Two Alumni Are Performing in the Broadway National Tour of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical”
Gabe Martinez ’10 is playing Santiago; Tommy Gedrich ’21, who’s part of the ensemble, is his understudy.By: Meghan Kita Thursday, June 22, 2023 02:38 PM
Nick Rashad Burroughs as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gabe Martínez as Santiago in the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMadeUpdate: In August, Moulin Rouge! The Musical announced that Gabe Martínez ’10 would be joining the Broadway cast. He will make his Broadway debut as Santiago on October 10.
Before Tommy Gedrich ’21 joined the cast of the Broadway national tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical earlier this year, he and Gabe Martínez ’10 realized they had something in common: “I think one of us saw Muhlenberg post [on social media] about [Gedrich],” Martínez says. “I think I reached out to [Gedrich] all excited to talk shop about Muhlenberg, and I was like, ‘Oh wait! [When I went], that was quite a long time ago. I don’t even know if these [faculty] are still there.’”
The two did work with some of the same professors, and Gedrich also realized he saw Martínez in a Summer Music Theatre production of Hair the summer before his freshman year.
“Basically, I’m the reason he went to Muhlenberg,” Martínez jokes.
Martínez, who was a theatre major and a music minor at Muhlenberg, has been playing Santiago on the tour since it began in Chicago in March of 2022. Gedrich, a theatre and dance double major, first appeared in the Houston shows, in February of 2023. He’s a member of the ensemble who is also understudy for Santiago.
“This is my first production contract post-graduation, which is the contract you always, always want,” Gedrich says. “That’s the dreamy, cushy job. So that’s been nice, but also, doing this show every night is such a treat, because it’s unlike any other theatrical experience you could be part of. It’s dreamy costumes, dreamy sets, dreamy audiences that love the thing that you’re doing up there … This is something that I’ve truly always wanted to do.”
Martínez has been enjoying the stability — “2022 is the only time I’ve ever filed taxes for only one job,” he says — as well as the show’s long run.
“The original cast members, all of us are 400-plus shows in, and nobody is getting tired of it,” he says. “I love what I do every night. I’m not on stage for the ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ number, but I sit back and watch it every night. The joy and the love and the emotion, it never fades … It’s fresh every night. I cry at the end of the show every night. I never expected I would find that with any one show. It’s just everything you want out of a job in this industry.”
Why I Chose Muhlenberg — Tommy Gedrich ’21
“I didn’t have to sacrifice any of my disciplines and the intensity at which I wanted to be involved. I could be fully immersed in the world of dance while being fully immersed in getting wonderful acting training … I was able to not just dip my toe into each discipline but really be fully immersed in everything, which I feel ultimately prepared me to be ready for anything that this weird industry throws at me.”
Why I Chose Muhlenberg — Gabe Martínez ’10
“I feel so lucky that Muhlenberg really took the time to shape who we were as people and get us ready, mentally and spiritually, for a career in this industry. You’ve really got to have some serious resilience to hang around in this industry long enough to find success … I don’t think that I necessarily would have stuck it out this long if it wasn’t for the care Muhlenberg took with shaping us as whole, well-rounded people.”
Alumni Affairs Summer Theatre Tour
Alumni are invited to an exclusive opportunity to meet Martinez and Gedrich before their performances in Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Join us for this exciting chance to meet the performers and reconnect with local alumni in Philadelphia and Washington D.C.
Register for the July 20 event in Philadelphia
Register for the August 3 event in Washington D.C.
