![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Robert-Petkoff-and-the-Company-of-the-2025-touring-production-of-22Moulin-Rouge-The-Musical.22-Photo.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Robert Petkoff and the Company of the 2025 touring production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n
Transforming the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center into a dazzling Parisian nightclub at the turn of the 20th century, where passion and spectacle collide, the Tony Award musical, based on Baz Luhrmann\u2019s beloved 2001 film,\u00a0\u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d blends a love story with a soundtrack of modern pop hits and invites audiences into a world where art and romance flourish against the odds. The first North American tour of the Broadway production premieres at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall on April 7 and runs through April 12, 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the lavish sets and costumes and high-energy numbers, \u2018Moulin Rouge! The Musical\u2019 is the perfect anchor to our 2025-2026 Fifth Third Bank Broadway Series,\u201d believes Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at FSW\u2019s General Manager Scott Saxon. \u201cAny show that wins 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, is a show we certainly want to present on our Broadway Series.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Enter a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur and glory, as noted in the official press release. \u201cA world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Pop the champagne and prepare for the spectacular.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kaitlin-Mesh-and-Danny-Burgos-in-the-2025-touring-production-of-22Moulin-Rouge-The-Musical.22-Photo-.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kaitlin Mesh and Danny Burgos in the 2025 touring production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n
Florida-native Actor Danny Burgos, who is from Miami and lives in New York City, portrays Santiago in the musical, and he sat down with Florida Weekly to share his experiences and reflections about the production.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your classic love story, you know? Boy likes girl, boy can\u2019t have girl because of a love triangle, the story ensues. And so, it\u2019s a very classic story that we all know and love,\u201d Burgos explained. \u201cIt\u2019s told in a time, 1899, that none of us have experienced, in a place that a lot of us have not experienced. So, it is a very new situation, but it\u2019s familiar enough that we all are kind of locked in, and then you add in songs by Beyonc\u00e9, songs by Sia, songs by Lady Gaga, and it\u2019s like, oh, okay, I know what to expect from this. And then we give you a final kicker that nobody expects, and I won\u2019t spoil the show, but it\u2019s worth watching.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d, the main storyteller is Christian. \u201cHe starts the show, he ends the show, he is the heart of the show,\u201d\n<\/p>\n
As in the film, \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d celebrates over 160 years of music \u2013 from Offenbach to Lady Gaga. The stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the movie and also includes recent hits released since the movie premiered 21 years ago, the official press release states.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first timer, someone who\u2019s never seen \u2018Moulin Rouge!\u2019, someone who is, like, new to musical theater, even, I like to call it a fever dream, and it\u2019s because at first, you don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going to happen. And then you start hearing pop music, and you\u2019re like, wait\u2026what,\u201d Burgos described. \u201cIt\u2019s minorly confusing, because I think people associate musical theater with new music, so when they start hearing pop music, it\u2019s like, wait, I know these things, and I think that\u2019s, like, the first hook into a musical. And then you start getting really invested in the story.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
For the person who has never seen Moulin Rouge, Burgos believes they will be most impacted by the performance of 72 pop hits. \u201cSo, 72 chart toppers, that are just coming at you, and at the end of Act 1, there is a big song called \u2018The Elephant Love Medley\u2019, and it\u2019s just packed full of songs, and the songs change, like, every three or four bars,\u201d he adds. \u201cSo, it\u2019s impressive, and I think it\u2019s very cool that people who like all styles of music can come to our show. You know, we have songs by the Rolling Stones, songs by the Beatles, we also have songs by Beyonc\u00e9, and songs by Lady Gaga. So, it\u2019s a wide variety of music being touched upon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tRobert Petkoff and the Company of the 2025 touring production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tJahi Kearse, Arianna Rosario, Andrew Brewer, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Robert Petkoff and Danny Burgos in the 2025 touring production of \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical.\u201d -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO A personal favorite number performed in the show for Burgos is one he is directly involved with \u2013 \u201cRoxanne.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite for the movie, for movie lovers, and for anybody highly anticipating, yes, \u2018Roxanne\u2019 (by the Police) is in the show, and they reinvented it a little bit, so in the movie it\u2019s sung by the Argentinian, which is me. I do not sing it in this version, but I do dance in it,\u201d Burgos said.\n<\/p>\n The top of \u201cRoxanne\u201d is well done, according to Burgos. \u201cWe transitioned from another song into \u2018Roxanne\u2019, and at the top of (the number), you just see me, Nini, my dance partner and Zidler in three specials,\u201d he describes. \u201cIt starts like in a very serious and very aggressive fashion, and then you just transition directly into our ensemble dancers doing some of the most impressive choreography I\u2019ve ever seen in my entire life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Outside of that choreography, a moment during the production other than the scene that would be a spoiler for the show is one that deeply touches Burgos.