"Moulin Rouge!” fans are probably already familiar with the four Bohemian ideals: truth, beauty, freedom and love. Those pillars of Bohemian identity fuel both the pop music-infused chaos of Baz Luhrmann’s original 2001 film and its Tony-winning stage adaptation that first hit Broadway in 2019.
“In the show, you can always connect to one of them,” said Chloe Rae Kehm, a West Allegheny High School alumnus and ensemble member appearing in the North American touring production of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.”
The Bohemian ideal Kehm most often gravitates toward is love, which includes her unwavering “love of Pittsburgh.” She’ll be one of a few cast members making their triumphant returns to the Steel City later this week when “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” officially kicks off the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 2023-24 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season.
This spectacular (spectacular) romance set in turn-of-the-20th-century Paris runs from Wednesday through Oct. 8. at Downtown’s Benedum Center, with tickets available via trustarts.org. Its Pittsburgh contingent also includes Mt. Lebanon native Max Heitmann, who plays drag performer Baby Doll, and Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Gabrielle McClinton, who will take over the lead role of ailing cabaret singer Satine beginning Wednesday night at the Benedum.
The Post-Gazette recently caught up with all three actors to talk about their respective journeys and everything they expect will leave “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” audiences dumb with wonderment.
‘She lives inside of me’
McClinton is a Los Angeles native whose entertainment career has consisted of sporadic screen work and more consistent stage opportunities both on and off Broadway. She originated the role of Angelina Baker in the 2022 Broadway musical “Paradise Square,” understudied fellow CMU alumnus and eventual Tony winner Patina Miller as the Leading Player in the 2013 Broadway revival of “Pippin,” and toured nationally in the early 2010s as Whatsername in “American Idiot.”
None of that would’ve happened, though, if McClinton hadn’t been able to acquire her Actors’ Equity card at age 18 by performing in Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera shows at the Benedum while attending CMU’s School of Drama. Count McClinton among the many School of Drama alumni who warn that it feels like you’re going “through a war when you go through that program,” but also believe its rigorous nature proved instrumental in preparing students to “thrive in this industry.”
“I feel that I received incredible training,” McClinton said. “I feel that the teachers there were super old-school and really rooted in the craft. They really train you to be the best actor you can be.”
Though her audition for the original Broadway cast of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” didn’t end up going her way, everything worked out for McClinton when she was tapped years later to be a Satine alternate for the national tour. It’s a role that earned Nicole Kidman her first Oscar nomination and one that McClinton is excited to embody on a full-time basis and in “my most authentic Gabby way.”
“She lives inside of me on a deep level,” McClinton said. “There are so many similarities in being a performer, the struggle, the pressure. I think she’s so relatable, and as I go through the script ... I find I’m really putting myself in her shoes and bringing myself to that time period.”
She can’t wait for Pittsburgh audiences to check out “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” especially the “epic love” story between her character and struggling writer Christian (Christian Douglas). McClinton always looks forward to when the show “feels like a party” during Act One’s “Elephant Love Medley" that includes recognizable music ranging from the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” to the Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston classic “I Will Always Love You.”
“It allows for the audience to escape,” she said. “When you come to ‘Moulin Rouge!,’ you come into this world. If you’re open to it, you’ll be transported into a whole different experience.”
’Fully obsessed’
Come what may, Kehm was going to find her way into “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.”
The Western Pennsylvania native’s first time performing on the Benedum stage was the night in 2017 when she won a Gene Kelly Award for her turn as the titular character in West Allegheny’s production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” She went on to attend Point Park University for two years before dropping out to pursue an acting career in New York City. Like McClinton, Kehm got her Equity card after earning spots in five Pittsburgh CLO productions.
Kehm had been “fully obsessed” with “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” since its inaugural 2018 run in Boston. She After four years of auditioning, Kehm finally landed a part in the tour’s ensemble and an occasional role as Baby Doll.
“I will, and I have to be in this show,” Kehm remembered telling herself. “When I booked this everyone was like, ‘Chloe, you worked so specifically and manifested this show more than anyone I’ve ever seen.’”
For Kehm, “Moulin Rouge!” is the rare musical that allows its company’s ensemble ”to freakin’ dance their hearts out and show what a dancer can do.” That includes everything from a full can-can sequence to the more sultry choreography accompanying Satine’s famous “Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend” entrance to movements playing off Christian’s voice during "El Tango de Roxanne.” That all adds up to “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” dancers generally being “deceased after every show,” as Kehm put it.
Ultimately, Kehm sees “Moulin Rouge!” as a “celebration of artists and surviving through this form” that Pittsburghers will likely appreciate seeing in “an amazing Cultural District where theater is celebrated and known.”
“Within the first number, you have a confetti canon blasted in your face,” she added. “How can you not love that?”
‘So welcoming’
“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is Kehm’s second traveling Broadway production after touring with “The Prom” a few years ago. Not only is “Moulin Rouge!” Heitmann’s first time on the road with a national tour, but Wednesday will also mark his Pittsburgh stage debut.
The 22-year-old only lived in Mt. Lebanon for two years, though he still frequently visits his family here. Heitmann spent most of his formative years in Southeastern Pennsylvania and solidified his passion for singing and stage acting at Lancaster’s Fulton Theatre. He graduated from New York University in May and feels “insanely lucky” that he managed to book the first audition he went on following his four years there.
Heitmann’s Baby Doll is a drag performer reveling in all the Moulin Rouge has to offer while also “living with so much fear” over what would happen to someone like them without a space in which “authenticity and uniqueness of everyone is so celebrated.” He always enjoys seeing the audience’s reactions when the curtain goes up and the four Lady Ms start belting out Patti LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.”
“It’s so fun to feel celebrated for gayness and fluidity,” Heitmann said. “That’s my favorite thing about Baby Doll, but really the show in general.”
For Heitmann, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is the kind of show that’s “so welcoming to all kinds of people” — including non-musical theater nerds, thanks to its cavalcade of beloved pop tunes.
“We’re singing Beyoncé,” he quipped. “Everybody’s going to love it.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: September 25, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: September 25, 2023, 3:23 p.m.
