traveling to Cologne cannot avoid the cathedral. From now on, however, this could not primarily mean the city's Gothic flagship, but a building of much more recent date: the "Musical Dome", which is only a stone's throw away from the landmark on the Rhine and in which things are much less godly from now on will than in any cathedral. After all, the musical "Moulin Rouge!" celebrated here on Sunday evening. Premiere.
All the bells are already ringing from the title, as the legendary Parisian temple of sin is the linchpin of the piece. Anyone who has also seen the successful film "Moulin Rouge" (without the exclamation mark) by director Baz Luhrmann from 2001, which serves as a template, already has an idea of what awaits him or her: a deep jump back to the beginning of the last century, a dive into the world of bohemians and courtesans, waving petticoats and cancan, vice and absinthe - and of course a heartbreaking love story in the midst of all the frivolous hustle and bustle.
Productions such as "Saturday Night Fever", "We Will Rock You" or "Bodyguard" have already made guest appearances in the "Musical Dome". But now the "Moulin Rouge!" makers have invested around four million euros to exclusively adapt the interior of the dome to the aura of their piece. Accordingly, as soon as they enter the foyer, visitors feel like they have been beamed back to the Belle Époque. They are greeted by chandeliers, beaded curtains and subtle piano sounds. Only the fact that the man on the grand piano also pulls Coldplay's "Viva la vida" or John Legend's "All of Me" out of the keys makes it clear that not everything is completely out of date here.
That's a first indication of what the viewers heard musically on "Moulin Rouge!" expected. But first they are flashed once more when they enter the theater space. Everything here seems to be wrapped in red velvet, to the left a small windmill turns, to the right a blue elephant greets you from the gallery - 5.1 meters tall and weighing 220 kilos. A neon sign on the stage signals with radiant letters that you haven't lost your way: "Moulin Rouge".
But the first actors are already there to take the audience into their fantasy world. Scantily clad women (and men) in suspenders and corsets stroll through the scenes as if in slow motion, dandies stand smoking in the corners. The voyeuristic prelude flows almost seamlessly into the play when Christian (Riccardo Greco) enters the stage and the story begins.
It is largely the story that is already known from the film: The penniless writer Christian gets to know and love Satine (Sophie Berner), the "sparkling diamond" of the "Moulin Rouge", through a mistake. But the rich Duke of Monroth (Gian Marco Schiaretti) also has his eye on the courtesan and wants to buy her love by blackmailing her and the bankrupt "Moulin Rouge" owner Harold Zidler (Gavin Turnbull).
When it comes to staging a new play to save the establishment, the confrontation reaches its climax. After learning of Satine's liaison with Christian, the Duke threatens to withdraw as a sponsor. But maybe he's capable of other things too. Now Satine has to decide: For the "Moulin Rouge" or for love...
Only when it comes to the finale does the narrative deviate in nuances from the film template. If the production is a single intoxication for the senses for long stretches, it slows down the tempo a little after the notorious break, in order to start the big final chord all the more rapidly.
The stage design and costumes were also big and not messy - and not just because of the 35,000 light bulbs that are used there or the 3500 Swarovski stones that were processed for Satine's "Sparkling Diamond" dress. As the "sparkling diamond" soars from the ceiling, the backdrops create an almost perfect illusion of spatial depth, be it in the streets of Paris, Satine's apartments or in the middle of the cauldron of the "Moulin Rouge".
In addition to the two main actors, Gavin Turnball as Harold Ziegler undoubtedly has what it takes to be a crowd favorite. Not to mention the whole crowd of dancers who make the hall tremble with their powerful voices in can-can lunges. And the dancer. Because "Moulin Rouge!" not only blurs the gender boundaries, the musical also opens up for sexual orientations beyond the male-female template à la Christian and Satine. It also differs from the film original, which is less complex in this respect.
The audience can also look forward to some musical surprises. Of course, key songs from the film such as Elton John's "Your Song", "Roxanne" by The Police or "Come What May", which was composed especially for the Luhrmann flick, should not be missing from the musical either. And of course the magic words "Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da" sound more than once when the ensemble sings the signature song "Lady Marmalade", once interpreted by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink wide round smashes. In addition, however, the "Moulin Rouge!" makers have subjected the soundtrack to a proper makeover.
In this way, many a song can be heard that had not yet been composed when the movie was released in 2001. The world has only been able to sing along to the motto "Gaga ooh la la" since a certain Lady Gaga burned it into collective memory in 2009 with her hit "Bad Romance". Other songs such as Reinhard Mey's "Über den Wolken" have probably never been heard in the USA. And Baz Luhrmann would have liked to have played other songs in his screen fairy tale, but he simply didn't have permission to do so, as in the case of the Rolling Stones. For the musical, on the other hand, Mick Jagger and Co. gave their green light.
All in all, "Moulin Rouge!" uses up 75 songs from 160 years of music history, sometimes only in short snippets. So the piece not only spanks everyone's butts as a great rush of images, dance-mad spectacle and celebration of diversity - it is also and especially a phenomenal homage to pop culture. This sets it all too pleasantly apart from the tearjerker staccato of so many other musicals. The only drop of bitterness: With a large orchestra, the hit fireworks could probably not be torched adequately. And so the music comes mainly from the can.
Yes, Cologne has always been worth a visit. Not only because of the cathedral, but also because of its tolerance, openness and joie de vivre. "Moulin Rouge!" but makes even cologne blush. So now the trip is really worth it.
