Roughly twenty years ago, I bought a CD entitled Something for Everybody.  A production of Bazmark - the company founded by visionary Australian filmmaker, Baz Luhrmann; and his wife, 4-time Oscar winning designer, Catherine Martin - featuring a peculiar mix of music from Luhrmann’s production of La bohème for Opera Australia (1990), and his films Strictly Ballroom (1992), and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996); the CD’s lead single was the spoken-word song “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” played over the music from Luhrmann’s remix of Rozalla’s hit song “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good).”  [Bit o’ trivia: Widely thought to be a commencement address given by Kurt Vonnegut at MIT; the verbiage was, in actuality, an essay (in the form of a hypothetical commencement address) written in 1997, by columnist Mary Schmich, of the Chicago Tribune.]

A compilation that included songs ranging from Doris Day’s “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps,” to the haunting choral version of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” sung by fourteen year old Quindon Tarver?  Uh… Yes, please!  But, you might be asking, what does this have to do with the cost of tea in China (or in the Chinatown Mall, on Spring Mountain Road, for that matter)?

Well, since you asked, I was reminded of Something for Everybody, when I went to see BAZ: A Musical Mash-Up, at Palazzo Las Vegas.  Described as a celebratory “mash-up of music and moments from the greatest love stories, imagined by famed director Baz Luhrmann,” BAZ weaves together the love-stories of his three most recent cinematic musical spectacles – William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001), and The Great Gatsby (2013) – into a coherent narrative that maintains the excitement of his films, in a live, cabaret setting.

BAZ is a high energy show with all of your favorite musical numbers from an inimitable auteur whose audacious filmmaking, combined with his partner’s lush production design and wardrobe, has become synonymous with cinematic spectacles that delight both aurally and visually.  It’s this pairing, of some of Western civilizations most beloved tales of love, with songs from our contemporary pop-culture lexicon (think: Elton John’s “Your Song” in Moulin Rouge!, or Roxy Music’s “Love is the Drug” in The Great Gatsby) that really drives this home.

Full of attractive twentysomethings, the energy level is cranked-up, with dynamic choreography and creative costuming.  The company’s strongest voices are those of Ruby Lewis as Daisy Buchanan ("The Great Gatsby"), the emcee (i.e. Moulin Rouge owner, Harold Zidler), and the duo portraying Romeo and Juliet.  The latter of these, especially, gave me fever; with a voice so clear, that I repeatedly got goosebumps during her numbers.

So, if you like the films of Baz Luhrmann, and want to experience their highlights, live and in person – in the way only Las Vegas production show can provide – then I highly suggest you get your tickets to BAZ: Star Crossed Love, tout de suite!

BAZ: Star Crossed Love
The Palazzo Theatre | Palazzo Las Vegas
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#BAZ