Getting the soundtrack to the musical “Next to Normal” as a young teenager is one of the reasons John Cardoza decided to pursue a career in musical theater.

“That also started my fanboying of Aaron Tveit,” he said. “When I was in high school, he was the Broadway star on the rise. As a young guy aspiring to be in musical theater, that was the guy.”

Now Cardoza is touring the country in a role that Tveit originated on Broadway and that earned him his first Tony Award.

Cardoza plays Christian, the composer who falls in love with cabaret performer Satine, in the national tour of “Moulin Rouge,” which opens Wednesday for a month-long run at Cleveland’s KeyBank State Theatre.

During a phone interview from Cincinnati, Cardoza said he saw the show twice on Broadway — once with Tveit and once with his replacement, Derek Klena, who Cardoza worked with when he made his Broadway debut in the musical “Jagged Little Pill” — but he didn’t expect to get a chance to play the character himself anytime soon.

“The show was not really on my radar,” he said. “I thought I was a little too young. The Christians I’ve seen before me … I read a lot younger than those guys, so I thought this is not something they’re going to look at me for a while. So when they had me in for auditions, I was so taken with, not only the journey the character goes on, but you’re really stretching every single muscle you have, whether it’s emotional, physical, mental. It’s a very full-body experience playing this role, and I’m somebody who likes to dig into work like that. It was the role and being able to sing some of this music. It’s such a fun sing.”

Like Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie, the musical reworks contemporary songs to tell its story. In addition to songs like “Nature Boy,” “Your Song,” “Material Girl” and “Come What May” that were featured on screen, the stage production adds additional numbers, like Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Lorde’s “Royals” and Sia’s “Chandelier.”

No one will mistake the show for karaoke, though.

“People who love these songs will want to hear these songs,” Cardoza said. “However, I kind of had to silence that a bit and approach the music from this character’s point of view and look at these songs as conversations between characters, and that takes all of them and puts them in this new context. The way that you sing them and the way they are orchestrated and arranged, it pulls them into this more conversational world and they become so well-integrated into the story.

“It’s not John singing this song I’ve known for years; it’s Christian having these words to say to somebody else. When you put yourself in that mindset, the song starts to transform a bit. It starts to take on a different meaning.”

Before joining the “Moulin Rouge” tour in March, Cardoza was part of the original Broadway cast of “Jagged Little Pill,” starting with that show during its development and its pre-Broadway run in Boston.

He’s also connected with a couple of other musicals based on popular films. He played the lead in the world premiere of “The Karate Kid” and Young Noah (the Ryan Gosling role) in a music adaptation of “The Notebook.”

The latter show, featuring songs by Ingrid Michaelson, earned rave reviews during its premiere in Chicago. One of its producers is Canfield native Joey Monda, who said in an interview last week that the plan is to have “The Notebook” on Broadway in time to be considered for the 2024 Tony Awards.

Cardoza would love to return to Broadway in that show.

“As far as I know (he’ll be part of the Broadway production), but you never know what’s going to happen. This business is fickle. I try not to count my chickens before they hatch, but I had a blast working on ‘The Notebook.’ It’s one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve been a part of. The company we had there, and the family energy we developed and the bond we had there was so strong, I’m very hopeful when this show comes back around, I’ll get to continue with it.

“I’m very proud of the work I did on that show. Hopefully, I am there, but even if I am not, that is a show I’m very excited for the world to see, because it is so beautifully done, so meticulously created and taken care of. By the time we were able to bring this show to its feet and bring it to a stage, there was so much heart in it, it was almost impossible for it to be anything less than beautiful.”

If you go ….

WHAT: “Moulin Rouge”

WHEN: Wednesday through July 2. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: KeyBank State Theatre, Playhouse Square, 1515 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $39 to $129 and are available online at playhousesquare.org and by calling 216-241-6000.