Hugh Jackman in THE RIVER on Broadway

[alma]

"... but what the hell, it's Hugh..."



Alma

[jo]

I have read this one before and thought I had also posted it -- but it seems it may either have disappeared or I posted it in the wrong thread...or I am having an adamantium bullet attack on my memory cells


Let me repost it --

nypost.com/2014/05/08/hugh-jackman-downsizes-in-next-broadway-show/

Hugh Jackman downsizes in next Broadway show


By Michael Riedel


May 8, 2014 | 10:49pm


Every producer on Broadway wants Hugh Jackman to star in a show.

The Shuberts pursued him for years to play Littlechap (Littlechap!) in “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off.” Someone else wanted him for “The Music Man.” Another hoped he’d get him for “Houdini.”

I’ve even heard of a group of producers who toyed with the idea of asking him to star in a revival of “Hello, Dolly!”

“We’ll gender-bend it and call it ‘Hello, Danny!’” they said.

So how did Sonia Friedman, a prolific producer whose hits include the recent revivals of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III,” land Jackman for “The River”?

“It was very complicated,” she says. “We sent him the play and he said, ‘Yes.’”

“The River,” a sinister but poetic drama by Jez Butterworth, begins previews Oct. 31 before opening Nov. 16 at Circle in the Square for a 13-week run. Jackman’s co-stars will be English actresses Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo, who will be making their Broadway debuts. The director is Ian Rickson, who staged Butterworth’s acclaimed drama “Jerusalem,” starring Mark Rylance, a few seasons back.

I can’t give too much away about “The River,” since it has quite a nifty little twist at the end. It does, however, take place in a remote cabin on a cliff on a moonless night (that should tell you something) — and it received rave reviews last year at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Now, once you’ve lined up Hugh Jackman, you can have your pick of Broadway theaters. And the more seats the better, since Jackman has a tendency to break house records wherever he plays. I believe the haul from his one-man show at the Broadhurst for 10 weeks in 2011 was something like $15 million.



So it’s odd that Jackman has decided to go to Circle in the Square, which, with just 776 seats, is one of the smallest theaters on Broadway. Do some quick calculations and you can see that Jackman and his producers are leaving at least $1 million, probably more, on the table.

“I understand that,” Friedman says. “But frankly, I have seen plays and stars in theaters that are too big. It’s my job to protect Jez’s play. We could have easily gone to a 1,000-seat theater, but the work is too delicate. You need to feel you can touch the characters. You need to see the whites of their eyes. I know it sounds weird, but it’s the truth.”

Friedman has a soft spot for Circle, since it’s where she put on her Tony Award-winning revival of “The Norman Conquests” in 2009. Once Jackman toured the theater, he was on board as well. But what clinched the deal was that Paul Libin, who runs the place, told them that a river — a tributary of the Hudson, actually — runs underneath the theater.


“That tickled Ian Rickson,” Friedman says.

I don’t know if it’s true, but I have to hand it to Libin: That’s one hell of a sales job. It’s probably just a leaky water fountain.

Of course, to make the show financially viable in a small theater, Friedman’s going to have to charge premium prices. But, she says, “We are not going to go bonkersAnd she says there will be at least 40 or 50 seats a night priced at $35, an idea Jackman endorsed immediately.

“Anybody can see this play, if you work at it a little bit,” she says.

Friedman managed to make a nice packet on her revivals of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III,” which had some 250 seats priced at $25 throughout the run. The productions grossed $14 million, returning their $3.1 million investment in just eight weeks.

The plays have been nominated for eight Tony Awards, including nods for actors Mark Rylance, Sam Barnett, Stephen Fry and Paul Chahidi.

“I had zero idea the plays would work,” Friedman says. “I just backed them because I believed in them.”

She won’t have to take that kind of a flier on “The River.” The only thing sure in this business is that Hugh Jackman sells tickets.

So, as long as that creek beneath the theater don’t rise, the new theater season already has its first hit.

