“Taylor [Swift] is giving Satine,” Ashley Loren says with authority. It’s true that showgirls are shimmering in the spotlight, having a bit of a moment now that Swift’s album The Life of the Showgirl has sashayed to top of the charts. But no one knows a showgirl’s life better than Loren, who holds the distinction of being the longest-running Satine in Broadway’s Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
“I hopped on that train so quickly on Instagram,” Loren says, applying her eyeliner for that evening’s performance, recalling when the news of Swift’s new album first dropped. “It’s so funny because I posted all these glamorous Moulin Rouge! photos as the life of a showgirl, but at the end [of the carousel] is me in my pajamas with a red light therapy thing up my nose.”
Loren laughs, it’s crystalline. You can’t help but join in with her, be instantly endeared to her. She’s stopped by the Playbill studio to shoot an episode of Getting Ready, and the presence she brings to the space is all that I, a fellow Italian-American girl who loves cats and sparkles, could hope for. She trades tips and tricks on tinctures and tonics; no secret to a showgirl's success is held too closely to her chest.
“I feel like the life of a showgirl is [measured by] the amount of cupping marks you have,” Loren says. “Your acupuncture, your physical therapy, or whatever witchy things you do behind the scenes so when you get out there, you can just be part of the show.”
Her investment in physical wholeness and mental wellness is blessedly infectious. Before a drop of makeup has been applied to either of our faces, she’s produced a white box of her favorite Italian cookies for us to share, gifted me a packet of gummies for my gut health, and recommended her favorite local honey to combat allergies (jarred from beehives in community gardens around New York City). The cocktail of supplements and practices that keep Loren gleaming was carefully curated to help her maintain the eight-show week schedule while living with chronic illness.
“When you wake up everyday and [you] don’t know what today is going to bring,” Loren, who lives with Lyme disease, explains. “It forces you to be more attuned to your body and listen to your body in ways that some other people might not have to.”
The heightened awareness of her ever-shifting mental and physical capabilities is a strength, not a detriment, to Loren’s performance. Satine, the fictional courtesan she portrays, is secretly battling tuberculosis, racing against the clock of her illness to find true love.
“[Lyme] gives me a different nuance and authenticity that I can put in my art,” Loren says. “And speaking openly about it also gives [me] power, more power in defining the strength that [I] have.”
And Loren has gracefully fortified her understanding of self, on and off stage, including in the two-year break she took from Moulin Rouge. At one point, the highs of a showgirl–the pops of pyrotechnics, the 6,000 blue crystals bedazzling just one dress–created a post-show crash so severe that Loren wondered who she even was when she wasn’t on stage.
“Perfection is overrated,” she says with a knowing shake of her head. “A lot of my healing was an acceptance of the flow of it all. The biggest thing [for you] to realize is that you are enough.”
As we finish our looks, Loren produces a small spray bottle from her purse. “For purification and protection,” she says, misting us both. The smells of sandalwood and lavender linger long after she’s left the room, negativity repelled, energy restored, and makeup beautifully-applied. Loren is off to do what she does best, share her superpower for spreading truth, beauty, freedom, and love in hand-crystalled corsetry. Afterall, a diamond’s gotta shine!
To learn which product keeps Loren’s red lip budge-proof and smudge-free for a two-show day (and how her cat, Mozart, helps her prepare to perform), tune into Getting Ready above.
Ashley Loren and Christian Douglas in Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Aaron Tveit and Ashley Loren
Ashley Loren and Aaron Tveit
Ashley Loren
Ashley Loren and Christian Douglas in Moulin Rouge!
Ashley Loren, Christian Douglas, and Taye Diggs in Moulin Rouge!
