‘Moulin Rouge!’ comes to town with a Santiago from New Jersey

Actor Gabe Martínez has played Santiago in the Broadway touring company’s version of Moulin Rouge! The Musical close to 500 times. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he decided to make his passion for the show’s ideals visible — very visible.

About a year ago, Martinez said, he got “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love” tattooed on his chest.

“It’s really become a sort of mantra for me,” he said. “I never expected to be so affected by a show I’m working on.”

Audiences who come to see Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Academy of Music July 5-23 won’t be able to miss it. Martinez says his costumes are basically large shirts billowing open at the chest.

Moulin Rouge “caters to all the best parts of us,” he said. “Truth, beauty, freedom, love — all human experience boils down to these four important tenets. For all of our disagreements, we have [the yearning for] these in common.”

In the play, set in Paris in the belle epoque (late 1800s/early 1900s), performers and their friends, all Bohemians, conspire to save their beloved nightclub, the Moulin Rouge, from closing. They plot, fall in love, and cope with illness, always striving to remain true to these four ideals.

Martínez’s character, a fiery Latin lover and one of the Bohemians, “reminds me eight times a week to live life to the fullest, to be present, to be passionate, and to be joyful,” the actor said.

He values the touring company’s acceptance of him and his tattoos, and its willingness to allow him to exhibit them on stage. “Not long ago, in this industry, that was considered a huge no-no,” he said.

But it’s not just the tattoos, Martínez said. They’re only a part of theater’s growing openness to physical diversity. “There was really an effort to cast this show with a diverse cast — all different body types and all different colors, so no matter who comes to the show, they can see themselves on the stage.”

For him, his tattoos are a symbol of self-growth and self-care — doing things to please himself, and in doing so, giving him the freedom and health to serve the audience.

Martínez has been with this show since its inaugural touring performances in March 2022. In the past, Martínez has spent restless nights on the bus trying to sleep after one-night stints but these days, longer stints like the one at the Academy of Music (part of the Kimmel Cultural Campus) help, as does learning how to give himself the rest he needs.

“Pacing yourself is important because the road can wear you out physically and mentally,” he said, speaking from an Airbnb in Cleveland. “Every morning, I have to wake up and remind myself of where we are.”

Martínez grew up in northern New Jersey and now calls Bloomfield, Essex County, home. Theater has been in his life from the start.

“My father was a musician, and he met my mother in a club where she was a singing waitress. Since I could stand up and wear a costume and sing, I was in shows with my mother” and playing in bands with his father, Martínez said. “I’m not good at anything else, frankly.”

Martínez graduated from Muhlenberg College’s theater program in Allentown, and ensemble member Tommy Gedrich went there as well. Another ensemble member, Adéa Michelle Sessoms, was born in Williamstown and attended the University of the Arts.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” Kimmel Cultural Campus, July 5-23 at the Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St., Phila. 215-893-1999 or kimmelculturalcampus.org

Check with the theater for COVID-19 protocols.

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