THE SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR LIT UP BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT!
Moulin Rouge! The Musical was thrilled to be invited by ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent to appear at Hammersmith Apollo on Monday 30th May. The special guest appearance from the worldwide smash hit show Moulin Rouge! The Musical kicked off the talent programme’s week of live TV shows.
The cast of the hit West End show gave two spectacular performances for Britain’s Got Talent judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and David Walliams.
You can watch both performances in full here (as many times as you like!)
Britain’s Got Talent opened in spectacular Moulin Rouge! The Musical style. The London cast performed a special version of the award winning stage show’s own all singing and all dancing opening number, which features Lady Marmalade the well-known song that is much beloved from Baz Luhrman’s original film Moulin Rouge! After introducing the club’s famed entertainers, known as the four ‘Lady Ms’, onstage to the refrains of “hey sista, go sista”, all four Britain’s Got Talent judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and David Walliams were revealed from behind Moulin Rouge! The Musical dancers. Audiences were then treated to promenading can can dancers and blasts of confetti that transformed the Hammersmith Apollo into the world of the renown Parisian nightclub the Moulin Rouge, all culminating in the most spectacular reveal of them all – Ant & Dec descending from the sky in a flashing heart shaped swing. Once the hosts of Britain’s Got Talent reached the ground the audience at Hammersmith Apollo leapt to their feet giving the performance a standing ovation.
In a touching moment for any eagle-eyed fans of televised talent shows, Zoe Birkett, who plays Arabia in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, gave Declan Donnelly and Anthony McPartlin a trip down memory lane. Greeting them as they stepped off of the heart shaped swing the moment brought them together twenty years after Zoe first shot to fame in Pop Idol!
Following up their spectacular opening number the cast of Moulin Rouge! The Musical then went on to turn up the heat and thrill Britain’s Got Talent judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and David Walliams, as well as the audience at the Hammersmith Apollo and millions more watching on TV with a special performance of Backstage Romance, which has never previously been presented for television broadcast. The exclusive performance showcases the West End musical’s impressive choreography, designed by Tony Award winner Sonya Tayeh and also features a number of songs including Bad Romance, Tainted Love, Seven Nation Army, Toxic and Sweet Dreams (are Made of These). The award winning stage production features over 70 songs, encompassing songs familiar to fans of Baz Luhrman’s hit 2001 film as well as new additions. The score celebrates some of the greatest popular music of the last 50 years all ‘mashed up’ by Tony Award winner Justin Levine to create the unique musical style that sets Moulin Rouge! The Musical apart from all other West End shows. The explosive performance drew yet another standing ovation for the cast of Moulin Rouge! The Musical from the Britain’s Got Talent judges and audience.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is playing at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End and tickets are now available through to January 2023.
Baz Luhrmann’s iconic film comes to life onstage, remixed for today in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Moulin Rouge! The Musical invites you to enter a world of passionate romance and eye-popping splendour…a place where Bohemians and aristocrats revel together in electrifying enchantment…a place where all your wildest dreams come true!
Set in Paris, 1899, a world of indulgent beauty and unparalleled extravagance, of bohemians and aristocrats, of boulevardiers and reprobates, Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the story of a lovesick American writer, Christian, and Satine, the dazzling star of the Moulin Rouge nightclub. When their lives collide at the Moulin Rouge, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be thwarted by the nightclub’s host and impresario, Harold Zidler, and The Duke of Monroth, the wealthy and entitled patron of the club who thinks he can buy anything he wants, including Satine. Together with his Bohemian friends – the brilliant and starving artist Toulouse-Lautrec, and the greatest tango dancer in all of Paris, Santiago – Christian stages a musical spectacular in an attempt to save the Moulin Rouge and win the heart of Satine. A theatrical celebration of Truth, Beauty, Freedom and — above all — Love, this is more than a musical… it is a state of mind. Tickets for Moulin Rouge! The Musical have just been released for Christmas and into 2023. Book your tickets now for best availability at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Directed by Alex Timbers (Here Lies Love at the National Theatre, Tony Award®-nominated for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Peter and the Starcatcher) Moulin Rouge! The Musical has a book by John Logan (Tony Award® for Red, three-time Academy Award nominee, including for Gladiator and The Aviator), choreography by Sonya Tayeh (Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for Kung Fu, and Emmy winner), and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Justin Levine (Here Lies Love). The design team for Moulin Rouge! The Musical includes Tony Award® winner Derek McLane (sets; his credits include Beautiful – The Carole King Musical), Tony Award® winner Catherine Zuber (costumes; for which she won the Olivier Award in 2022 for Best Costume Design), two-time Tony Award® nominee Justin Townsend (lighting), Peter Hylenski (sound), Drama Desk Award winner David Brian Brown (hair and wig design; credits include Come From Away) and Sarah Cimino (make-up design). Casting is by Pippa Ailion CDG and Natalie Gallacher CDG.