Hugh Jackman to star in Broadway revival of ‘The Music Man’
14 March 2019, 12:02 | Updated: 14 March 2019, 12:41
Tony Award-winner and Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman will return to Broadway next year in The Music Man, opening in October 2020.
Hugh Jackman confirmed the news on Twitter yesterday, saying: ‘The Music Man. Broadway. October 22, 2020’.
Jackman, who starred in a concert series called Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway in 2011, will play smooth-talking con man Professor Harold Hill, who poses as a band leader and sells instruments to children in the Midwest, promising to teach them to play.
Hill plans to leave town without giving any lessons, until he falls in love with librarian and piano teacher, Marian and his plans unravel.
Jackman is no stranger to the stage, having won a Tony Award for his Broadway debut as Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz (2003). He has also starred in Carousel at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Oklahoma! at London’s National Theatre.
The Music Man premiered in 1957, and Hugh says the musical was his first exposure to musical theatre.
The X-Men star auditioned for a school production of the show with the tongue-twisting opening song ‘Rock Island’. At the 2014 Tony Awards, he rapped the lyrics with T.I. and LL Cool J.
Outside the world of X-Men, Jackman has made a name for himself in musical films. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Jean Valjean in the 2012 movie version of the musical Les Misérables. He also won a Golden Globe for his performance and was nominated for another for his portrayal of P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman.
He will go on a UK-wide tour later this year, performing hits from the musicals in The Man. The Music. The Show – accompanied by a live orchestra.
The Music Man, written by Meredith Wilson, was last seen on Broadway in a revival starring Craig Bierko and Rebecca Luker in 2000.
The new production will be directed by Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Warren Carlyle and Patrick Vaccariello as musical director.
