- 10 hours ago
Moulin Rouge Interview - Nov 7th, 2025
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00Moulin Rouge! The Musical is at the Pantages Theatre until November 16th, and we are so
00:07lucky to have Andrew Brewer with us today to tell us more about it. Maybe you've seen
00:12the movie version, but the theatrical celebration is like nothing else you've seen. Seriously.
00:19Andrew, I saw it, what, two or three years ago at the Pantages, and it stayed with me
00:23so long. Seriously, it was my favorite musical that year, hands down. So, first of all, good
00:31to have you here. Thank you for making time. Thank you for bringing me here. And just for
00:36people, first-timers who haven't seen the musical or the movie, tell us what it's about.
00:42So, it is a story of a young man who comes to Paris from America to find himself, find
00:50it's set in the early, very early 1900s. And he meets up with a couple of Bohemian artists
00:59who take him to a club. He's a songwriter, and they want to pitch their new show to the star
01:04there, Satine, who has been promised by the club's owner, Harold Ziedler, to the Duke of
01:12Munroth, who is me, in hopes that he will help fund the club that is running out of money
01:18and pay for everything they need to become their patron. Due to some mishaps, Christian,
01:25our young songwriter, meets Satine who believes he's the Duke, and they end up having a moment
01:31of falling in love. And from there, a love triangle sort of happens. They keep their love
01:35secret from the Duke, trying to maintain the club and maintain their own love story. And
01:41we watch it as it progresses and evolves and what happens from there.
01:47That's impressive, Andrew. I could never, like, narrow it down to that. I mean, obviously,
01:52you're in it, but still.
01:53Sure.
01:54Tell us about your role.
01:55So, I play the Duke of Munroth, sort of the villain of the piece. Not really the villain,
02:04but, you know, he's the villain. And he's been brought to the club by the club's owner
02:09and been promised the greatest courtesan in Paris, who is Satine. He sort of is the aristocrat
02:16who likes to live the nightlife, the darker side of Paris, and sort of enjoy himself. And
02:22his version of love that we find out is about ownership. It's about control. It's sort of
02:29how he approaches the club when after Satine sort of impresses him. He not only decides that
02:37he will own her, he decides to buy the club and make it his own as well so that he can control
02:43sort of the whole thing. It is an expanded role from the movie. If you do know the movie,
02:51some songs are a little different. But the character is a little more fleshed out. I think
02:56it's a better, it's a little better of a triangle. It gives him a little more, a little more agency,
03:02a little more to play with, I believe. And I enjoy what I get to play with within the show.
03:10Yeah. Was it fun to play the person who makes bad decisions, but not the villain?
03:16It was. It is. I've had a blast doing it. I actually, when I was in LA, I came with the show
03:24three years ago. And at the time I was in the ensemble and I covered Christian and the Duke.
03:29So I played both sides of the love triangle, actually made my Christian debut in LA.
03:33So Pantages holds a special, special spot in my heart. So getting to play the other side of that,
03:41getting to sort of be the foil to Christian's lovesick puppy and, and sort of be the one who
03:48comes into the show with the, the most power. It feels like he's the one that comes in
03:54with a sense of ownership and the sense of, he knows what's going to happen and how this is going
03:58to play out as whatever he wants will happen to losing that control in act two and fighting to
04:07claw it back from wherever he can. So it, it, it's a great arc. I think it's really fun.
04:13The songs are great. I mean, the Rolling, I have a Rolling Stones medley. I personally huge Rihanna fan.
04:20And I have Rihanna song. So it's a, it's a blast to play and to be a part of, and just the musical
04:28itself. I mean, to, to be a part of this production, which is just so massive. And then the storyline
04:34sort of, you know, it exists within this big, huge world. And this is actually this tiny little love
04:39story, but getting to be on, I have the best entrance I have ever had in a musical and one
04:45of the coolest ones I think that may ever exist. Um, and, uh, and, and so getting to experience
04:51that and getting to feel like the, the upper crust, uh, powerful person that this character
04:59is, uh, is just such a blast to do every night. So Andrew, it looks to me like there is a lot
05:07of physicality to this and it takes a lot of stamina. How do you train for it? Or what do
05:11you do, you know, in the day before you rehearse or whatever?
05:15Well, I, I lovingly call my track a princess track. Um, I, I have, I go out and do a scene
05:22and come back and sit in my dressing room for five minutes and go out and sing a song and
05:25come back for five minutes. The cast for this show though, I mean this, the choreography is,
05:30is so incredibly intense and the work that they put in the girls, we, they talk about the,
05:35the hardest part of the show, if you ask them is the can can, which happens at the very top
05:39of the show, the skirts that they dance with are about 12 pounds each. So they are, yeah,
05:45they're kicking their faces through all this with all this weight on them immediately. Um,
05:50many different training sessions. We travel PT with us. Um, people do yoga and Pilates and,
05:57you know, there's consistent, there are lifts throughout the show. So there's lots of gym
06:01time and, and me personally, just for maintenance, I run a lot. So it's been great being here in LA
06:08and running around the trails and getting out to Griffith park, which is right next to our hotel.
