After its debut in Boston, the stage adaptation of the 2001 film will arrive in New York next summer.
A stage adaptation of the wildly popular 2001 jukebox musical film “Moulin Rouge” has set its 2019 Broadway opening date.
“Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” which had its premiere in Boston this summer, will begin performances June 28 at the Al Hirschfeld Theater before opening on July 25. Most of the cast, including the three leads — Karen Olivo, a Tony Award winner for “West Side Story,” Aaron Tveit and Danny Burstein — will remain with the production on Broadway.
In his New York Times review, Ben Brantley called the show “smart, shameless and extravagantly entertaining.” He added: “This ‘Moulin Rouge!’ captures the sensibility of a movie-loving movie in a theater lover’s language.”
The film, directed by Baz Luhrmann, follows a young writer who falls for a dancer and courtesan at the Moulin Rouge cabaret hall in late-19th century Paris. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two, for costume design and art direction.
Alex Timbers, a two-time Tony nominee, is the musical’s director; the book is by the Tony-winning writer John Logan. And the score includes some of the most memorable pop hits featured in the movie, along with more recent songs by artists like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and OutKast.
The musical is produced by Carmen Pavlovic of Global Creatures, an Australian company that made its Broadway debut with a musical adaptation of “King Kong” this fall.
The production is the latest big-budget musical to open in the summer, sidestepping the crowded deadline for Tony nominations. This season, “ Head Over Heels ” opened on July 26 and “ Pretty Woman ” opened on Aug. 16. In 2015, Jeffrey Seller, the producer of “Hamilton,” decided not to rush to Broadway to compete for Tonys and instead opened in July. The musical went on to rack up 16 nominations the following year.
