Moulin Rouge star Keoma Aidhen hopes for successful swing entrance

“As Princess Jasmine in Aladdin, I floated across the stage on a flying carpet every night,” laughs 31-year-old Aidhen. “But as Satine, I sit on a little swing every night and come down singing. It’s the most spectacular entrance you can have as a musical actress, I think. But it’s still exciting every night – it’s a really small swing.”

The actress from Assen also notices that there is a buzz around the show, based on the famous film from 2001. The Broadway version was awarded ten Tony Awards. Just like in New York, the Beatrixtheater in Utrecht was also converted into the famous Parisian nightclub where the story takes place. “That decor, which covers the entire hall, also makes the play different for us,” Aidhen explains. “Normally, during the performance, you look into a black hall with a few faces. Now the entire club is around us, so beautiful and detailed that you actually feel like you are in Paris. That makes it so much easier to empathize with the play.”

The Dutch actors were guided by the American team that made the original Moulin Rouge! “Still, we were given quite a bit of space to give our own interpretation to the piece and the characters,” the actress says enthusiastically. “We do sing all the songs in English. But the dialogues have quite a Dutch touch. Especially a sense of humor is something that can differ a lot per country. In the end, there are quite a lot of jokes and winks that only the Dutch audience will understand in this way.”

Moulin Rouge! can be seen from Wednesday to Sunday in the Beatrixtheater. There is also a matinee on weekends.