Moulin Rouge's Aaron Tveit Reacts to Cats Trailer: 'The Thing I Was Struck By Was Their Size'
Moulin Rouge! The Musical star Aaron Tveit has another Broadway musical on his mind.
The Gossip Girl alum, who previously worked with director Tom Hooper on the film adaption of Les Misérables, says he’s looking forward to seeing Hooper’s new film, Cats — despite the polarizing response to it on Twitter.
“I’m really excited to see Cats again,” Tevit tells PEOPLE. “I saw the trailer the other day and the thing that’s always difficult, and it’s the same thing with our adaptation — when you’re taking something from screen to stage or stage to screen, the only way it works is if you find a way to tell the story that works for the media.”
He continues, “So again, the way that they’ve shot Cats, the way that their characters live in that world — the thing I was struck by was their size compared to the world. I mean, there are things like that that you have to find a way to tell the story. And it looks like they’ve done that.”
Since the Cats trailer dropped on July 18, the movie musical has sparked a lot of online conversation with Twitter users calling early footage “terrifying” and “scary.”
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“I mean, that’s going to happen with anything,” the former Grease Live star said. “I just think that hopefully, they’re not paying attention to that, because I think it was great.”
Moulin Rouge! is currently dazzling New York audiences from its new home on Broadway.
“It’s exciting,” Tveit — who takes on the lead role as Christian, the struggling musician who falls for the alluring Satine — says of moving the show’s original Boston production to its new home. “The Hirschfeld in New York is so intimate. But I like that because even though the show is very presentational, you feel like you can kind of be a little more naturalistic as you would kind of on-camera a little bit.”
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The former Next to Normal actor and his leading costar, Tony winner Karen Olivo, who plays Satine, join an ensemble cast of 30 stage talents who bring Baz Luhrmann’s beloved film to life. And keeping with the jukebox theme of the movie, which features famous songs such as “Roxanne” to “Your Song” and “The Sound of Music,” the theater adaption dusts off the film’s 2001 catalogue and updates it with recent hits such as Beyonce‘s “Single Ladies,” Fun’s “We Are Young,” and Lady Gaga‘s “Bad Romance.”
“I really get to sing some incredible incredible music,” Tveit says of his many arrangements, which include several of the movie’s original numbers such as “Come What May” and the “Elephant Love Medley.”
He continues, “Just as a viewer, I’m kind of standing in the wings waiting to enter for our scene and sing ‘Your Song’ while Karen is singing ‘Firework’ (by Katy Perry) and I kind of get to watch and listen to that every day. And that’s just absolutely spectacular.”
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is now playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
