What goes around, comes around. The tragi-comic Bollywood musical imported by Baz Luhrmann returns to India, as theatre company Nicholas Productions, founded by choreographer Denver Anthony Nicholas, attempts to recreate the magic of Moulin Rouge on stage this weekend at the Chinmaya Heritage Centre (March 6, 7 p.m. and March 7, 2.30 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
Emotional rollercoaster
The last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster for the team behind the show. The producer of the show Roshni Menon has died 20 days before the opening night leaving them completely shattered. Until they realised that the best tribute they could give her was to make her dream come true.
Though ‘Moulin Rouge' is his first production as a director, Denver has quite a few shows to his credit as the choreographer — ‘Grease', ‘Little Mermaid', ‘Romeo and Juliet', ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', ‘Night at the Musical', and ‘Chicago'.
“Working with different theatre companies, I picked up the nuances of how to direct and what goes into a musical production. But, I realised I had to move on to direction. Incidentally, Roshni too had been asking me to do something on my own,” says Denver.
They had earlier partnered to recreate ‘Grease' on stage for Stagefright Productions, a company Roshni founded with Freddy Koikaran.
It was Michael Muthu who had suggested ‘Moulin Rouge' to Denver. “I took the DVD from him, and 10 minutes into the movie, I decided to do it. Unlike most of the other musicals, the songs were already cult classics songs from Elton John to Police, and Lady Marmalade to something like ‘Chamma Chamma'. I loved what Baz Luhrmann did with the colour and the costumes. But, the main thing that attracted me was the music,” says Denver.
Shaun Roberts and his band Midnight Groove (Meynard Grant on drums, Balaji on rhythm and percussion, Timothy George and Nelson Samuel on keyboards, Vikram Vivekanand on guitar and Shaun on bass and guitar synth) will perform live with an eight-member choir.
Shireen, a student of NIFT, has done the costumes of the period (Moulin Rouge is set in 1899).
Says Cary Edwards, former VJ, stand up comedian and actor: "I hadn't done theatre since college. Seven years ago, Roshni and I were talking about what it would be to do a play together, because she had just got into theatre production. And, then we kind of lost touch, and, one day I got a call out of the blue." Roshni wanted him to play Christian, the introverted writer. "The only thing Christian and I share is that we are both creative and musically inclined. That's where the similarities end. During rehearsals, Roshni would often walk up and tell me 'More Christian, less rockstar'," he laughs.
Renu Anne Abraham who plays Satine, says: “I had to do the most embarrassing scene for the audition. The one with me on the floor going Yes, Yes, Yes.”
Gibran Osman plays the villainous Duke and has sprouted a moustache for the role. “I think it gives a little quirk to the character,” he says.
Roshni is no more. But, as they say, the show will go on. Come what may.
For tickets, visit > http://nicholasproductions.blogspot.com or call 99401-95883.
