Interview: Nick Rashad Burroughs Talks MOULIN ROUGE! at Murat Theatre

Read our review with Nick Rashad Burroughs, who is currently portraying Toulouse-Lautrec in MOULIN ROUGE! at Murat Theatre.

1. Toulouse-Lautrec is such an iconic figure in both history and the world of Moulin Rouge. How do you approach capturing his artistic spirit and physicality on stage each night?

I find a lot of similarities to Toulouse-Lautrec in myself as an artists. He has always had such a deep pride and honor of community through his art, and that’s something I strive to do in my life as an artist, so it’s fun to get to express such a strong art figure like that every night on stage. 

2. What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects of playing Toulouse-Lautrec in this production, and how have you made the role uniquely your own?

One of the rewarding things about playing Toulouse-Lautrec is getting to sing “Nature Boy” on stage every night. It’s such a beloved song but such a heart breaking moment for Lautrec in that moment in the show. The role calls for you to be very vulnerable, so I try bringing as much of my actual self to him as possible. 

3. Toulouse-Lautrec’s relationship with Christian and Satine is central to the story. How do you convey the depth of those connections to the audience?

It definitely makes it a lot easier when you’re working along such great performers and human beings like I’m blessed to work with in this company. I try to take the story of there relationships and recreate the depth of relationships similar in my life to help really connect with what the story needs from us on stage. 

4. Moulin Rouge! is a vibrant, modern adaptation of a timeless story. How do you think the character of Toulouse-Lautrec resonates with today’s audiences?

Toulouse relates with audiences by showing pride in truth, freedom, beauty, and love. I think an artful figure who stood by those values then resonates even more to audiences now.

5. Can you share a memorable backstage moment or rehearsal story that helped shape your performance or deepened your connection to the cast?

Christian Douglas who plays Christian in the show and I realized we had in common that we were both in the show Kinky Boots at different time playing Charlie & Lola in the show, not exactly the same but has a lot of similarities to Christian and Toulouse's relationship. We quickly bonded over that in rehearsal together which made the relationship of Christian & Toulouse much easy to find.

Nick Rashad Burroughs - Broadway: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Ike Turner, OBC), Kinky Boots, King Kong. First National Tour of Something Rotten!, making history as the first Black man to play the role of “Shakespeare.” Pop Smash Radio Music Award Winner for his album Groove Machine. Broadway World Award Winner for Jesus Christ Superstar (as Judas).