06:12So, um, we all sort of have our own things to, to sort of help and maintain, but it's been,
06:18um, doing eight shows a week and doing this every day and trying to maintain that health is
06:23paramount, uh, to, to what we have to do. Right. And do they give you like a gym or where you stay?
06:31In each, in each city, uh, the, the company provides some sort of gym access to, to a local
06:37gym, to whatever it may be. And then sometimes some of our members have, uh, connections or can
06:42talk to, to other gyms that are willing to sort of work with us and let us come in and work out.
06:47And, um, it's, it's been really great. They've, they've been really wonderful, um, about making
06:52sure just because, you know, for their own sake, we don't, we have quite a few swings and it is a very
06:57strenuous show. So they will pop in and help out whenever they can, but we want to try to keep
07:01the cast on stage as much as possible. Yeah, I bet. Um, what do you like about LA audiences
07:07compared to maybe some other cities? It's been so wild, uh, being here and getting to do this sort
07:13of three years ago to now, because three years ago we were masked. Everybody in the audience was
07:19masked. There was a response, but it didn't feel the way that it feels this time around. Um, the sort of
07:26the, the Pantage is just such an awesome theater and sort of fits this show so well with the art
07:31deco theme and the way it is designed. Um, and there's something about the echo in there coming
07:38from the audience to the stage that is so loud and overwhelming in such an amazing way. Um, the
07:45audiences have been fantastic so far. Every, everyone has been, um, you know, it is a lot of work doing
07:53this and consistently we are in year four of this tour. Some of us have been with it the whole time
07:58and then, you know, there's different varying things, but to be in LA, to be in the city that,
08:03um, you know, not only understands entertainment, but knows the movie, knows Baz, knows,
08:11you know, uh, knows theater and understands this. Like the reaction is so much more visceral. They're
08:16with us every step of the way. Um, getting the jokes, understanding the drama and following the
08:23songs, you know, and it's, it is a blast to be here. Do you ever see celebrities in the audience
08:29or do you, are you just in the zone and you don't even notice who's in there? Do you see them?
08:33Some people, some people do. Um, we do see the first few rows. Um, you can, you can generally get
08:41that reflection of the light off the stage, depending on what stage we're at too. Sometimes the audiences are
08:45really far away. Sometimes they are right next to us. Um, so you get a little more, uh, there is,
08:52there's a lot of, uh, we've, we've had some celebrities come through so far, um, that have
08:57been, that have been really nice and, and really welcoming. And it is a very fun thing to, to sort
09:03of have it backstage when somebody knows somebody's there and they'll all be, oh, this person's on,
09:07this person's in the house, this person in the house gives us a little bit of juice. Uh, but my
09:11favorite thing just in general, we have a, we have a monitor for our conductors too, because we
09:15sing backstage or we, you know, they, they also exist so that we can see them without staring down
09:20out in the, on the balcony. Um, and there's a bleed beyond the conductor where we can see
09:26generally the first couple of rows. And so I get to sit backstage for a lot of the numbers
09:31and watch the reactions to get to the end of the show and watch, you know, Satine's spoiler alert,
09:37death and, uh, Christian sort of going through this emotional turmoil and singing this final song
09:42of hope and love that he has for her and watching how it affects these couples and how it affects
09:47these people who, you know, sort of going through this emotion with him and, you know, maybe the
09:52tears and maybe the smiles and the, the reach over and grab of their partner's hand. And, you know,
09:57there's, that's, that's so special. Um, you know, something that is so exclusive to theater,
10:03you know, it's, it's very cool. And, you know, the industry out here, obviously very big in TV film.
10:08Um, but to have that immediate feedback from an audience, from a live, from people around to,
10:16to what we are doing, um, is, is just a feeding of the soul. That's just untouchable.
10:24That's amazing. So just in closing, what do you hope audiences leave with, you know,
10:30what do you hope they remember or feel like, or? I, you know, they did a great job of trying to make
10:35sure, you know, as the story is a bit of a tragedy, um, and that it, that it still lifts at
10:42the end and that we still, and we have our little encore to sort of bring back the mood and bring
10:47back the, and bring back that excitement and that energy. But generally I just want them to have a
10:52good time. I, I think, you know, a lot of what we're going through, uh, is so heavy and we are so
10:59aware, you know, thanks to, you know, the, the multiple new cycles and the way everything works.
11:03And we are so inundated with what's going on in the world, which is great to be kept up on those
11:07sort of things, but also the heaviness and the stress and those kinds of things that to come
11:12away and spend two and a half hours in a completely different place that is full of what we call the
11:18bohemian values of truth, beauty, freedom, and love. Um, getting to live there for just a little bit
11:25and escape, um, I think is just such an important part of life to, you know, to have that catharsis and,
11:31and get some things out before we go back out into the world.
11:34You're so right. That's always how I judge, um, a play or a musical. If I forget that I'm in a
11:40theater and I really did with this one for sure. So I highly recommend it. It's
11:45running through November 16th at the Pantages. And if you want to find out more or get tickets,
11:50you can go to broadwayinhollywood.com. Andrew, thank you so much.
11:53Andrew, thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Recommended
2:39
|
Up next
2:13
2:35
2:16
2:28
0:42
1:57
1:13
2:21
2:37
3:46
1:12
1:34
2:36
1:25
3:13
8:41
15:06
Be the first to comment