Review of Moulin Rouge! The Musical!

by Katie Beltramo

The US tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical! is playing at Proctors in Schenectady and continuing through many of KidsOutAndAbout's regions. This show is extremely fun as a date night or girls' night out, with gorgeous dancing and leads with powerhouse voices. If you're wavering about taking a teen, keep in mind that the show centers on Satine, a performer and prostitute at the famouse Parisian club, and it's very similar to the 2001 movie.

This musical is a spectacle, with gorgeous staging and a bunch of often scantily clad dancers putting on amazing performances. Gabriela Carillo, playing Satine; Luke Monday, playing Satine's admirer, Christian; and Robert Retkoff, playing the cabaret's owner, Harold Zilder, all display some pretty fantastic vocal skills.

The musical sticks fairly closely to the popular movie from 2001 with the addition of more modern pop songs. It's a jukebox musical, but almost every song is a mash-up of hits, such as Bad Romance segueing into Toxic and then into Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). Which means that sometimes you may think, "I'd love to hear a few more lines of that old banger," but in any case, the songs are catchy.

The plot itself is barely there, with a star-crossed love affair and some worries about the cabaret's financial survival, but neither offer much emotional depth or resonance. That's okay if you are content to enjoy a lot of extremely hot people singing and dancing beautifully. The live performance makes you feel as if you're actually at a Parisian cabaret instead of your local theater. It's a lovely night out. Especially if you treat yourself to a themed cocktail at the theater bar.

Before seeing the show:

• The recommendad age is 14 and up.
• Check out this playlist of the soundtrack as well as pop songs that inspired it.
• Find some of Toulouse-Lautrec's artwork on the National Gallery of Art and the Musée de Toulouse-Lautrec's websites.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical! bills itself as a celebration of Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love. It's certainly a good time.

The US tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical! is playing at Proctors in Schenectady and continuing through many of KidsOutAndAbout's regions.

For schedule and ticket information, visit Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

© 2026 Katie Beltramo.
Katie Beltramo, a mom of two, is communications director of Kids Out and About. She also blogs at Capital District Fun.

Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, provided by Proctors.