THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

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The full interview ( 2 parts) --

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This one has better audio --

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Just some idle thoughts, from the interview and personal interaction --


*It looks like Lin has a strong respect for Hugh's talent & range - calling him a "Renaissance man" ( an ultimate compliment) because Hugh can do film and stage, most any genre (action, drama, musicals & dark comedy)...can host shows...can do concerts...can even attempt to play the piano - lol. He has mastered dance. He can even oversee projects ( film & advocacies). Who knows - he might write a script one day( he does have a journalist's training). He is a complete performer!

*Is Lin eyeing a potential collaboration with Hugh - not just as a "composer and performer" team... but maybe even putting a performing act together - could be film, not just stage?

*Lin may also have been trying to gauge Hugh as a person -- finding him ego-less and enthusiastic but pragmatic. And charming from head to toe!



One go-between could be Alec Lacamoire ( lacketylac) who is LMM's collaborator but was Executive Music Producer for The Greatest Showman! Alec accompanied Keala on the piano when she sang This Is Me at the Oscars. Alec has worked with Pasek&Paul on both TGS & Evan Hansen.



**At Hugh's end - nothing to lose if Lin decides to explore a collaboration! And didn't he kid Lin about doing something about a sequel if a TGS one is viable? Of course, Pasek & Paul composed the songs for TGS!

**That public appearance of Hugh has exposed him to a not-too-explored market segment -- the community with immigrant roots!


And to think that a musical on a famous showman was what could push them together for some possible future collaboration of two music men

[jo]

Our Loren (Allred) auditions for "Britain's Got Talent "...

and Simon (the most passionate fan of The Greatest Showman) is in heaven!!





But many complained that she is an American professional singer on a British amateur talent show.


PS: Loren was part of the workshop series early on!


Jo

[jo]

You can see Loren among the workshop singers (with curly hair & a scarf a round her neck)

If you watch the HOME video special feature "THE SONGS", Loren had been part of the workshops early on.

Jo

[JH4HJ]

Take Two?

Michelle Williams Wants to Make a ‘Greatest Showman’ Sequel:

‘That Movie Brought So Much Joy’

Michelle Williams has expressed that she wants to make a sequel to The Greatest Showman.

The 41-year-old actress says she would love to be involved in any follow-up to the 2017 musical film, which also starred Hugh Jackman, Zendaya and Zac Efron.

Michelle told Variety: 'I would make another one of those in a heartbeat. I wish they'd make a sequel.'

Full article with photos (click on "View Gallery" for more)

Original Variety interview

[jo]

Hmm...

I wonder why she did not attend the premiere and why the movie press said ( I think it was Deadline) that she did not want to do any promotion for the movie? Her few interviews were only at the outset of the filming.

Jo

[jo]

PEOPLE.COM
THEATER
Hugh Jackman Responds to Michelle Williams Saying She Wants to Be in a
Greatest Showman Sequel

People Exclusive

Hugh Jackman Responds to Michelle Williams Saying She Wants to Be in a Greatest Showman Sequel
The Australian star, who played the title role in the 2017 musical film, tells PEOPLE his thoughts about the actress joining him for a potential follow-up movie

By Michael Gioia
May 12, 2022 10:26 PM


hugh jackman
CREDIT: GETTY (2)
Michelle Williams isn't the only one who is ready to head back to the circus!

Hugh Jackman is also sharing his feelings on a potential sequel to 2017's The Greatest Showman should the creative team head back to the drawing board, after the actress said she would be up for starring in a follow-up to the musical film.

"Listen, if you know anything about my filmography, you'd know I'm totally against sequels in every shape or form. No more than nine films!" Jackman, 53, jokingly tells PEOPLE at the 2022 Tony Awards nominees event Thursday in New York City.

The X-Men film series star — who was Tony-nominated for his role as Professor Harold Hill in the Broadway revival of The Music Man, in which he currently stars — adds, "I'm always open, if they come up with a good idea. Yeah, I'm open!"

RELATED: Michelle Williams Would Make a Greatest Showman Sequel 'in a Heartbeat': 'I Really Love That Movie'



Williams (who played Charity Barnum in The Greatest Showman opposite Jackman's P.T. Barnum) told Variety if a sequel was made she would do "another one of those in a heartbeat."

The Oscar nominee, 41, added, "That movie brought so much joy to so many people and to make people that happy, man that is a worthwhile thing to spend your time doing."

The film — which grossed $434.9 million globally — follows circus master P.T. Barnum and features original music by Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It also stars Zac Efron and Zendaya.


Though Jackman may be willing to get back under the big top, he is currently parading around River City in The Music Man alongside fellow Tony nominee Sutton Foster at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre.

Despite having to delay the show's opening on Broadway due to the pandemic, Jackman tells PEOPLE he "never doubted" that theater would be back in full swing.



