Alex Timbers and Baz Luhrmann discuss what it’s like bringing Moulin Rouge! to Broadway.
NORMALLY such a strong reinterpretation of the work you’ve done happens after you’re dead,” Baz Luhrmann says, reclining on a couch as if engaging in a fabulous therapy session. We’re in a dusty lounge in midtown’s 3 West Club, discussing the stage adaptation of his 2001 film Moulin Rouge!—which is set in Montmartre in 1900 yet includes a tango version of “Roxanne” and the hit-filled cluster bomb that is the “Elephant Love Medley.” Luhrmann isn’t directing the stage version; he has handed it off to Alex Timbers, who memorably (and maximally) mixed history and modern music for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and the Imelda Marcos musical, Here Lies Love. (He also directed the Rocky and Beetlejuice adaptations.) In Moulin Rouge!’s Boston run, Timbers added samples from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Sia’s “Chandelier,” among others. Expect more. “A lot of artists grew up loving this movie,” says Timbers, always respectful to Luhrmann and sticking to his talking points.
Why not direct this yourself, Baz?
BAZ LUHRMANN: I came to a place where I realized I didn’t want to do theatrical versions of my movies. I can’t be that 35-year-old trying to crack the code of a movie musical again, which is why I was so thrilled about finding Alex. He feels like a younger cousin of mine in terms of theatrical language and storytelling.
ALEX TIMBERS: Baz and I met at a dinner party, and I think we ended up talking about Ken Russell movies?
BL: Probably. We might have had a couple of wines.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 24 - July 7, 2019-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 24 - July 7, 2019-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
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Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
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A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
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The Water-Tower Penthouse
Gigi Loizzo and Angel Molina's apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx looks out on Yankee Stadium.
