Why Change?
Comparing the Moulin Rouge! movie and Broadway musical
I’ve recently had a string of good luck with Broadway lotteries. The latest show I saw was Moulin Rouge!, which I was super excited for considering the movie is one of my all-time favorites. The singing, dancing, and overall production of the show was absolutely phenomenal, but there were many differences made to the plot that I felt were for the worse. Why the writers decided to make these changes when the movie they were adapting is considered a classic is beyond me, but I’m going to try and get in their mindsets.
The movie version opens up with Christian (Ewan McGregor) narrating the love of his life, Satine (Nicole Kidman) is dead. It then goes back in time to how Christian met Satine, and follows their love story, but we’re aware from the start they’re doomed. The Broadway show instead began by showcasing the fun and excitement of the Moulin Rouge. After an extensive dance number, Christian narrates how he ended up in the Moulin Rouge that night, and tells the audience this show is a love story. He makes no mention of Satine’s impending death.
I tried to figure out why they would choose not to foreshadow Satine’s death, and the only reason I could think is to avoid spoilers. That doesn’t make sense though since the musical purposely spoils itself. To my two readers who have yet to watch this movie, the central plot is around how the main characters’ write and perform a play that ends up mirroring their lives. They write dialogue and plot points, and these all end up happening within the central plot. The Broadway version kept this element, and even included the line when a character asks “In the end should someone die?” so it doesn’t seem like they were trying to hide that a character was going to die, they just didn’t state who.
This being said, the way the Moulin Rouge is presented in the play is better than in the movie. I felt amazed to be a part of it at the show, whereas in the movie I felt stressed and overwhelmed by how much was going on at once. I was able to better appreciate all of the dancing in the play and it ended up being the highlight of the show.
The next part of the Broadway show pretty much follows the same plot as the movie until the moment when the Duke visits Satine’s room. They completely changed the Duke in the show, and all of his characterization. I’m going to include photos below to show you how physically different these men look.
Top: The Duke in the Moulin Rouge! movie
Bottom: The Duke in the Broadway version of Moulin Rouge!
The Duke in the movie is a scrawny weirdo who acts possessive over Satine and tries to control her. The Duke in the play was hot, in how he acted and how he looked. He actually seemed like a suitable option for Satine to be in love with, and turned the story into a full on love triangle.
One of the most important issues in the movie is Christian doesn’t want Satine to sleep with the Duke, but in the Broadway show Satine sleeps with the Duke the night she meets him! There’s never any argument where Christian asks her not to, which left me confused at what the problem was even going to be. When looking into why they made this change, I found articles stating they wanted to show Satine as an empowered prostitute who is satisfied with her position in life to fit with modern audiences. I could write an entire essay about that alone, but all I will say is that doesn’t match with Satine’s characterization in either version of Moulin Rouge. The entire premise of the movie is Satine is trying to seduce the rich Duke so she can get out of the Moulin Rouge and become a real actress. I also don’t understand the writers’ logic in trying to make Satine seem more empowered by being content with her job, because she honestly seems to enjoy planning how she’s going to seduce the Duke in the movie. It was also empowering in the movie seeing Satine decide for herself that she didn’t want to sleep with the Duke and she deserved to be in a normal relationship with Christian who actually loves her.
It also doesn’t seem like Satine is at peace with her life in either version. In the movie she sings Someday I’ll Fly Away about how much she wants to get out of the Moulin Rouge, and while they cut this song from the show, they replaced it with Katy Perry’s Firework, which seemed to make it clear that Satine believes she deserves better. So does she like her life or not?
I have to talk about the song choices in the show. Why they switched Someday I’ll Fly Away to Firework I can’t answer. The actress I saw in the role of Satine (Ashley Loren) sang Firework better than it’s probably ever been performed, but I still couldn’t help but think it’s a little weird they chose that song to be in the show. The movie features timeless classics, like Elton John’s Your Song and Madonna’s Like a Virgin, and for Broadway they left most of the original music but added in more recent pop songs. Some flowed well, like all of the ones in the Elephant Love Medley, but there were others that didn’t seem to fit. I just can’t help but feel like We Are Young and Raise Your Glass are on a much lower tier than the original songs and shouldn’t be featured in the same musical. I enjoyed the singing and dancing to all the new songs as it was incredibly well done, but it just didn’t give off the same vibe as the music in the movie.
My main problem with the show though was Christian and Satine’s relationship. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman had incredible chemistry, and they really seem to be in love in the movie. The play had moments where the lead actors would declare their love for each other and I would wonder, are these characters even in love? This was no fault of the actors as they were giving it their all, the script was just lacking. One of the best parts in both versions is when Christian and Satine sing a medley of iconic love songs. This scene happens in the movie after Satine tells Christian she could never love anyone because of her job as a courtesan, and he convinces her life has to have love in it by serenading her with love songs. In the show, Christian asks Satine to have an affair with him, and talks her into it by singing her these love songs. So much less romantic! I have to say though the set design of this part was really good, and they mirrored the scene in the movie when they dance in the clouds in front of the Eiffel Tower perfectly.
At least they look in love in that photo. There’s not many scenes of them looking enamored with each other in the rest of the play. We got one moment of them chatting in secret while rehearsing the play, and I think that’s it. The movie has numerous scenes of them sneaking away from the Duke together, and laughing in Christian’s apartment. It really felt like we got to watch their relationship develop and grow, and you just entirely miss that in the play. It seemed like they cut those scenes of them falling in love in the play so they could add in the most random plot ever of Satine and Toulouse-Lautrec being childhood friends. I have absolutely no idea how they watched the movie and decided to make Toulouse-Lautrec be anything more than comedic relief. I never once cared about his character in the play and how randomly deep he is because it’s so different from how he’s portrayed in the movie.
