Latest news with #BazLuhrmann
Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
£300 to see Elvis perform live? This immersive show is not worth a tenth of the price
The King of Rock 'n' Roll is hardly an underexploited figure when it comes to depictions of his life and music, most recently in Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster biopic. Still, when the production company Layered Reality announced that they would be putting on a 'brand new interactive experience' at the Excel Centre in London with Elvis at its heart, it was suggested that cutting-edge AI and holographic imagery would allow excited audiences to get up close and personal with the Memphis hip-thruster himself as never before. However, if audiences have been expecting Abba Voyage-esque technical wizardry, they are likely to be disappointed. I was unable to discern any sign of hologram effects in this show. Instead, all you get is a limp assembly of video, actors, a live band and indifferently recreated sets, at high prices. The central conceit, if that's not too grandiose a term, is that the audience has been corralled at short notice for a recreation of Elvis's 1968 comeback special, when he performed live on NBC. This was once rumoured to be the centrepiece of the performance – Elvis resurrected via the latest in AI and three-dimensional video – but this has not quite taken place. Instead, spectators are firstly shown an indifferent recreation of an NBC studio backstage, which might as well be labelled 'selfie opportunity'; there is no information about anything, just influencer-bait. The room comes festooned with large, cheap-looking boxes with memorabilia of mugs and key rings. It is not clear if this is a satire on the mass merchandising of Elvis, or simply gift shop memorabilia that has been left out too long. Then the show begins proper, as an actor playing Elvis's childhood friend Sam Bell leads the audience through a sanitised, tedious account of Presley's coming-of-age in rural Mississippi, described in the clichéd script as 'the only place in the country that you can hear the music come from soul and yearning.' After an interval, complete with opportunities to buy blue-tinted cocktails in a themed bar, it's straight into an underwhelming partial recreation of the 1968 special, complete with three musicians and Elvis videos that you can probably find mostly on YouTube. All of this starts at £75 a ticket; if you want the 'If I Can Dream' Super VIP package, it will set you back £300. It is not worth a tenth of the price. Although there are hundreds of people credited for Elvis Evolution, from a revolving cast of actors to two separate live bands to the technological types responsible for what little pizzazz there is, the overall impression is of something rushed and cheap, flung together once the approval of the Presley estate had been obtained, and designed to appeal to only the most committed super-fans. As I fled through the gift shop, looking suspiciously at the £35 T-shirts around me, the words 'we're caught in a trap' most certainly came to mind. At the end, we are solemnly informed, 'None of us knew this at the time, but [Elvis's] death wasn't the end of his music.' If this underwhelming show is to be the King's epitaph, he may have wished the whole industry died with him in 1977.
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Paris rejoices as Moulin Rouge windmill sails turn again year after collapse
The sails of the red-painted windmill on top of the Moulin Rouge, the most celebrated cabaret in Paris, have begun turning again, restoring the home of French can-can to its full glory more than a year after they tumbled inelegantly to the ground. In a profusion of red feathers, members of the Montmartre institution's 90-strong troupe performed its signature dance on the road outside to mark the occasion on Thursday night, after the second of two daily performances that draw 600,000 visitors a year. The 12-metre sails collapsed in April last year after a mechanical failure, injuring no one but sparking an outpouring of emotion including from the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who called the cabaret a vital part of the capital's cultural heritage. 'The sails have always turned at the Moulin Rouge, so we had to restore this Parisian symbol to Paris, to France, and to the state it was in before,' said Jean-Victor Clérico, the cabaret's managing director. The sails will now rotate daily from 4pm to 2am. 'The whole troupe is very happy to find our sails again – these are the sails of Paris,' said Cyrielle, one of the 60 dancers who took part in the street celebration, which was illuminated by a specially commissioned firework display. Founded in 1889, the Moulin Rouge became a global symbol of fin-de-siècle Parisian nightlife, its famed can-can dancers depicted in paintings by artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. An eponymous 2001 film by Baz Luhrmann cemented its present-day appeal. The French can-can is believed to have evolved from the final figure of a dance for couples known as the quadrille. It caused considerable scandal when it first became popular as a cabaret act mainly because of its intentionally revealing high kicks. Performed by a line of female dancers, the dance, devised in the early 1920s by Pierre Sandrini, then artistic director of the Moulin Rouge, revolves around the 'vigorous manipulation of skirts and petticoats, high kicks, jump splits and cartwheels'. After their collapse, new aluminium sails were ready in time for the Paris Olympics last July, but it has taken almost a year to build and fit a new electric motor ready to turn them and power the hundreds of red and gold bulbs that stud the display.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Paris rejoices as Moulin Rouge windmill sails turn again year after collapse