"I think there is a huge communal need to come together…so I just knew that at some point we were coming back," he says, adding that choreographer Warren Carlyle kept him motivated as they rehearsed "three to four times a week."

Jackman explains, "For a year and a half, we were dancing. Listen. I have to dance every night against Sutton Foster. I better be bringing it!"

[JH4HJ]

There's an "Easter egg" in the credits that I never noticed. Can you see it?







How about now?

[jo]

Quite a few noticed it early on.

It is a homage both to Hugh and to James Mangold ( who helped out in post production of THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, earning Executive Producer credit).

Jo

[njr]

Valerie, what is it exactly?
The Wolverine arms/claws?
Nancy

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Hey, some 2022 Halloween costumes still copy some of its characters, notably the Greatest Showman himself

Jo

[njr]

This is a father/daughter from the U.K. who will blow you away!

youtu.be/H_CxiftXJiQ

Nancy

[mamaleh]

Wow, they are really good--especially the daughter.

Ellen

[jo]

Hugh reminiscing about the choreographic feats that Ashley taught him in THE GREATEST SHOWMAN!

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From that Vulture article recalling fully what led to the success of the Opening Number of the 2009 Oscars.

www.vulture.com/2019/02/the-history-of-hugh-jackmans-oscars-opening-number.html

This was the moment...when THE GREATEST SHOWMAN was born!

Mark: At some point while Hugh was onstage rehearsing, I think I turned to Bill and said, “Gosh, what a showman he is,” then somehow P.T. Barnum came around, and I said to [Jackman] at some point later on, “I don’t know if you have any interest, I don’t know, we were just thinking about you as P.T. Barnum and the greatest showman on earth.” Hugh Jackman said, “I love that idea. If you want to explore it, feel free to knock on my door when you have something more to sort of talk about.” The next person we spoke to was Jenny Bicks who was a writer on the Oscars who was standing about ten feet away. We said, “Jenny, would you mind thinking about P.T. Barnum?’ She came up with the first draft of the screenplay [of what became The Greatest Showman], which Mr. Condon was kind enough to refine and hone and make even more brilliant.

Btw, The Greatest Show on Earth was an Oscar Best Picture winner about the Barnum circus.

The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 American drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille,[2] shot in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. Set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the film stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists competing for the center ring and Charlton Heston as the circus manager. James Stewart also stars as a mysterious clown who never removes his makeup, and Dorothy Lamour and Gloria Grahame also play supporting roles.

In addition to the actors, the real Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus' 1951 troupe appears in the film with its complement of 1,400 people, hundreds of animals and 60 railroad cars of equipment and tents. The actors learned their circus roles and participated in the acts. The film's storyline is supported by lavish production values, actual circus acts and documentary-style views into the complex logistics behind big-top circuses.

The film won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Story and was nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Director and Best Film Editing. It also won Golden Globe Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Motion Picture – Drama.

I guess Laurence Mark was talking about 2 things -- the idea of how the circus evolved as a form of mass entertainment...and that it could be led by the great impresario PTBarnum, who was not actually a performer. So, the movie THE GREATEST SHOWMAN put together the idea of a storyline & characters led by impresario Barnum and the idea of the circus troupe as an early form of showbiz! But they would enhance the character of Barnum as being also a song and dance man because they had a gem performer in Hugh Jackman!

Btw, it seems that Larry Mark had seen Hugh perform before the 2009 Oscars rehearsals in the Benefit shows ( A Fine Romance) for the MPTFund and was impressed with Hughs's delivery. He was referring particularly to Hugh's duet with Kristin Chenoweth of "ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER"

The first thing Mark said when I got him on the phone told me all I needed to hear. “We’re trying to make it very much like a party,” Mark said, and he believes Jackman has the perfect party-host persona. “The Oscars are a celebration of movies, so who better to host than a movie star. Hugh can not only hold the screen, but he can hold the stage too, which is no small feat these days. He’s done major theater work, from ‘Oklahoma!’ to ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ and he’s not only hosted the Tony Awards, he actually won an Emmy for hosting them.”

Mark laughed. “That’s not to suggest that the Tonys were an audition, but in a way they were. The fact that he was brilliant doing the Tonys certainly spoke well for his abilities.”


As it turns out, before Mark had seriously thought about a host, he saw Jackman perform at a benefit for the Motion Picture and Television Fund (which Mark produced with “Milk” producer Dan Jinks). “Hugh was a hoot,” Mark recalled. “He did a duet with Kristin Chenoweth on ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,’ completely off the cuff, with all sorts of improvised humor and, well, he was great. So when his name come up recently, we all thought, ‘Wow, remember that night he did “Anything” and how he killed?’

Jo