The perennial hit Moulin Rouge drew a large number of visitors to the Helsinki City Theater

Pitkin proved to be a lasting hit around the world Moulin Rouge! -musical repeated its trick in Helsinki.

The Helsinki City Theatre’s version of the classic musical became the most watched show at the city theater last year and brought the theater’s total attendance to 318,000.

The audience was the largest since 2012.

with 900 seats on the big stage Moulin Rougen saw almost 102,000 viewers last year.

Swedish Anders Albienin directed by Nordic co-production, the Helsinki premiere was in August 2024. Moulin Rouge was performed in the city theater a total of 187 times. It gathered a total audience of almost 170,000 people in Helsinki.

The work is based on By Baz Luhrmann to direct a successful film from 25 years ago. The musical is still performed at least in London and New York.

theater manager Kari Arffman characterizes Moulin Rougen success in Helsinki to be exceptional.

Hit’s sales slowed down because last spring the theater had to consider whether they dare to continue showing the expensive production in the fall season.

“Fortunately, we continued,” he says into the phone.

“It went on for three seasons, or about a year and a half. That’s exceptional these days. There’s new offerings all the time. And not just from other theaters, but in general. Things get old terribly quickly.”

Last year’s result of the Kaupunginteatteri was also boosted by another long-lasting international favorite. Agatha Christien classic detective story And no one was saved the stage adaptation drew nearly 32,000 spectators to the Arena stage.

“People are grateful for the experience.”

by Kari Arffman thinks that last year’s 318,000 viewers prove that the drop in visitors during the corona years was temporary. People are ready to commit to going to the theater again.

“People make a purchase decision in time. It threatened to become a trend of waiting for the show day, and then that home sofa is too strong of an attraction,” Arffman describes.

He encourages people to participate in a variety of events.

“I would argue that most of those who have decided to go to the theater, to a concert, to a sporting event, to any social event, are grateful for that experience.”

In Arffman’s opinion, a shared experience is important in these digital times, even if it happens that the play is not completely to your taste or the Favorite Team loses the match.

Domestic ones the plays based on the authors’ novels did not reach the audience numbers of the foreign hits.

Presented on a small screen, Minna Rytisalo from the novel to the dramatized one by Jenny Hill saw about 6,200 viewers. The Swedish-language Lilla Teatern was playing Kjell Westön based on the novel Twilight 41 – the story of Molly and Henry, which was watched by about 5,200 spectators.

In the current spring season, the Helsinki City Theater will play it safe, when a detective story will have its premiere on the Arena stage One Rämön based on the opening chapter of the hit book series Hildur.

According to Arffman Hildur has already sold 18,000 tickets in advance.