Moulin Rouge! The Musical’s score runs from “Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!” to the encore “More More More!,” with “Your Song,” “Come What May,” “Elephant Love Medley” and “El Tango de Roxanne” along the way. Song by song, it follows Christian, a young songwriter newly arrived in 1899 Paris, and Satine, the star of the Moulin Rouge, through a love affair the club’s wealthy backer, the Duke of Monroth, is determined to end.
The musical adapts Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film, with a book by John Logan and direction by Alex Timbers, and it premiered in Boston in 2018 before officially opening at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 25, 2019 (Playbill). At the September 26, 2021 Tony Awards it won 10 prizes, including Best Musical, Best Direction for Timbers and Best Choreography for Sonya Tayeh (Playbill, AP News). It played its final Broadway performance on August 30, 2026, after 2,297 regular performances, leaving as the 36th-longest-running show in Broadway history, and it continues on a North American tour, in London’s West End and in productions around the world (Playbill, BroadwayWorld). Instead of an original score, it weaves more than 40 existing pop songs, from the 1940s to the 2010s, into new mash-ups (New York Theatre Guide).
What are the songs in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, in order?
This is the Broadway running order, checked against the original Broadway program as listed by Ovrtur and the original Broadway cast recording track list as covered by Ticketmaster UK and New York Theatre Guide. “Bohemian Ideas,” a short solo for Christian, is in the program but not on the album.
| Song | Sung by | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Act One | ||
| Welcome to the Moulin Rouge! | Zidler, Nini and the dancers, Christian, Toulouse-Lautrec, Santiago, company | The club, and everyone in it |
| Bohemian Ideas | Christian | A newcomer arrives in Paris |
| Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love | Christian, Toulouse-Lautrec, Santiago, company | The bohemian creed |
| The Sparkling Diamond | Satine, company | Satine’s grand entrance |
| Shut Up and Raise Your Glass | Satine, Christian, Toulouse-Lautrec, Santiago, company | A case of mistaken identity |
| Firework | Satine | Her hidden illness |
| Your Song | Christian, Satine | The first spark |
| So Exciting! (The Pitch Song) | Zidler, Toulouse-Lautrec, Christian, Santiago, Satine, the Duke | A show is invented on the spot |
| Sympathy for the Duke | The Duke, Satine, company | The price of his money |
| Nature Boy | Toulouse-Lautrec, Christian | Advice to fight for love |
| Elephant Love Medley | Christian, Satine, company | Satine gives in |
| Act Two | ||
| Backstage Romance | Santiago, Nini, company | Secret affairs in rehearsal |
| Come What May | Christian, Satine | Their private vow |
| Only Girl in a Material World | The Duke, Satine, company | The Duke’s offer |
| Chandelier | Christian, Zidler, Santiago, Toulouse-Lautrec, company | Heartbreak and absinthe |
| El Tango de Roxanne | Christian, company | Jealousy, as a tango |
| Crazy Rolling | Christian, Satine, company | Both at breaking point |
| Your Song (Reprise) | Satine, Christian, company | The truth on stage |
| Finale (Come What May) | Christian, company | The story he will tell |
| More More More! | Zidler, company | The encore |
Act One songs explained
Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!
Harold Zidler, the club’s owner and ringmaster, throws open the doors with “Lady Marmalade” and a dizzying mega-mix that borrows from songs including “Because We Can,” “Burning Down the House” and “Let’s Dance” (Ticketmaster UK). We meet the dancers, the bohemians in the cheap seats and the Duke of Monroth among the aristocrats. Zidler loves the artists, but he needs the Duke’s money, and that tension drives the whole show.
Bohemian Ideas
A brief solo in which Christian, newly arrived in Montmartre with little more than his talent, sets up who he is: a romantic who believes in love above everything. It is short, and it is not on the cast album, but it is in the Broadway program (Ovrtur).
Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love
Christian meets the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Argentine dancer Santiago, who need a songwriter for a show. They test him, he wins them over, and the three proclaim the bohemian ideals of the title through a mash-up of songs such as “Royals,” “Children of the Revolution” and “We Are Young” (Ticketmaster UK, New York Theatre Guide). Those four words return throughout the evening as a refrain.
The Sparkling Diamond
Satine makes her grand entrance. The number grows the film’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “Material Girl” medley with “Diamonds Are Forever,” Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” “Single Ladies” and more (New York Theatre Guide). It is glamour as a business plan: Satine is the club’s biggest asset, and she knows it.
Shut Up and Raise Your Glass
Christian finally gets to meet Satine, but she mistakes him for the Duke, who has paid for her company that night. For one happy dance-floor moment, set to “Shut Up and Dance” and “Raise Your Glass,” everyone celebrates before the mix-up comes to light (New York Theatre Guide).
Firework
Alone in her dressing room, Satine drops the act. The club is in debt, and she is hiding a worsening case of consumption from the other dancers. Katy Perry’s party anthem becomes a slow, aching power ballad in which she resolves to keep shining for the people who depend on her (Ticketmaster UK, New York Theatre Guide).
Your Song
In the show’s world, Christian wrote Elton John’s “Your Song,” and he sings it to Satine as a kind of audition. She is still preparing to seduce the man she thinks is the Duke, but as she joins in, the song turns into the first honest moment between them. Then the truth about who he is comes out.
So Exciting! (The Pitch Song)
When the real Duke walks in on Satine and Christian, the bohemians cover by pretending they are there to pitch him a show, and they invent the plot on the spot. It is one of the few songs adapted from original material in the film, and a farce in miniature. The Duke agrees to fund the show, on his terms.