Hmmm...there is also an underground river that runs underneath the Garnier Paris Opera House ( the home of the fictional Phantom) and knowing that adds atmosphere to the Phantom show

Maybe it might also inspire the staging of THE RIVER

Also, $ 250 seems like a great deal for Premium ( compared to previous or current shows like Mormon), except they may include more than half the house in that category...and where can we find the seats, please smiley-signs002



Jo

[jo]

It just occurred to me that we are going to see Hugh with very, very short hair when he appears in THE RIVER

PAN is likely to finish filming by late August or early September.


Jo

[suefb]

Jun 10, 2014 13:50:58 GMT -5 jo said:

It just occurred to me that we are going to see Hugh with very, very short hair when he appears in THE RIVER

Jo

I was just walking happily down the hallway at work with my newly printed-out tickets and had exactly the same thought.

[JH4HJ]

Jun 10, 2014 13:50:58 GMT -5 jo said:

It just occurred to me that we are going to see Hugh with very, very short hair when he appears in THE RIVER

<awww> smiley-signs066 <boo> <tantrum>

[alma]

Much rather have a SHAGGY Hugh... even prefer the mutton chops to this type of beard...

Love his look here...

Alma

Attachments:

[foxie]

just tried to order another ticket to The River for a particular day and it was sold out!

[suefb]

Jun 12, 2014 7:06:08 GMT -5 foxie said:

just tried to order another ticket to The River for a particular day and it was sold out!

It's still in pre-sale. I think more tickets will become available when the general sale opens up.

[jo]

High-resolution image for the Official artwork for THE RIVER --

[hughslove]

Anyone thinking of going in January?

[jo]

It is likely some people will go to the closing show


Jo

[jo]

Something interesting from the press release from SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS --

www.soniafriedman.com/news_and_press_releases/general_on_sale_begins_the_river

Hugh Jackman, Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo are appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance of this production.

Jo

[foxie]

When is the closing show maybe I will spring for another ticket?

[mamaleh]

It doesn't appear to be on sale yet: January 25.

Ellen

[jo]

From the Official Telecharge page --

www.telecharge.com/eventoverview.aspx?cityName=NY%20City%20Area&productId=10400

Audience :

Recommended for 14 +
Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.




Box Office Hours

Monday: 10am - 6pm
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 8pm
Sunday: Noon - 6pm

Please Note: Tickets to The River are not available at the Box Office at this time. Tickets will be available at the Box Office beginning September 19.

[jo]

Will Hugh look like this in the early part of the previews




Not sure when this was taken though.


Jo

[jo]

An interview with producer Sonia Friedman --

www.playbill.com/features/article/193211-A-LIFE-IN-THE-THEATRE-Producer-Sonia-Friedman-on-Her-Life-and-Love-of-Working-Behind-the-Scenes


Re The River itself --

The River, she says, "is a hard play to describe. At the center is a mystery that we can't reveal. But it's lyrical. It's elliptical. It's sexy. It's about a man and his love of a particular woman."

What a dramatic challenge for Hugh! To bring out those impressions well, in material that may not be so obvious!

Definitely needs to be seen at least a few times


Jo

[foxie]

unfortunately to expensive to see twice!!!

[carouselkathy]

Reading it for the 4th time. Beautifully written!

[jo]

nypost.com/2014/07/22/broderick-lane-rule-broadway-with-its-only-a-play/

Broderick, Lane rule Broadway again with ‘It’s Only a Play’


By Michael Riedel
.
July 22, 2014 | 6:50pm


.

The boys still have it!

Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, starring this fall in Terrence McNally’s “It’s Only a Play,” are still box office gold.

The revival, which opens Oct. 9, has already raked in $5.5 million — the top earner, so far, of the fall. The production teams Broderick and Lane for the first time since 2005, when they headlined a feeble revival of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple.”

They were Broadway’s reigning couple in 2001 in Mel Brooks’ smash “The Producers.” The day the show opened, the box office sold $3 million in tickets, a record that stood for two years until they rejoined the show in 2003 — and sold $3.5 million in a single day.

That $5.5 million is quite a haul for a non-musical, making Broderick and Lane members of a select club of performers whose names can sell out a show before opening night — Denzel Washington (“A Raisin in the Sun”), Daniel Craig (“Betrayal”), Julia Roberts (“Three Days of Rain”) and Hugh Jackman (“Back on Broadway”).

