Moulin Rouge opened on Broadway in July 2019 and received 14 Tony Award nominations this year,including the coveted Best Musical nomination. When it opens next year in Melbourne it will be 20 years since Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s movie of the same name premiered. Melbourne is also likely to be the only city in the world staging the show at that time with London’s West End not reopening until the European winter and many speculate Broadway won’t be fully lit until 2022.
Pavlovic said it would give a welcome boost to the Victorian economy while also giving work to 128 cast,crew and production staff. US creative directors will quarantine in Australia before holding the auditions and,in a shift from common practice,they are casting a wide net for talent. Artists don’t even need an agent to audition for one of the 34 roles in the show.
"The show relies on a variety of people of various shapes,colours,sizes,backgrounds,ages,talents and skills to reflect the very nature of Moulin Rouge,"she said.
"This has been an important part of casting from the outset and has provoked a lot of conversation in the way we’re honouring current debate and thinking.