The sails of the red-painted windmill on top of the Moulin Rouge, the most celebrated cabaret in Paris, have begun turning again, restoring the home of French can-can to its full glory more than a year after they tumbled inelegantly to the ground. In a profusion of red feathers, members of the Montmartre institution's 90-strong troupe performed its signature dance on the road outside to mark the occasion on Thursday night, after the second of two daily performances that draw 600,000 visitors a year. The 12-metre sails collapsed in April last year after a mechanical failure, injuring no one but sparking an outpouring of emotion including from the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who called the cabaret a vital part of the capital's cultural heritage. 'The sails have always turned at the Moulin Rouge, so we had to restore this Parisian symbol to Paris, to France, and to the state it was in before,' said Jean-Victor Clérico, the cabaret's managing director. The sails will now rotate daily from 4pm to 2am. 'The whole troupe is very happy to find our sails again – these are the sails of Paris,' said Cyrielle, one of the 60 dancers who took part in the street celebration, which was illuminated by a specially commissioned firework display. Founded in 1889, the Moulin Rouge became a global symbol of fin-de-siècle Parisian nightlife, its famed can-can dancers depicted in paintings by artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. An eponymous 2001 film by Baz Luhrmann cemented its present-day appeal. The French can-can is believed to have evolved from the final figure of a dance for couples known as the quadrille. It caused considerable scandal when it first became popular as a cabaret act mainly because of its intentionally revealing high kicks. Performed by a line of female dancers, the dance, devised in the early 1920s by Pierre Sandrini, then artistic director of the Moulin Rouge, revolves around the 'vigorous manipulation of skirts and petticoats, high kicks, jump splits and cartwheels'. After their collapse, new aluminium sails were ready in time for the Paris Olympics last July, but it has taken almost a year to build and fit a new electric motor ready to turn them and power the hundreds of red and gold bulbs that stud the display.
Euronews
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Can-can celebrations as iconic Moulin Rouge windmills turn again
The windmills of the Moulin Rouge, one of France's most famous landmarks, are turning again after they accidentally collapsed last year. In a ceremony befitting of the extravagant cabaret, a troupe stopped traffic on Thursday night by performing the can-can outside the Parisian venue to celebrate the machine being back in motion thanks to a new electric motor. The windmill huge sails crashed suddenly and inexplicably to the ground in April 2024 as a result of what its director described as a 'technical problem'. Part of the iconic illuminated sign also dropped. No one was hurt in the accident and shows continued as damage was quickly repaired to ensure the venue was picture perfect before the Olympic torch relay passed through the surrounding Montmarte neighbourhood. The windmill was first illuminated on October 6, 1889 at the opening of the Moulin Rouge. The cabaret marked its 135th anniversary last year and was celebrated in the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film musical starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The only serious accident in the Moulin Rouge's history was a fire that occurred during building works in 1915, which led to the venue's closure for nine years.
Bangkok Post
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Bangkok Post
Moulin Rouge windmill twirls again 14 months after accident
PARIS - Hundreds of people gathered outside the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris on Thursday to see its famed blades start turning again, 14 months after they tumbled to the ground. Dancers performed the institution's famed cancan in the street to mark the occasion, while fireworks were set off from the roof of the club that says it attracts some 600,000 visitors each year. The venue -- immortalised by painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and catapulted back into the spotlight by Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film -- woke up in April 2024 without its trademark 12-metre wings. A failure in the central axis was blamed for the accident, which stunned locals and visitors alike. New aluminium blades were ready for the Paris Olympics last July, but it has taken time to get its electric motor ready to spin the sails and power hundreds of red and gold bulbs that stud the display. "The sails have always turned at the Moulin Rouge, so we had to restore this Parisian symbol to Paris, to France, and to the state it was in before," said Jean-Victor Clerico, the cabaret's managing director.