Jackman, by the way, has yet to hit Broderick-Lane levels with his show, “The River.” But it’s in a smaller theater (Circle in the Square) and the play, a London import, is obscure. Jackman will no doubt set box office records of his own once the season comes into sharper focus. He always does.

Hope things change soon for THE RIVER. Producer Sonia Friedman had better wake up and rethink the ticket selling strategy -- it is going to be a very competitive market for straight plays -- too many "stars" invading Broadway in this fall season! Maybe Hugh needs to start promoting it heavily right after he completes his filming commitments of PAN. Also, the play is quite unknown and they need to explain the storyline in more concrete terms to attract audiences to buy tickets in advance...Or maybe they are waiting for the closure of the Audra show so they can physically get into Circle in the Square and do a realistic configuration of the staging ( and maybe even the seating)?

Jo

[jo]

From the NYTimes Arts Beat -- re comments sent in when The River was announced for the Broadway stage.


I remember reading this writer writing another parody re Broadway ( could have been another Hugh stage show ) --

Freddie
New York, NY 10 May 2014
The line for the limited $35 seats should be interesting.

Tune of “On My Own”

And I wake up at three a.m.
All set to subway in from Dumbo
I read the blog there on the net,
It’s Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo
And I note it also says
It’s the latest play from Jez

I’ll get their early, crack of dawn
While all the normal fans are snoring
I’ll bring my i-book
So the wait there all alone won’t be too boring
I bid my man adieu
And rush off to go rush Hugh

On my own, with no one there beside me
I’ll camp out, be first on line this morning
I’ll stand there, my forty bucks in hand now
(Five extra for the venue charge, I think I understand now)

But when I go, the line’s already long
Are they crazy, yes they’re crazy just like me
And I ask, as I approach that throng
Is it theater we’ve come to see

On the net, the chatters are indignant
"Without him, THE RIVER’s just THE RIVER"
But with him, the landscape really changes
We stand there very grateful
For the discount Hugh arranges

I love him, I love him
But I’m not on my own

Did you sing it out

[jo]

Hugh Jackman and/or Bradley Cooper...on Broadway ?

thegoldenbullet.com/2014/07/30/2-broadway-shows-you-have-to-see-this-fall/

2 Broadway Shows You Have to See This Fall

Posted by ckriley on July 30, 2014 in Theater | Leave a comment


PLaybill recently released its list of seven shows coming to Broadway this fall that it’s not too late to get tickets for. Some of the titles are well known and are considered classics with big name stars and established playwrights attached to them. But some are new works. Out of the list of seven, we’ve selected the two shows that we are most looking forward to. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see them all, though.

THE ELEPHANT MAN

Bradley Cooper returns to Broadway in Bernard Pomerance’s classic tale about John Merrick, a real-life disfigured man living in Victorian Age England. He will be joined on stage by Academy Award nominated actress Patricia Clarkson. Performances begin November 7 at the Booth Theater.

Why This is Must See

Because it’s Bradley Cooper on Broadway, and because seeing what he could with this role is of great interest. Cooper has already been established as a great actor from his varied roles across a multitude of genres. His range is certainly not in question. And that’s exactly why seeing him up close and personal on Broadway (where he was last seen in THREE DAYS OF RAIN) with this specific character and this specific story, is something both the seasoned theatergoer and the casual fan should definitely not miss. Reserve your tickets now.




THE RIVER



Hugh Jackman is no stranger to Broadway. He’s a Tony Award winner and the awards show most recent host. (Which he rocked, by the way.) Now he’s back this fall with a new play by Jez Butterworth, the author of the acclaimed drama Jerusalem. Here’s a brief synopsis of the play: “In a remote cabin above a river, a dedicated trout fisherman tries to hook a woman into a little night-time fishing. But are fish his only prey?”

