‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ is a jukebox adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie, the Musical has won the Tony award for the best new musical. Others that were nominated were ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and ‘Tina — The Tina Turner Musical’ for the coveted title.

The show is about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub, updated with tunes like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” alongside the big hit “Lady Marmalade.

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It was nominated for 14 awards and interestingly, It is also the first Australian-produced show to have originated on Broadway.

Producer Carmen Pavlovic, the CEO of the Sydney-based company Global Creatures, talked about the award show last week and said, “Everything is in the laps of the gods.”

“I’m excited but the industry is still shrouded with so much uncertainty. I think this year’s Tonys will not be about individual shows but about the industry as a whole; a celebration and recognition of what everyone has been through in the last 18 months.”

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As the show opened in 2019, it made waves and garnered positive reviews with massive box office returns. “We were riding a lovely wave,” Pavlovic said. “We produced the cast album, we’d been nominated for a Grammy and were planning the next few months. I was going to move to New York for a while to oversee five productions of the show playing around the world.”

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it was the hardest-hit show on Broadway, with nearly 25 infections among the company. The show, however, reopened in the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Friday night. “We’ve been rehearsing since August,” Pavlovic said. “It takes a long time to get everyone back to the level of stamina and endurance they need to do the show.” Furthermore, the show took some seven years in the making. “It took seven years to piece together a deal with Fox Studios and with the Moulin Rouge in Paris, because they still control the name,” said Pavlovic. “And pre-Broadway, the show had 75 songs, which meant 150 composers and 30-odd music publishers. The rights negotiations were intense and since COVID-19, we’ve never been able to step back and relax at all.”