Current Projects
January 18, 2024
Earlier this month I submitted to the Song Stage and Screen conference hosted in NYC by the International Society for the Study of Musicals. I submitted this abstract – if it gets accepted I am excited to flesh it out more. The theme of the conference is revisals, revisiting, etc., and so I thought that re-contextualization, especially in this nostalgic context of a current jukebox work like Moulin Rouge! The Musical, presents a really fascinating line of inquiry to follow. The ISSM limits word counts to 200 words, so this is pretty short, but I think it gets the gist of my point across.
My doctoral supervisor also recommended that I flesh this out more, add some citations/etc. and submit to a few of the music conferences: IASPM, AMS, etc. Still working on that lol!
Either way – drop me a line if you would like to discuss: musicaltheatremusings@gmail.com
Here it is:
Presentation Title:
Reconsidering the Rouge: Music Remix and Pre-Pandemic Nostalgia in Moulin Rouge the Musical
Abstract (186 words):
The currently running Broadway production of Moulin Rouge the Musical has been greatly re-contextualized by the tragedy and upheaval of the pandemic. While this adaptation of the 2001 film adds new music with the intent of creating for its audience an in the moment, contemporary familiarity; hearing the work in the wake of COVID-19 instead channels a sonic image of a world that no longer exists. This paper examines remixing of recent popular music as a primary vessel through which Moulin Rouge is affected and made nostalgic in the post pandemic theatrical space.
The fusion of rock, pop, and dance music styles aid in the specificity of nostalgic callback. Focusing on the use of popular music from the early 2010s, this paper suggests that cultural memory of the pandemic and the collective experience of the new world that has emerged since forces a new perspective on this work that thematically darkens its story and removes the intended escapist familiarity of its score. Ultimately, Moulin Rouge the Musical’s sonic depiction of glamour, doom, and desperation invites audiences to reflect on their comfortable rouge-tinted perspective on life pre-pandemic.
Some notes/thoughts/questions I still have:
I think even though its basically just the sound of the 2010s, it’s also this immediate pre-covid snapshot if that makes sense (opened july 2019, covid closure march 2020, reopened september 2021, still running. With getting rights and all that this is some of the most current music on stage, even with the most recent song being from 2015/2016)
The pandemic closure of this musical and its subsequent reopening in a new social context without any change to its content to keep it very current musically speaking is what creates the nostalgic effect for the audience. The top 40 sound to this show no longer has the “right now” relevance that was (a) present when it opened and (b) the creative intention behind the updates to the original film’s remix/jukebox style. This is what I am going for in that sentence you mention.
I am now wondering is maybe this means it isn’t the style, rather its the perspective/ the way we look at the music of the 2010s (exemplified by this musical) that has changed?
Re: glamour/doom: the original film and the musical both depict the economic struggle and stresses of the moulin rouge club and the performers that work there, and contrasts it with this ridiculous opulence/glamour/escapism of the club's environment and the aristocrats that fund it. To show this visually in the film they have the elaborate dance sequences that feel overwhelming/blurry, you realize no one is enjoying themselves, it's panicked and exasperated/ etc. There is a veneer of artificiality/spectacle that permeates the club and hides this deeply felt but sort of under realized/explained turmoil that the artists experience.
Since Covid, this is a more prominent feeling, and it removes the hidden part of the club environment's artificiality, and forces the audience to re-contextualize it for themselves? What was a very clear fourth wall now depicts our reality in an unintended metaphorical way, but it uses the music of the 2010s to cling to the aforementioned veneer that the pandemic took away?
In this sense, the "glamour" is the nostalgia/callback/whatever and the doom/desperation is reality (this sounds like a different a better presentation lol), making the work much darker than the original intent was.