Musical theater is the most you’ll be immersed in any art form. Thanks to the variety of the music, complementary production design and emotional storytelling, you can feel any kind of emotion when watching the right musical.

“Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is not that. While the cast and crew of Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre do an amazing job making the show feel alive, it doesn’t save the show from forgetting its heart.

The production fails as a musical adaptation. Instead of appealing to the unabashedly camp movie musical, it puts its money toward mass appeal and melodrama, which translates into self-serious gibberish that doesn’t fit the medium of a live stage production.

The story of “Moulin Rouge” follows young songwriter Christian (Jay Armstrong Johnson) journeying to Paris, falling in love with club dancer Satine (Arianna Rosario) and writing a brand new show in efforts to save the titular nightclub.

In sharp contrast to director Baz Luhrmann’s acclaimed 2001 film, “Moulin Rouge: The Musical” elects to gut itself of fan favorite aspects that made the story so memorable.

I wouldn’t call it a bad show by most other metrics; flashy fun is guaranteed from the instant you see the pre-set. My complaints lie in the quantity of fun the show gives you, and how it takes away from the sincere, more emotionally explicit aspects of the Luhrmann film version.

The selling points for the “Moulin Rouge” moniker are its jukebox music and hyperreal love story, something the movie used to make a title for itself.

In terms of music, Luhrmann’s film dished up a hearty 40-plus songs, while the musical has 70 pop songs that go in one ear and out the other, most of which feel like they were picked by Kidz Bop 40, not songs that actively enhance their scenes.

Did you come here to see perfectly-implemented covers like Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” or Randy Crawford’s “One Day I’ll Fly Away?” Songs that show depth and inner turmoil as a woman is eaten alive by show business?

Better try next door. All they’ve got is Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” bouncy songs that do not work in establishing characterization.

And good lord, Katy Perry’s “Firework” was an abysmal choice. I heard actual laughter around the theater when the song began. This isn’t a ballad of longing or strife — this is a claptrap for the family audience, something I’d never thought possible for a show as raunchy as this.

It hurts deeply to see the modern state of the fan favorites “Your Song” or “Elephant Love Medley.” The songs just … brush by. There’s no sudden surge of emotion, just singing them for the sake of going through the mandatory playlist.

There are two fresh songs that work wonders: “Chandelier” and “Backstage (Bad) Romance.” They make their dingy and drab scenes come to life, drowning Christian’s sorrows with song, and creating a cutthroat kill-or-be-killed world for the stage, respectively.

These scenes capture what makes the show captivating, combining a phenomenal cover with inventive choreography. They work as great additions to the story and paint the supporting characters in interesting new ways.

The club’s owner, Harold Ziegler, is probably my favorite character in the show, thanks to the musical’s new take on him. While he wants what’s best for Satine and Christian, he doesn’t want to put a group of marginalized performers out on the streets.

His line “We’re creatures of the underworld, we can’t afford to love,” is a great example of what this story manages to change in adaptation.

Everything a show needs to succeed is here: hypnotizing lights, intricate costumes and detailed choreography. If you’re looking for a great trip to the theater, “Moulin Rouge” has you covered. It’s impossible not to enjoy yourself.

But if I’m looking for a sincere work of musical passion — something I can only see on stage — “Moulin Rouge: The Musical” is far from the first place I’d look.

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