Jahi Kearse, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Danny Burgos and the Company of the 2025 touring production of Moulin Rouge, playing at the Adrienne Arsht Center Tuesday, March 17 through Sunday, March. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
The iconic jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge” is on its North American Tour and is playing at the Adrienne Arsht Center Tuesday, March 17 through Sunday, March 22. Starring as Santiago is Miami native Danny Burgos.
The musical, adapted from Baz Luhrmann’s classic movie features large ensemble numbers, a mix of contemporary and classic pop songs, and choreography that brings the bohemian Parisian setting to life on stage. It tells the story of Christian, a young writer who arrives in Paris and becomes involved with Satine, the star performer at the Moulin Rouge cabaret.
The actor's path to "Moulin Rouge" has been anything but conventional. miamiartzine.com talked to Burgos about what his role means to him, how it changed the trajectory of his life, and what the journey back to theater has been like.
Danny Burgos plays Santiago in the North American Tour of "Moulin Rouge: The Musical."
miamiartzine.com: Can you tell us about your role as Santiago and what makes him special to you?
Danny Burgos: Santiago is the Argentinian swashbuckler, which means he's a bit of a ladies man. It's just such a fun role. He's like the heart of the piece in my opinion. He's always having a good time, always running around, always dancing. He opens the top of Act Two with backstage "Romance," which is like a Lady Gaga, Britney Spears mashup.
maz: What does this role mean to you personally?
DB: It has a very special place in my heart because, full disclosure, at the beginning of my time on this show I was still struggling financially from the pandemic. It came at a point in my life when I thought I had lost everything and it kind of saved my life. So I have a lot of love in my heart for this role, for this part, and for this show.
maz: Before taking the role in “Moulin Rouge,” you had taken a break from theater. Can you tell us about that experience?
DB: Yeah, I worked as a nurse for a full year. I worked in medical surgical nursing as well as diabetes education and some hospice and end of life care nursing, it was very rewarding work.
maz: What led you to pivot from theater to nursing?
DB: I was on a show called "The Band's Visit" in 2019, we went on tour and in 2020, that’s when COVID happened so the entire industry shut down. I couldn’t afford to live in New York anymore. I moved back into Miami and one morning my mom walked into my room and was just like, ‘Hey didn’t you have a bunch of nursing credits from when you went to Florida State?’ And I’m like, ‘I did.’ I finished my prerequisites at Miami-Dade College and I applied to a bunch of different nursing schools, and I only applied to one in New York. I ended up getting into that one and I did a 15 month accelerated program. I finished in October of 2022.
maz: While you were a nurse, were you still auditioning or working in the theater?
DB: I would love to be able to tell you that I was very involved, auditioning constantly, still trying to be in theater. But I was not. When I was a nurse, people kind of forgot that I was an actor. In the 15 months that I took off from acting so that I could go to nursing school, I think I got three auditions.
Kaitlin Mesh and Danny Burgos in the 2025 touring production.(Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
maz: When did theater come back into your life?
DB: I worked six months at New York University Hospital and then six months at New York Presbyterian Hospital. During my six months at New York Presbyterian, I got the audition. My agents kept calling me, being like, ‘Hey, Moulin Rouge is very interested. Are you interested?’ I auditioned and eventually I got the call that I had gotten the part.
maz: How did your family feel about your decision to go back to theater?
DB: Latin parents, immigrant parents in general, I think they are very motivated by fear. And fear is a very powerful motivator to keep the things that you love safe so I don't think I was ever necessarily pushed into being an artist. Growing up people were always like ‘You have such a pretty voice. You have like a God-given gift, a God-given ability,’ but it was never, ‘Hey, you should pursue this.’ As a matter of fact, my aunt is a nurse and it was always thrust on me that I should become a nurse.
maz: So what gave you the courage to pursue theater?
DB: The person that I credit with giving me the courage to actually pursue this as a career is my high school drama teacher. His name is Andy Quiroga. He was very, very supportive of his students, but I like to think of him as my mentor. He had a very particular interest in me because he just saw something in me that a lot of people had seen but didn't necessarily want to nurture because they were scared that I would pursue the life of a starving artist.
maz: How has being on the "Moulin Rouge" tour impacted you?
DB: When I first started this tour, I was an alcoholic and while I was on this tour I started AA and I got sober and I've just lived a lot of life in these past three years. This tour has given me my life back. I don't take that for granted. I'm not saying that "Moulin Rouge" is my purpose in life, but I think I've inched closer to realizing that, I do love this and I want to do this for the rest of my life.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: "Moulin Rouge! The Musical "WHEN: 8 p.m., Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, March 20; 2 and 8 p.m., Saturday March 21; 1 and 7 p.m., Sunday, March 22
WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ziff Ballet Opera House, 200 NE 14th St., Miami.
TICKETS: $52.65 - $157.95
INFO: arshtcenter.org
