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Showy spectacle ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ shines bright like a diamond in OKC debut

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Showy spectacle ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ shines bright like a diamond in OKC debut

Hey, sista, go sista, get to the Civic Center Music Hall.

OKC Broadway is high-kicking off its 2024-2025 season with the bawdy, bedazzling and buzzy “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” and fans of the 2001 movie, pop-music mashups and glittering excess won’t want to miss their chance to see the 2021 Tony Award winner for best musical live and in the flesh.

The first North American tour of the spicy stage extravaganza, adapted from Baz Luhrmann’s glitzy Oscar-winning movie musical “Moulin Rouge!,” is playing for two weeks in Oklahoma City.

With performances through Sept. 15, here’s what to know about the OKC run for “Moulin Rouge! The Musical:”

OKC Broadway launches digital lottery for ‘Moulin Rouge!’ tickets

For the Oklahoma City engagement of the national tour of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” OKC Broadway has announced a Broadway Direct Digital Lottery ticket policy for the Sept. 8-15 performances.

A limited number of tickets to the popular title will be available at $30 each. Entries for each showtime will be available beginning at 10 a.m. four days prior to each performance at lottery.broadwaydirect.com. Entries will be accepted through 2 p.m. three days prior, at which time winners will be contacted by email.

Those who are selected as winners will have an hour to purchase up to two tickets. Seats are assigned at the discretion of the ticket office and cannot be transferred to other people or performances. Tickets will be delivered via mobile delivery between one and three days before the event.

The lottery entry windows are subject to change, and the offer is not valid on previously purchased tickets. Tickets are subject to availability.

Due to the sexual content, adult themes and ribald humor, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is recommended for theatergoers 12 and older.

What is ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ about?

The winner of 10 Tony Awards, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” puts the seedy glamour of one of the world’s most famous cabarets on one of Oklahoma City’s most beloved stages.

Set in France in the late 1800s, the glittering romantic drama follows Christian (played by Christian Douglas in the national tour), a young American songwriter who travels to Paris and falls in with a pair of poor Bohemians: an aspiring playwright named Toulouse-Lautrec (Nick Rashad Burroughs) and an Argentinian dancer and aspiring choreographer called Santiago (Danny Burgos).

The wannabe revolutionaries, who live by the guiding principles of truth, beauty, freedom and love, introduce Christian to the titillating entertainments offered at Paris’ most notorious nightclub, the Moulin Rouge. The naïve composer instantly falls in love with Satine (Gabrielle McClinton), the cabaret’s shining star.

Despite the elaborate costumes and opulent décor, Satine and the Moulin Rouge are in trouble. Harold Zidler (Robert Petkoff), the flamboyant owner and emcee of the Moulin Rouge, warns his headliner that the club’s fiscal situation has become precarious, and he schemes to have her seduce the wealthy Duke of Monroth (Andrew Brewer) and convince him to invest in the cabaret. If she fails to seize the vain aristocrat’s interest, all of the misfit performers who depend on the Moulin Rouge for their livelihood will be out on the streets.

Despite the high stakes, Satine is unable to resist Christian’s pure adoration for her and his ability to channel it into beautiful songs. And their fervent love threatens the plot to secure the jealous duke’s financial backing for the club and its new show.

How does ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ update the song selections featured in the film?

As with Luhrmann’s 2001 movie, the jukebox musical, which is still playing on Broadway, samples 160 years of popular music, from can-can composer Jacques Offenbach to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elton John.

Fans of the film will be delighted to hear the superbly talented cast perform the original romantic anthem “Come What May,” the cheeky rendition of the title theme from “The Sound of Music” and the sultry fusion of the Police’s 1978 smash “Roxanne” and Mariano Mores’ “Tanguera” into “El Tango de Roxanne.”

But the musical ushers in several additional, cleverly conceived medleys and incorporates more and often newer pop hits, from Sia’s “Chandelier” and Lordes’ “Royals” to Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” and Fun’s “We Are Young.”

The cinematic chart-topper “Lady Marmalade” is mixed up with the jazz standard “Minnie the Moocher,” Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean,” the Flying Lizards’ New Wave version of “Money (That’s What I Want),” Nelly’s rap classic “Ride wit Me,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” Beck’s “Where It’s At” and more for the musical’s sizzling opening number. (Theatergoers shouldn’t be in a rush to leave their seats at the end, as many of those samples are remixed in a post-show reprise appropriately titled “More More More!”)

The second act gets off to a similarly scintillating start with a mash-up of Lady Gaga‘s banger “Bad Romance,” the White Stripes’ propulsive “Seven Nation Army,” Soft Cell’s synthy “Tainted Love,” Britney Spears’ seductive “Toxic” and Eurythmics’ iconic “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”

The movie’s show-stopping combination of Madonna’s “Material Girl” and the showtune “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” gets extra shine from the addition of the Bond theme “Diamonds Are Forever,” Beyonce’s brilliant “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Rihanna’s glittering “Diamonds,” En Vogue’s anthemic “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” and the 1970s hits “Brick House” and “Jungle Boogie.”

Katy Perry’s “Firework” is cannily recast as a tragic ballad for the show’s ill-fated heroine, while the angsty pairing of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” provide an excellent showcase for the desperate chemistry between McClinton’s Satine and Douglas’ Christian.

While the performances are consistently dazzling, the most sparkling praise goes to costume designer Catherine Zuber, scenic designer Derek McLane and lighting designer Justin Townsend, whose top-notch efforts transport theatergoers to the gleaming glory of the Moulin Rouge

‘MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL’

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