There Was So Much Missing, At "Moulin Rouge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                     Let's start with Nicole Kidman's famous line, "Come and get me, boys!"  Where the hell was that?

                                      Really, when first confronted with the glowing, almost eye aching, set that confronts audiences before the show has even started, my first thought was, "Follies!"  If only!

                                       Still, I was on the right track, because, as eye catching as the sets and costumes are, there is little story, and what it is amounts to a compendium of musical theater and opera.  And I am not talking about the overuse of "Your Song," or the maudlin use of "There Was A Boy."  I am talking about the works I counted as being referenced by just the staging.

                                          Here are a few--"Follies"
                                                                    "Cabaret"
                                                                    "Chicago"
                                                                    "Evita"
                                                                    "A Chorus Line"
                                                                    "La Boheme"/"Rent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
                                         
                                          And those are just the ones I can remember.

                                          Danny Burstein had the nerve to be out, at my performance, which surprised the hell out of me, as he is a pro, though, I have to say, maybe the triteness of this show is wearing him down. As we watched his understudy Kevyn Morrow, perform the role, it was hard to imagine Burstein in it.  Morrow fit it better.  So, incidentally would Joel Grey, and Alan Cumming!

                                             Karen Olivo, as Satine, is the reason to see the show.  One might say she is a distance cousin of Fantine, only she has pulled herself up from the streets and worked her way into this theater company of former losers.  There is no loss of talent, beauty, and vocal power in her performance, and even the hokey "La Boheme" death knockoff had me choking back tears, but, compare this to her role, a decade before, as Anita, in the 2009 "West Side Story," where she had GREAT material and choreography to back her up, there. No such luck here, but what she makes of the mediocrity she is given is amazing.  She makes this pap watchable.

                                                 Same goes for Aaron Tveit, as Christian.  Gorgeous voice, great chemistry with her, but a naivete that hearkens back to "Candide," so much I wanted to smack him.

                                                    I worry for people with motion sickness with all this show's flashing lights.  My David, who suffers from it, made it through, OK, so that should give some hope.

                                                      This show is directed toward 13-year-olds, and maybe some adults, who thought "La La Land" was the greatest film musical ever made.  Don't kid yourselves, darlings,  there really are people out there who believe this.  The young can be forgiven, but the adults...….?

                                                        Which only confirms my worst fear--judging by the success of this show, sooner or later "La La Land" WILL be put on the Broadway Musical Stage!

                                                           Forget it!  Three quarters of the way through this, I kept hoping that "the boys," or someone, would come and get me, so I could happily fly out of there, on a trapeze!

                                                             And don't get me started on the price gouging!

                                                             Don't break the piggy bank, for this one, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!