MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL

Moulin Rouge the Musical, based on the film by Baz Luhrmann, is a jukebox musical which takes place at the famed titular cabaret in Paris and follows the love story between Christian and Satine.

The musical is set during the Belle Époque at the turn of the 20th century where, at the Moulin Rouge club, Bohemians Christian, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Santiago – under the ideals of “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love” – gather to create a new musical work, Bohemian Rhapsody.

The Moulin Rouge is under financial distress and Zidler is hoping that Satine can seduce the Duke of Monroth and convince the latter to invest in the cabaret. Confusion ensues when Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke; Christian is trying to impress the courtesan of the new play he is developing with his friends while the star of the Moulin Rouge is preparing to seduce the writer.

Ultimately, the Duke backs the show and Satine must keep him happy in order to have any hope that the Moulin Rouge getting out of the red. Yet Christian decides to fight for her love at the encouragement of Toulouse-Lautrec who himself was once in love with Satine many years ago.

When the Duke (who has now decides that he wants all of Satine) realizes that Bohemian Rhapsody reflects the real-life love triangle between Christian, Satine, and himself, his is infuriated and threatens to revoke his financial investment in the show and in the club. To save Christian from being killed by the Duke, Satine tells him that she does not love him so that he will leave.

On the opening night of Bohemian Rhapsody, Christian plans to commit suicide by shooting but when Satine responds by singing “their song”, he knows that indeed she has loved him this entire time. Christian’s life is saved once again by Satine, yet ironically, she dies in his arms of the consumption that has been worsening with each passing day.