“Since you can can can!” is the hedonistic rallying cry of Parisian membership proprietor Harold Zidler on the outset of Broadway’s adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s celebrated 2001 movie Moulin Rouge!. And thru July 16 on the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in Manhattan, Joanna “JoJo” Levesque is presently proving she can can can soar in a luxurious main musical regardless of no earlier credit on the Homosexual White Manner.
Sure, experiencing JoJo in Moulin Rouge! The Musical includes a number of moments of processing that the Satine in entrance of you is identical one that, at age of 13 in 2004, earned a No. 1 on Pop Airplay with the punchy “Go away (Get Out).” However that biographical tidbit rapidly fades as you lose your self in Satine’s journey as she sheds her performative defend and embraces love, dying and every thing in between.
It’s a triumphant transformation that Levesque subtly reveals by way of shifting reactions to the world round her — whereas, naturally, displaying off her substantial vocal vary and a nuanced potential to interpret hit songs from different artists. It’s such a convincing sublimation of her pop star identification that my companion on the Hirschfeld, regardless of a number of assurances, refused to imagine it was THAT JoJo on stage in entrance of us and never a Broadway professional (finally, she was satisfied, and cried on the finish of the play).
In fact, casting a identified pop, movie or TV star in a Broadway play is nothing new — and these days, it’s been a boon for theatrical field places of work as they recuperate from the pandemic. Earlier this yr, two-time Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon pulled in packed, enthusiastic audiences for Chicago as Mama Morton. However hardly ever do outsiders make their Broadway debut enjoying the lead position in a musical, which makes JoJo’s 14-week run as Satine much more spectacular – and a glowing diamond of a delight on Broadway.
Earlier than we discuss concerning the play, I need to ask about your preliminary response to the film when it got here out in 2001.
Obsessed. Baz Luhrmann is one among my favourite filmmakers. I really like the vitality, the heartbeat you may really feel throbbing in all of his work. Nicole Kidman simply shattered me with Satine. I used to be like 10 years previous when it got here out, however I revisit it time and time once more as a result of it’s so scrumptious. I noticed the Moulin Rouge! The Musical when it opened in L.A. on the Pantages [in 2021], and I went again and rewatched the film once more I used to be like, “Ugh, it’s so good!” I’m completely in love with the Baz stuff.
Once you auditioned for the position of Satine on Broadway, how did you are feeling? Have been you assured about what you delivered?
I workshopped with the producers and director and I knew that I had ready as a lot as I probably may have. I walked away feeling, “If I don’t get it, I can be ok with the work I did going into it.” And that’s what I’m seeking to really feel at this level in my life on the whole: I laid all of it on the market and are available what could. However I hoped that it could work out, and when it did, I used to be so relieved. I actually needed the chance to make use of all of the various things I really like that I’ve been engaged on since I used to be slightly woman directly: Singing, appearing, performing. That is the right alternative for that.
As you rehearsed and ready for the position, what was the toughest half for you?
The fast costume adjustments backstage are probably the most difficult elements. A number of the adjustments are 25 seconds and there’s wig adjustments, shoe adjustments. That pressured me out slightly bit as a result of I didn’t need to throw anyone else off – not hit a mark and set the entire present again. However I realized. There’s an entire squad of people who find themselves there to assist all of it transfer seamlessly. And that’s my favourite a part of musical theater, the neighborhood side of it – we’re all components on this dwelling, respiration organism.
Twice within the musical you descend from the ceiling on a swing. Is that terrifying?
I’ve a security harness. Typically I don’t click on it precisely proper and it will get caught, and that offers me slightly nervousness. However being up within the air is okay. It’s enjoyable. I don’t love curler coasters, but it surely’s the right dose of a curler coaster. It units my character up for the viewers to grasp who she is on the Moulin Rouge. And it helps me get into character, actually, coming down from the ceiling. JoJo hasn’t finished that earlier than, however Satine does. That makes me really feel higher. I’m not myself, I’m not Joanna; I’m embodying Satine.
Evan Zimmerman
What’s your favourite tune to carry out every night time?
I really like doing “Elephant Love Medley” with Derek [Klena]. It’s such a cute second of him making an attempt to win her over and her being like, “You don’t perceive what life is definitely like, bro. You’re loopy.” However there’s one thing charming about his purity and the way he has not been wounded by life the way in which she has. I really like that second. It’s once they’re actually falling in love and when she decides she’s going to comply with her coronary heart for as soon as versus making an attempt to do what she must do to outlive.
The following time you hit the stage as you, do you assume you would possibly incorporate among the Moulin Rouge! The Musical stuff?
I’ve a competition efficiency arising Might 6 for Lovers & Pals in Las Vegas, whereas I’m doing this [Broadway run]. It has knowledgeable that. I’ve a pair concepts I’m going to deliver into my set in Vegas. I feel that is making me a extra well-rounded performer, attending to play with completely different individuals each night time, generally two instances a day. I really like that repetition and discovering freedom inside it. And doing your individual play on different individuals’s songs is a deal with.
What have you ever realized about your self doing this?
I realized how a lot I used to be craving for some side of neighborhood that I haven’t had in my life earlier than. I began so younger as a solo artist and I’m an solely youngster. I nonetheless had that sense of being an outsider, the odd woman out, and I used to be bullied in center college. I used to be like, “Will I be embraced?” I did have these fears. And to let myself be weak and be open, let individuals know my coronary heart and get to know different individuals’s hearts, that’s been a pleasant expertise. And [I learned] how one can tempo myself. When you’re doing 7-8 exhibits every week, you must learn to handle your instrument, your physique, every thing.
What informs your portrayal of Satine?
I need to at all times take into account how troublesome her life has been. The truth that she is performing most of her life, whether or not it’s on the streets or for males or on the Moulin Rouge, she doesn’t actually get a second to let her guard down. There was a time in my life the place that was very a lot the reality for me. I didn’t even know how one can be sincere; I didn’t even know how one can get in contact with myself. I’m nonetheless looking for essentially the most genuine model of myself.
Do you need to do extra appearing on Broadway?
I like it right here. I really like doing stuff like this. In the event that they’ll have me, I’ll be right here. I’d like to originate a job, I’d like to be a part of writing the music for unique exhibits. To be part of this has been a spotlight of my life. I really feel like I’m rising, I’m studying, and that’s what makes me comfortable: to be the place these wonderful performers are and the place we’re stretching and rising. I may undoubtedly see extra of it.
