Video: Andy Karl Is Living for the Spectacle of MOULIN ROUGE!

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee, Andy Carl, has returned to Broadway stepping back into the role of the Duke

in the hit musical Moulin Rouge, and I caught up with Andy here at The Hirschfeld

Well, first of all, welcome back to Broadway, my friend. Thank you so much. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge

I'm very welcome. How does it feel to be back? First of all, I love being on Broadway

but I love being on off-Broadway as well. I just finished teeth and shortly out

after, a week later I started rehearsals for Moonla Rouge, so I feel like I've been in the area

There's just so much creativity here, and this cast, I can't tell you how amazing they are

I do a lot of sitting and watching the show as my part as the Duke, and I watch the choreography

Sony's choreography is amazing. I'm back with Alex Timbers, who we did Rocky together years ago

and so it feels like it's family. I'm happy to be back. It's really amazing

I've seen the show three times before, and I saw the original cast, saw it along the way

and then saw it again right before I went into it. And you're immersed into it

and I feel the same way when I'm backstage. I'm immersed into this score

I'm immersed into all these costumes. Backstage, you know how on stage during the show

they try to make it look like it's a backstage area as they're performing this new show

And so it feels like a 360 version of that for me

So I never feel like I'm not on. Yeah. The Duke. What's his full name? How do you say his full name

Andre DeLacques, Benetchu, the Duke de Monroff. And yeah he a character I think it a perfect song that he has called Sympathy for the Duke which is Rolling Stone Sympathy for the Devil

Because he does operate in a way where I have a lot of sympathy for the Duke

because I have to, because if I'm playing him, I have to have empathy and sympathy for him and realize where he's coming from

He's a businessman, and he wants to get what he paid for

So I think he's brought into this show. into the Moulin Rouge under false pretenses to meet a woman

And it's flipped on him when he's told he's actually chosen to be someone who can be a beneficiary for the Moulin Rouge

Keep it running. And he's like, okay, you want to do business. Well, let me tell you how I do business

And he becomes this, the evil person of the show. So for me, it's sympathy because he just wants to do business

And when he's offered a business deal, of course, you're going to do a deal with the Duke

He's going to take you down a very interesting path of what he wants and not what you want

You know, he's sort of the villain of the piece. So what is it like living in those shoes and sort of playing the villain

It's fun, right? Yeah, I'm getting in my villain years, so a lot of facial hair and eyebrows, which I always had anyway

So it's a, like I said before, I really have empathy for this character

character because you have to think of how he got to where he is

Being an aristocrat brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth and

just looking for adventure but also he never was given an opportunity to care for

anybody below him So he cares not for the people that are you know need from him And he knows that everybody needs money from him So he wants you know payback

So I think it's, for me, it's never a question of saying, is he evil

It's just, he's just trying to do the deal. Yeah. How many rehearsals did you have

A few weeks, would you have? I had two weeks of rehearsal directly after teeth, which was another evil part

quote unquote. So, yeah, I think with this show, with the Duke in the first act

he does a lot of sitting and watching and pondering and seeing what he wants

So in a way, it's very relaxing by first act. But it is a matter of making sure that I eye all the things that the Duke wants

He wants a teen. He wants the club. He wants to see what he's investing in

And he wants to understand how he can take advantage of that. when the time comes. So I am as the Duke taking sight of everything, but also as Andy Carl

I am enjoying the hell out of this show while I watch it. So you get one put-in for those people

who don't know, you get to run the show before you go into it. What was your put-in like for

Moulin Rouge? I had, I was given all my costumes, all the lights, all the sets, all the

choreography, all the stage on a Friday. Go. I said, you know, I've done this stuff for a while

Well, maybe I can handle it, but it was a lot to get into because the Moulin Rouge is an immersive world

And there's, you know, the state, there's a part of the stage that comes over the audience

There's VIP seating here. You have to watch your step. And it gets very dark in some places So it was very quick very fast and furious and we skipped over certain parts and just got to some of my parts So then I had three days off and then on Tuesday it was

my first run of last week, and this is my second week. So it was sort of crossed my fingers

hope I don't mess up and do the best job that I can. People loved it that came to see me

but it wasn't until Wednesday night when Alex Timbers came to see the show where I knew I needed

to be at my best. And I wanted to do a good performance for him

because Alex and I have this history with Rocky and now and just over the years of knowing each other

There was something about, I just truly respected his vision and I wanted to do a good job for him. That was the first show

that I had where I thought, I nailed it. And so I'm going to continue to try to do that

for audiences for my brief run here. So what do you say to you afterwards

He said, he came up and he was very complimentary. And the thing that rang

in my head was he said, no notes. So I was like, all right, I did well, no notes

I loved that. Dialect, I didn't even ask. I just said no notes. And I ran with that

So finally, what are you loving the most about being back in this show, Mulan Rouge

I just truly love the spectacle of this show. I love the costumes

I love every bit of it. I love that it's a theatrical experience. It is, Mulan Rouge is sort of a play within a play

And it gives you that. essence of what it is to bring beauty to the stage, but also with my character, who's going to finance that

It's always a give and take and the push and pull of who's got the power. And being creative with that and telling that story is truly a beautiful theatrical experience

So I'm happy to be a part of it