I reinvented the musical, says Baz Luhrmann

London: `Moulin Rouge!` director Baz Luhrmann has claimed he "reinvented the musical" genre.

"I go towards things that are challenging for me and scary for me - but I want to see them up there. If I`d walked away from that, I wouldn`t have tried to reinvent the musical or had a go at making Shakespeare popular or done a ballroom-dancing film. Nobody turns around and goes, `Yes, ballroom dancing, definitely! We want that!`," femalefirst.co.uk quoted him as saying. Baz believes his interpretation of "Moulin Rouge!" which starred Nicole Kidman and Ewen McGregor and grossed $178 million worldwide - led to the success of musical TV show "Glee". "`Glee` co-creator Ryan Murphy has been very nice about acknowledging that it was `Moulin Rouge` that inspired him. I wish I had a dollar for everyone that said, `The musical will never be popular in America`, 10 years ago," he said. IANS