The vocal performances are strong and the takes vibrant on the original Broadway cast album of 2019's
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Upping the ante on the 2001
Baz Luhrmann film on which it's based, the jukebox musical incorporates at least a few lyrics and musical phrases from a mind-boggling number of songs spanning well over a century's worth of music, adding to and updating the source soundtrack. (Songs like "Your Song," "Lady Marmalade," and "Nature Boy" still feature prominently here.) Among them, as a sampling of the breadth, are
Bizet's Habanera, "Minnie the Moocher," "La Vie en Rose," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Take on Me," "Seven Nation Army," and "Royals." One of the musical's medleys, "Elephant Love Medley," covers 20 songs in just under five-and-a-half minutes, almost doubling the quote total of the film version. Whether the Name That Tune-style barrage of well-known songs is great fun or no fun at all is up for debate in a show that closes with a cast medley called "More More More!" The original Broadway cast is led by Tony winner
Karen Olivo (West Side Story 2009 revival,
In the Heights) as Satine and Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, TV's
Grease: Live) as Christian, both of whom were attached to the show from its workshop stage. ~ Marcy Donelson