Nicole Kidman sings....!

There seems to be a resurgence of musicals lately...Rock of Ages (starring Tom Cruise) got me to thinking  about Nicole Kidman, (the former Mrs. Tom Cruise) and the musical she was in, Moulin Rouge (2001). I remember seeing this movie when it played in theaters and being struck by how pretty Nicole's singing voice was, along with her co-star's, Ewan McGregor. I liked the music so much that I picked up the soundtrack not long after. I will admit the movie probably isn't for everybody...the first half hour seems rather crazy and confusing while the various characters are introduced and watching them break into song seems a little odd at first. The movie then settles down into a more conventionally told storyline though and the songs serve their storytelling purposes very well.


There are some interesting cover versions of songs including Lady Marmalade and a re-worked version of  The Police's Roxanne (re-named El tango de Roxanne) and Ewan McGregor singing Elton John's Your Song. There are also some original songs sung by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, including a very pretty song called One Day I'll Fly Away (sung by Nicole) and Come What May (sung by both Nicole and Ewan), the big "love song" of the movie; I've always been surprised that it wasn't released as a single because I think it would have been a hit. If you were watching Dancing With The Stars last week, you heard Placido Domingo and Katherine Jenkins sing a cover of this. Although they both have beautiful voices I honestly thought Nicole and Ewan's version was much better. The soundtrack opens and closes with haunting cover versions of Nature Boy done by David Bowie and Massive Attack, respectively.

I think I played this almost daily for nearly two years straight, and then.....like my other musical obsessions, I slowly moved on to something else, only to return to this when something triggered my memory.


GingerMusicKid