Melchior is undiagnosed bipolar, as is his father.
Eventually he'll be driven to taking his father out of his life in the most complete way the law allows, by emigrating to Canada. Undiagnosed bipolar syndrome'll continue to run among his descendants, however, until his great-great grandson Craig finally gets a diagnosis and on medication.- On a related note, at some point Dylan Everett will play Moritz...
- As will Hayden Byerly, meaning that having at one point had the numbers fudged so he could get *into* school...
Ilse will grow up to be Satine.
At some point in the 8 years between the events of the musical (1891) and the movie (1899), she ends up in Montmartre, probably following one of her artist lovers. After said lover abandons her, she ends up selling herself on the street until Zidler finds her. Though he and Marie initially take her in temporarily out of pity, they discover her latent theatrical talent and decide to make her a star. Since French was commonly taught to girls throughout Europe at the time, it wouldn't take her long to become fluent given total immersion. Upon beginning her life at the Moulin Rouge, she takes the name Satine and does her best to leave the past behind.- That would make both works even more of a Tear Jerker, but the only problem is that Ilse's actresses tend to have Wild Hair that's brown/dark, while Satine is an impeccably groomed redhead. Red hair is notoriously hard to maintain since you have to keep touching it up every month at the least, and if the Moulin Rouge can barely help Satine's consumption, how could they afford a fake hair color?
- Consumption was a baffling disease for a very long time, and the only treatment for it that worked at all (as shown in the opera La Traviata) was quiet living in the countryside, with a lot of time sitting in the sun. It's simple enough, but requires a lot of time off, which an extremely busy performer in high demand could not afford. Other than that, the Moulin Rouge could certainly afford at least one hairdresser paid to look after the coiffure of their big star.
It WAS rape...
But Wendla didn't know what Melchior was doing, so she couldn't exactly protest to it. Essentially, Melchior committed statutory rape even though he's still underaged, because Wendla is still as naive as a child.- Wendla does protest it in some versions, but this still stands — Melchior knew more about sex and reproduction than she ever did, there was a huge imbalance of power there just from that even if they were technically the same age. If she literally doesn't know what sex is or what can result from it, she doesn't know enough to effectively consent, even if she desired him and he desired her too.
- Consent does not just mean agreement; it also entails an understanding and acceptance of future consequences, which Wendla sure as hell did not have.
The Masked Figure is the Doctor!
And we're all off for a magical adventure in the TARDIS! Hanschen, Ernst or both are gonna end up dead in World War One.
In the churchyard scene of the Deaf West production, it's probably just as a cue, but Melchior touched the tombstones that Hanschen and Ernst' actors were standing in for after the line, "My God... All these... tombs..." Ilse is actually dead, and Moritz is just hallucinating her
It's Moritz's way of trying to deal with his emotions, by giving himself a glimpse of hope before eventually killing himself.- This cannot be true, as Ilse interacts with the girls and with Melchior in the script. However, she could be Moritz's hallucination in the Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind sequence.
Wendla's father is dead.
Herr Bergmann is not seen or mentioned in the show, and the only parent that Wendla seems concerned about pleasing/disappointing is her mother. There's also the fact that if he were alive, he would no doubt have something to say about his daughter's pregnancy (and later death). It stands to reason, then, that Frau Bergmann is a widow, with her husband dying at some point during Wendla's childhood.