The Broadway version cut out a lot of my the best comedic scenes! They left the part when Christian and Satine have a miscommunication in her room when he tries to recite poetry to her when she thinks he’s there to seduce her, but they didn’t make Satine act as crazy as she does in the movie. This was probably to preserve the lead actress’s dignity, but Nicole Kidman really gave that scene her all and it’s the funniest part of the entire movie. They also cut the scene when Christian has to sneak out of Satine’s room without the Duke catching him. Perhaps worst of all though, they cut Harold Zilder (played by Slughorn in the movie) singing Like a Virgin!
There’s also the issue with the Duke! There were times I thought Satine might actually be into the Duke in the play. His main faults are he tells her she will have to quit acting after this play, and makes remarks about how he doesn’t like the script, but he’s not nearly as bad as in the movie. In the movie he’s straight-up abusive and scary! We hear rumors from other characters of how the Duke has harmed people who’ve opposed him in the show, but in the movie we actually see him make those threats and act on them. I completely despise him in the movie, but in the play I almost started rooting for him over Christian at a few parts. Ewan McGregor’s Christian is an absolute sweetheart who completely adores Satine, but Broadway Christian is annoying and entitled. He doesn’t bother to hide his frustration with the Duke when he and Satine are meant to be keeping their affair a secret from him, and acts much more over-the-top than is normal.
Near the end Christian confronts Satine to find out if she stills loves him or not. In the movie he yells at her and demand she answer whether she ever loved him. I thought that was intense when I watched it. It is nothing compared to how psychotic Broadway Christian is. In this version, he points a loaded gun at Satine, then turns it towards himself, because he’d rather die than live without love. That is insane! When Satine talks him down, it feels more out of fear that he’ll kill himself right in front of her than out of her genuine love for him. I’m telling you, the Broadway characters do not seem to be in love, let alone stable.
There’s a scene in the Brodway show where Satine tells the Duke she doesn’t want to be with him, and no man owns her. I had two major issues with this. First of all, the Duke doesn’t even fight back. Movie Duke would never take that! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want him to lose it on her, but what did they do this character? It’s also just ironic she thinks no man controls her, when her motivations for sleeping with the Duke and performing the play in the Broadway version is to ensure he donates money to the Moulin Rouge which may soon go bankrupt. If it did, the owner Harold Zidler (and her literal pimp) would lose everything. Satine is controlled by Zidler who uses her for his business. Another strange moment is when the other women working there worry about what would happen to them if the Moulin Rouge went under, and imply they’d have resort to prostituting themselves if that happened. Sorry, hold up, are they not already doing that in the Moulin Rouge? Is Satine the only woman here who has to sell herself? If that’s the case, Zidler seems even more insane for making his friend randomly do that!
The play in the stage version was updated to not be set in India and I have to say this is the best change they made to the story. It’s honestly uncomfortable at moments watching the movie and seeing all these white people singing, dancing, and dressing as if they’re in India. Props to Broadway for not allowing that to happen again.
The final duet between Christian and Satine in the Broadway show was good, but in the movie it’s absolutely incredible! It’s probably one of the most dramatic and amazing scenes in all cinematic history, and the show version was honestly a let-down in comparison. They went hard on every musical number beforehand, and for some reason didn’t give it their all at the end. I wish I could have directed the ending because I know exactly how I would block the entire scene for the stage and it would have been fantastic. They could have had Christian walk through the aisles just like in the movie. They even had confetti, I don’t get why they didn’t utilize it here!
Throughout the movie Ewan McGregor’s Christian is seen typing his and Satine’s love story, whereas at the end of the Broadway show, Christian announces that after Satine’s death he worked on writing their love song and sings Come What May. I thought the actor I saw (Derek Klena) did a great rendition of the song, but plot wise I have to ask - did Christian forget he and Satine sang this an hour earlier in the show? Why are you acting like you were hard at work writing this song when you already wrote it earlier in the story?
After Christian’s solo performance of Come What May in the show, there’s an encore where the cast throws in more modern songs and does another big dance number. It’s fun and over the top, but an entirely different tone from the end of the movie. I felt like I didn’t even have time to process Satine’s death before the actors joyously shot confetti in my face. The movie is phenomenal because of how the tone shifts throughout. It begins by foreshadowing the bleak end, becomes over-the-top and exciting, then gradually becomes more serious throughout until you reach the depressing conclusion. I feel like the Broadway production team wanted to do a show with all the same major elements as the movie, but didn’t want to do a tragedy. They seemed to gloss over all the tragic elements, in favor of wowing you with how dazzling everything on stage looked. While it was an amazing show to behold, it missed the emotional impact that made the movie such a classic.
I overall enjoyed Broadway’s Moulin Rouge, mainly because I was amazed by all of the things they were able to pull off. There’s fireworks, confetti, acrobatics, amazing music and dancing, and the most breathtaking sets of any show I’ve ever seen, but I can’t help but feel upset by the changes they made to the story. It felt more like I was watching Spectacular Spectacular than Moulin Rouge. The play has a run time of 2 hours and 40 minutes including an intermission, but the movie somehow includes more story and heart in its 2 hours. If they had cut out some of the modern pop medleys they added, they easily could have focused more on the love story, which is what the entire show is supposed to be about.