Stage Production
Following the success of the film, there has been talk of Baz Luhrmann developing a Moulin Rouge stage musical. In 2002, Luhrmann confirmed that he was working on the stage production, which was to be a Paris set show and take place in a casino. Moulin Rouge was a musical film with much of the action taking place on the stage of the Moulin Rouge club. Therefore, it would obviously have great potential as a stage musical.
When he first confirmed his idea in 2002, Luhrmann was unsure if he would direct and did not give a time frame. Unfortunately, the last word from Luhrmann regarding this project was back in April 2003, and there has been no further information since. I can only assume this Moulin Rouge stage production is 'on hold' for now.
If anyone has any further
information about this project, please contact me.
In the meantime, feel free
to read the articles I have managed to compile so far:
Question and Answer - Baz Luhrmann
By Paul Wontorek, 7 April 2003, Click here for
original source
I know you're thinking of bringing Moulin
Rouge to Las Vegas. Can you tell me more about that?
Next weekend I've got to make a decision. I'm going to Vegas because two casinos are
bidding for the concept of a Moulin Rouge theatrical show. A theater would be built and
the club as well--the whole world. And we'll do everything. In Vegas, you get a scale
which you get nowhere else, so it could be intriguing. So I'll see. I'll make a decision
in the next few weeks. I love that environmental work. And I guess what you'd have is that
Satine could be guest stars, so you'd get really serious players coming in and doing six
weeks a throw. And then booking a lot of cabaret in it as well. Edgy, interesting cabaret
work. I always see there's so much talent and I know I could take 'x' and make it work,
but hey, I haven't got the time. Vegas is okay for 48 hours but it's not really a
sophisticated experience but what if there was like an old Sands nightclub like the Rat
Pack. A very cool experience, with different layers. I think it's a great environmental
piece. I mean imagine, Satine comes down the middle on a swing. You want to be in the
space, I think. So we'll see.
Moulin Rouge Stage Version Aimed At A
Casino
11 December 2002, Click here for
original source
A Las Vegas casino is the target venue for a stage version the Baz Luhrmann's Oscar-winning movie, Moulin Rouge, a picture about risk, music, hijinks, hedonism, sex, death and showstoppers — Vegas in miniature.
Luhrmann told Variety the Paris-set show is going into a casino, but nothing else was reported. Luhrmann told Playbill On-Line in November that stage versions of his Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom were his next two live shows, but it wasn't clear if he would direct them. He wants Strictly Ballroom to go into a ballroom space.
His next film project is an epic, Alexander the Great, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Luhrmann's La Boh�me earned love letters from critics following the Dec. 8 opening at the Broadway Theatre. Luhrmann's wife, Catherine Martin (an Oscar winner for the design of Moulin Rouge), designed the set and co-designed costumes for La Boh�me.
Baz Luhrmann Talks About Strictly Ballroom,
the Stage Musical — a Natural for NYC
By Kenneth Jones, 28 November 2002, Click here for original source
Baz Luhrmann told Playbill On-Line that
his theatrical producing company, Bazmark Live, is developing his hit 1992 film, Strictly
Ballroom, into a stage musical.
Since the picture's release, observers saw the property — about a fiery ballroom
dancer who thumbs his nose at the ballroom community and takes an unglamorous partner
under his wing — as a perfect possibility for a Broadway worthy musical. The picture
had a natural music-and dance setting, characters with heart and the sort of physical and
emotional transformation of character that you find in great musicals of the past.
"For 13 years every producer has chased it, like maniacally," Luhrmann told Playbill
On-Line. "We'll own it and control it, and the question is whether I direct it
or not. Everything we do is based on a life decision."
The most recent "life decision" of Luhrmann and designer wife Catherine Martin
is moving to New York to stage and oversee their hit production of La Boh�me on
Broadway (previews begin Nov. 29 at the Broadway Theatre). Their take on the Puccini
classic was a sensation in their native Australia in the 1990s.
"We wanted to live in New York," Luhrmann said. "Strictly Ballroom
and Moulin Rouge, we're developing. It will take a while."
News of stage versions of his films, Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom,
has circulated for some months, but in the weeks leading to La Boh�me, he shared
more information.
Is Strictly Ballroom, the musical, possible for a Broadway start?
"New York has a fabulous ballroom culture and history," Luhrmann said.
"There are a lot of spaces I'd like to do it in. Roseland would be great, or the
Hammerstein Ballroom would be great to do it in — that's a fabulous space."
The goal, he said, would not be a conventional Broadway theatre, but "to take a space
and treat it as an environmental production."
Luhrmann said he's begun work on Strictly Ballroom with a composer, but he
declined to mention any names.
"You wouldn't believe the composers who have wanted to do this, since the [film's
release]," Luhrmann said. "Both pop — very famous, the most famous of pop
composers — and also the Broadway folk."
Lurhmann added, "Everyone sees the natural potential of [it]. It's a dance musical
— song and dance."
The Australian-set movie starred Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Barry Otto, Gia
Carides, Peter Whitford and John Hannan.