Why This is Must See

Because some of Hugh Jackman’s best work happens on the stage. Sure, he’s a big star now and is probably known to most American audiences for his portrayal of Wolverine in the X-Men movies (which is obviously why we love him, that’s for sure) but if you really want to see him own a role, see him on Broadway. The best glimpse of the kind of depth and vulnerability Jackman can bring to a character on screen was in the movie PRISONERS. An outstanding performance that deftly posited the simple question of how much of your humanity would you be willing to sacrifice in the name of saving your family. It presented a new side to Jackman that we really hadn’t seen before, which is why seeing him play a darker role in such an intimate setting as theater make this show one to circle on your calendar.

It will play at the Circle in the Square beginning October 31. Yes, Halloween night. Perfect. Get your tickets while you still can.

Hope to see you on Broadway.

Without question - Hugh Jackman!

The first time I saw Bradley Cooper on Broadway ( Three Days of Rain), I rated him ahead of Julia Roberts but behind the stronger stage presence of Paul Rudd


Jo

[mamaleh]

Agree with your assessment of the THREE DAY OF RAIN cast, Jo. Rudd was definitely the standout, then Cooper and waaaay behind, the stiff Roberts. I didn't even bother to join the throng waiting for her at the stage door; instead, I went to the other barricade side and chatted with an amiable Cooper and a very friendly (and funny) Rudd.

What I don't like about the blog above is that it asserts as a given that Cooper's range is "not in question" but implies by omission that Hugh's is--or at least that people need to be told/reminded that yes, he's a talented actor.

Just as irksome, Cooper's playing a very showy role, complete with impassioned speeches--a role that earned a Tony nomination for the otherwise unknown actor (Philip Anglim) who essayed John Merrick in the original Broadway mounting. I think The Man is a much more subtle character, less likely to arouse strong reaction or buzz. I hope I'm wrong; we'll see.

Ellen

[jo]

Reposted from the interview with Sonia Friedman --

The River, she says, "is a hard play to describe. At the center is a mystery that we can't reveal. But it's lyrical. It's elliptical. It's sexy. It's about a man and his love of a particular woman."

After reading the play a third time, what Sonia said re " at the center is a mystery that we can't reveal" makes complete sense to me now

When I first read the play's description and the reviews, there were strong hints that the play may not be what we think it is ( at least at the beginning and most of the what happens later on). But it seems I found my "Eureka" moment when I read it a third time. Now, I even find clues on the official page of the show on Broadway

www.theriveronbroadway.com/


POTENTIAL SPOILERS*******POTENTIAL SPOILERS*******POTENTIAL SPOILERS
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“THE RIVER is teasing, haunting and hushed. It is also damnably difficult to write about, as there is a mystery at its heart that I must not reveal.”
Charles Spencer, THE TELEGRAPH


Tony Award® winner HUGH JACKMAN returns to Broadway in THE RIVER, a spellbinding new play written by JEZ BUTTERWORTH and directed by IAN RICKSON, the team behind the hit play Jerusalem.

A remote fishing cabin, a man and a woman, and a moonless night. THE RIVER asks: when we find each other, are we trying to recapture someone we once lost?

Erotic, chilling and poetic, THE RIVER promises to be the must-see event of the season.

And this review blog provides another strong clue --

SPOILER: Click to show

theotherbridgeproject.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/review-jez-butterworths-the-river-at-the-royal-court-upstairs/

Excited now about the play itself smiley-happy036


Jo

[jo]

I think The Man is a much more subtle character, less likely to arouse strong reaction or buzz. I hope I'm wrong; we'll see.

Hugh has tremendous stage presence - and if he delivers ( just like Dominic West earned rave reviews from the London staging) and maybe even more on the role - he may just give us the season's acting surprise! After having discovered ( on third reading ) what the character may be all about, now I have a fairly strong belief that the role will surprise many theatregoers as we reach the ending -- and cause people to rethink his whole acting in relation to what was unravelled. LOL - I do sound ambiguous

That is what may stun playgoers! And Hugh has the dramatic chops and the stagecraft to excite audiences!

The showy role that Bradley may portray has been portrayed in earlier stagings/productions and there will be inevitable comparisons, especially with the movie portrayal by John Hurt as directed by David Lynch ( where the big screen tends to highlight the subtleties of a showy performance compared to the stage)-- so I am not sure that it will be such a showstopper for BC.

We'll cross our fingers for a stunning performance by Hugh, Ellen

Jo