Sympathy for the Duke
Alone with Satine, the Duke makes his terms plain. The number mashes up the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (New York Theatre Guide), and the title tells you who holds the power. Satine does not want him, but she needs his money to save the club.
Nature Boy
Toulouse-Lautrec tells Christian that he once loved Satine himself, years ago, and urges him not to let her go without a fight. He sings the 1948 standard “Nature Boy,” whose closing idea, that the greatest thing is to love and be loved, becomes the musical’s moral (Ticketmaster UK).
Elephant Love Medley
Christian goes back to Satine’s dressing room inside the club’s giant elephant and argues for love in other people’s songs; she argues back in more of them. The stage version packs 19 songs into about five minutes, up from 10 in the film (New York Theatre Guide). It is the funniest number in the show and the most romantic, and it closes Act One with Satine giving in.
Act Two songs explained
Backstage Romance
Rehearsals are under way, and Christian and Satine are not the only secret couple: Santiago and the dancer Nini are too. The company dances a tango-flavored medley built on “Bad Romance,” with “Tainted Love,” “Seven Nation Army,” “Toxic” and “Sweet Dreams” in the mix (Ticketmaster UK, New York Theatre Guide).
Come What May
Satine tells Christian the affair is too dangerous; if the Duke finds out, he could ruin the club. Christian answers by writing their secret vow into the show-within-the-show. “Come What May” is the original love song from the film (Ticketmaster UK), and here it becomes the couple’s private code.
Only Girl in a Material World
The Duke takes Satine along the Champs-Élysées and offers her a life of luxury, riffing on Rihanna’s “Only Girl (In the World)” and “Material Girl.” It ends in a pained return to “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”: she doesn’t want his love or his money, but she can’t refuse them (New York Theatre Guide).
Chandelier
The Duke realizes Satine has fallen for Christian and threatens to pull his funding. As she rushes to calm him, Christian’s friends try to make him forget her with absinthe, and he hallucinates her as the Green Fairy. Sia’s “Chandelier,” reshaped for the scene, becomes a drunken spiral (Ticketmaster UK, New York Theatre Guide).
El Tango de Roxanne
The Police’s “Roxanne” meets Mariano Mores’s tango “Tanguera” as Santiago and the dancers act out the story of a man who loves a woman who belongs to others (New York Theatre Guide). It is meant as a warning to Christian, and he pours all his jealousy into it. It is one of the show’s biggest dance numbers.
Crazy Rolling
On the night of the show’s premiere, Christian and Satine prepare separately, each at breaking point, in a mash-up of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” Satine gathers her strength for what may be her last performance, and Christian heads to the club in despair (New York Theatre Guide).
Your Song (Reprise)
In front of the audience, and the Duke, Satine shows Christian that she never stopped loving him by singing his song back to him. It becomes a duet, the two of them declaring their love on stage at last.
Finale (Come What May)
Their happiness is brief; Satine’s illness has run its course. Christian resolves to write their story down so it will never be forgotten, and he and his friends promise to live by truth, beauty, freedom and love. A snatch of “Lady Marmalade” reminds us the show at the Moulin Rouge goes on (Ticketmaster UK, New York Theatre Guide).
More More More!
The encore. The company comes back for one last high-energy medley of the night’s hits, led by Zidler, and sends the audience out dancing.
Want to play these songs yourself? Most of Moulin Rouge!’s mash-ups are built from pop songs with simple, repeating chord patterns, which is exactly why they stitch together so well. Learn the patterns and you can build your own medleys. Try Pianoforall.
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How is the stage score different from the film?
The film used hits like “Your Song,” “Roxanne” and “Material Girl”; the stage version keeps many of them and adds dozens of songs released after 2001, including “Bad Romance,” “Rolling in the Deep” and “Toxic” (New York Theatre Guide, Playbill).
If you love big, emotional scores, see our Phantom of the Opera songs explained guide, or our Rock of Ages songs explained for another jukebox show that has fun with its playlist. For more Paris and doomed romance, there’s always Les Misérables.
Sources: Playbill; Playbill (Tony Awards); AP News; Ovrtur; New York Theatre Guide; Ticketmaster UK.
Frequently asked questions
How many songs are in Moulin Rouge! The Musical?
The Broadway program lists 21 numbers, 11 in Act One and 10 in Act Two, counting the encore. Inside those numbers are more than 40 existing pop songs, many of them combined into mash-ups.
Does Moulin Rouge! The Musical have original songs?
Very few. “Come What May” and the pitch song “So Exciting!” come from original material written for the 2001 film. Nearly everything else is built from existing songs by artists such as Elton John, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Sia, Adele and the Rolling Stones.
Who wrote Moulin Rouge! The Musical?
John Logan wrote the book, adapting Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film, and Alex Timbers directed. The score is made of existing songs by many writers, arranged into the show’s mash-ups.
How many Tony Awards did Moulin Rouge! win?
Ten, at the September 26, 2021 ceremony, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Alex Timbers, Best Leading Actor for Aaron Tveit and Best Featured Actor for Danny Burstein.
Is Moulin Rouge! still on Broadway?
No. The Broadway production closed at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on August 30, 2026, after 2,297 regular performances. The show is still running on tour in North America, in the West End and in other productions worldwide.
What is the last song in Moulin Rouge! The Musical?
The story ends with “Finale (Come What May),” and the company then returns for the encore, “More More More!,” a medley of the show’s biggest numbers.
