It was inevitable Baz Luhrmann’s dizzying 2001 film musical “Moulin Rouge!” would be adapted for the stage, but it’s taken a long time.
Following last year’s news that Alex Timbers (“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” “Here Lies Love”) and John Logan (“Red”) had been hired as the director and book writer respectively, it has now been confirmed that “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” will receive its world premiere, pre-Broadway run summer 2018 in Boston.
The stage musical will have a score similar to the film, bringing together popular songs from recent decades and songs from the period since the film was released. The tryout run will reopen the newly restored Colonial Theatre.
Not long ago, Emerson College had proposed gutting and rebuilding the interior of the theater but then entered into a long-term lease with Ambassador Theatre Group.
Jacobean makeover at Belasco Theatre’s ‘Farinelli’
When the Shakespeare’s Globe production of Claire van Kampen’s new historic drama “Farinelli and the King” transfers to Broadway in December, it will transform the Belasco Theatre into a Jacobean-era performance venue, with two levels of onstage seating and banquette seating for the front two rows of theater. A
t least 200 seats will be sold at each performance for $32. The play explores the unusual relationship between King Philippe V of Spain (Mark Rylance) and the famous castrato singer Farinelli. Rylance last appeared on Broadway in the Globe’s all-male productions of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III” in 2013, which also played the Belasco.
The ‘Boys’ are back in town
This is turning out to be a big year for landmark 20th century gay dramas.
In addition to the Off-Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song” and the upcoming Broadway revival of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer-winning “Angels in America,” Mart Crowley’s 1968 comic drama “The Boys in the Band” will receive a 50th anniversary Broadway revival produced by Ryan Murphy and David Stone and directed by Joe Mantello. It will feature a starry cast, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells and Robin de Jesús. It will play a 15-week limited run at the Booth Theatre beginning April 30.
“The significance of ‘The Boys in the Band’ cannot be underestimated. In 1968, Mart Crowley made theatrical history by giving voice to gay men onstage,” Murphy said.
Spotted…
Michael J. Fox at “Come From Away”… Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julie Taymor and Jonathan Groff at “The Band’s Visit”… Edie Falco at “M. Butterfly.”