\n<\/p>\n Gabriela Carrillo as Satine and the Company of the 2026 North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n \u201cI am very moved by it. I think one of the moments that I really love in our show is a moment when Christian says to the Duke, because she doesn\u2019t love you,\u201d Burgos reflects. \u201cThere are some cities where the audience goes entirely quiet. There are some cities where it\u2019s just quiet, and it goes right over their heads. And there are some cities, and these are my favorite cities, where everyone gets surprised, and then everyone starts laughing because collectively you realize everyone was surprised.\u201d\n<\/p>\n For this role, he describes Santiago as sexy, a Tango dancer who is fiery, Latin and passionate; but also, someone who is very funny.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI try to key into all the comedic moments, like, all the moments where he can just drop the sexy bit and be a funny guy. And I think that kind of made me like the character a little bit more and let down a couple of my walls so that I can do the other parts of the character as well. But in my brain, Santiago is the funniest guy on stage,\u201d Burgos described. \u201cHe is just always down for a bit, always down for a fun little moment, and he also just happens to be deeply in love with Nini (played by Kaitlin Mesh), who is my dance partner on stage and the biggest gift that I could have ever received.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Being in tune physically with what other people are feeling, not just with Nini, but also with the characters Christian, Lautrec, and the Duke, Burgos says he finds that a physical embodiment of the character is more useful.\n<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of what Nini and I do is not intricate, but it is partner dancing. And anyone who does that type of dancing knows that being able to communicate verbally is one thing, but being able to just feel what that other person is feeling in the moment is such a very nuanced thing, and I\u2019m very glad that Kaitlin and I have been able to find that and explore that,\u201d he believes. \u201cI think that\u2019s another big part of my character.\u201d\n<\/p>\n This Broadway touring production is directed by Tony Award\u00ae winner Alex Timbers and with a book by Tony Award\u00ae winner John Logan, choreography by Tony Award\u00ae winner Sonya Tayeh and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Tony Award\u00ae winner Justin Levine.\n<\/p>\n Renee Marie Titus, Amara Berhan, Kaitlin Mesh and Rodney Thompson in the 2026 touring production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. -MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n The current North American tour cast is led by Gabriela Carrillo as \u201cSatine\u201d and Ryan Vasquez as \u201cChristian\u201d, and features Robert Petkoff as \u201cHarold Zidler\u201d, Andrew Brewer as \u201cThe Duke of Monroth\u201d, Jahi Kearse as \u201cToulouse-Lautrec\u201d, Danny Burgos as \u201cSantiago\u201d, Kaitlin Mesh as \u201cNini\u201d and Jerica Exum in the role of the \u201cSatine Alternate\u201d.\n<\/p>\n Saxon says that when curating a season, the Broadway season is considered as a whole.\u00a0\u201cWe feel it is important to demonstrate to Southwest Florida the breadth of shows that come to Broadway,\u201d he continues. \u201cWhether it is a big-budget spectacle or an intimate two-hander, we want our patrons to experience the best of what Broadway has to offer and still get to sleep in their own bed at night.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Only a handful of musicals in history have won 10 Tony Awards in their original run, Saxon added. \u201cWe feel that it is very important to give Southwest Florida audiences an opportunity to experience this show,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe glitz, glamour and excess of the turn of the century France make the show such an immersive experience. Something is happening on every portion of the stage- and you don\u2019t want to miss any of it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Burgos adds that he believes one reason this story is so wonderful to tell is that it just makes people believe in love again. \u201cIt makes people believe that, oh, wow, look at me, my jaded little heart, crying over this musical about love. It just inspires you, and I ask that people listen to that,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think it\u2019s surprising, and the reason people continue to love this show is that it surprises them. They surprise themselves, and then they say, wow that little piece of theater made me feel something. And it keeps them coming back because they want to feel something else, something new, something different.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Saxon hopes audiences depart feeling the musical\u2019s anthem: Truth, Beauty, Freedom and- above all- Love.\n<\/p>\n \u201cOur story is beautiful, and it is a love story, and I hope that you go out of there crying and believing in love again. But also, I just, like, hope that people believe in themselves again, because we\u2019re 32 people playing pretend on stage for fun, and it just happens to be our jobs,\u201d Burgos champions. \u201cChase your dream, make your dream your passion, make your passion your job one day, and then, you know, you\u2019ll be happy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Tickets for Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at FSW can\u00a0be purchased in person at the Box Office, by phone at 239-481-4849, or online at\u00a0BBMANNPAH.com<\/a>. \u201cMoulin Rouge! The Musical\u201d runs from April 7-12, 2026.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Robert-Petkoff-and-the-Company-of-the-2025-touring-production-of-22Moulin-Rouge-The-Musical22.-Photo.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-06-at-10.31.34-1024x680.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gabriela-Carrillo-as-Satine-and-the-Company-of-the-2026-North-American-tour-of-22Moulin-Rouge-The-Mu.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Renee-Marie-Titus-Amara-Berhan-Kaitlin-Mesh-and-Rodney-Thompson-in-the-2026-touring-production-of-22.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-06-at-10.31.34.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775510772_602_Robert-Petkoff-and-the-Company-of-the-2025-touring-production-of-22Moulin-Rouge-The-Musical.22-Photo.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n