Revisiting Back on Broadway Reviews

[jo]

Unfortunately, the reviews were posted in our original forum parent because the show happened in 2011.

I was looking for any photos of Hugh singing the SOLILOQUY ( the more famous one, from Carousel, and not the newly-discovered powerful interpretation of Jean Valjean's song of redemption), to see if the OVEREXPOSED image he has just posted on Instagram may have come from the Broadway show. I do remember his folded sleeves for that number. But I could find neither stolen photo or clip from that number.

Maybe it is my memory cells -- but I cannot recall ever having read some of the reviews that I have just found. But it is amazing to see how his SOLILOQUY is always particularly cited!

I only recall the love letter review from Ben Brantley

But here are some of the others, so unabashedly complementary of his talent and charisma, they seem to have taken a lesson from Brantley!


This one is from Matthew Murray of TALKIN' BROADWAY ( mother site of ALL THAT CHAT) who can be quite acerbic with his critic's tongue


www.talkinbroadway.com/page/world/HJBOB.html

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway
Theatre Review by Matthew Murray - November 10, 2011

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway Direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle. Music direction by Patrick Vaccariello. Scenic consultant John Lee Beatty. Costume design by Willina Ivey Long. Lighting design by Ken Billington. Sound design by John Shivers. Video design by Alexander V. Nichols. Cast: Hugh Jackman, Robin Campbell, Kearran Giovanni, Anne Otto, Lara Seibert, Hilary Michael Thompson, Emily Tyra.




Chances are that, given all the time he's spent playing Wolverine in the phenomenally successful X-Men movie franchise, Hugh Jackman is not exactly hurting for money. But should he ever find himself in dire need of an extra billion, he could raise it overnight by bottling either his charisma or his stamina. If he could find some way to combine both in a single product, not even the exosphere could limit his earning potential. Luckily, ordinary people don't have to wait for that unlikely miracle of chemistry, because they can expose themselves to deliriously satisfying amounts of both qualities simply by buying a ticket to Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway.
Assuming they can nab a ticket, that is—and for this engagement, which is playing at the Broadhurst only through January 1, that won't be easy. (Or inexpensive.) The good news is that, if you get your hands on one, this is hardly a bargain-basement affair designed to cheaply capitalize on the mega-star singing and dancing at its center. Certainly no event such as this one needs a supporting cast of six (gorgeous) chorus girls, let alone a 18-piece orchestra (under the dynamic baton of Patrick Vaccariello), and at one point a cameo appearance by an Australian aboriginal quartet. Jackman alone onstage with a single pianist would have no trouble selling out for 10 weeks. What's immediately and consistently clear is that Jackman, Vaccariello, and director-choreographer Warren Carlyle care only about putting on, as they used to say, a hell of a show.

And do they ever succeed. But how could they not with Jackman? He's that ridiculously rare quantity: a performer with the guts and raw talent necessary to be equally at home in the highest echelons of both film and theatre. He flashed his stage chops in both his native Australia and London before stepping foot on the boards in the U.S., but when he did—with The Boy From Oz in 2003—the hype proved justified. Not only could he croon and prance through the mammoth role of Peter Allen eight times a week for a year, but he could also transform a middling-to-poor outing into an electrifying evening you knew you'd tell your grandchildren about. Even many of today's dedicated stage names have trouble with that.

But Jackman made it look effortless then, and he doesn't seem to be straining any more now. In fact, the lengthy tribute to Allen in Act II of Back on Broadway is, if anything, even more exciting and affecting, because the relationship Jackman fosters with the audience is cultivated rather than squelched. You feel the depth of his humanity in numbers like "Best That You Can Do," "Don't Cry Out Loud," and "Tenterfield Saddler" just as powerfully as you do his good-time-seeking nature in "I Go to Rio" or in the exultant movie medley of classics like "Singing in the Rain" and "Sing Sing Sing" that follows.

All this works because Jackman spends the first act establishing and developing his rapport with the audience. This takes several forms: encouraging everyone to snap their fingers as the background rhythm to "Fever," setting so many female hearts aflutter when he descends into the audience to josh with those in the front rows that you can practically hear them, building up the expectation for his initial entrance by singing the opening lines of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" offstage in the grand Oklahoma! tradition.

Jackman's show-biz reminiscences comprise a full replication of his "I Won't Dance" montage from the 2005 Tony Awards broadcast, ironically cataloging the dewy-eyed moments of his movie career with "L.O.V.E.," and telling a particularly touching story about his father making a rare visit to New York to see his son in the 2002 Carousel concert at Carnegie Hall—which Jackman then follows up with an unexpurgated version of that show's epic "Soliloquy" (sounding even better now, may I add, than he did at that performance).

This isn't to say that every choice made for the show is perfect. John Lee Beatty's vague scenic setup emanates a borderline cheesy 60s variety-show vibe; and William Ivey Long's costumes and Ken Billington's lights, though fine, are nothing special. And some musical decisions are head-scratchers. Jackman doing a one-man "Rock Island"—yes, that one, from The Music Man—to chronicle his first-ever audition for a high-school play is almost surreal, even if it's factually accurate. And "Over the Rainbow" sounds a bit bizarre when used as a background ditty to provide extra atmosphere for what amounts to a travelogue of the Outback (this is where that visiting Australian ensemble comes in, by the way).

In this case, however, these are pointless nitpicks, because Jackman makes everything—everything—work. The force of his smile, which always looks rooted to the same core of slyness you see behind eyes; his suave, purposeful dancing; and a deceptively strong yet decidedly natural singing voice that transforms even the most soaring musical phrases into intimate conversation. He's as at home in jazz and swing as in traditional musical theatre. He's a masterful improv artist. He's a crack storyteller. His comic timing could not be better. If there's anything Jackman cannot do, his show offers no clue as to what it may be.

Isn't that exactly what a star should do: convince you that, while you're in his presence, no one else on Earth matters? The cool and confidence Jackman projects his every second onstage are inspiring—or rather, they would be if he ever called attention to them. But no: He makes two solid hours of what must be exhausting work look like something he dashes off two or three times before breakfast on a daily basis. Of the myriad gifts Jackman displays in Back on Broadway, this is his most developed, and the one that makes the strongest impression.

So strong, in fact, that it's hard not to leave the theatre depressed at the prospect that he might wait another seven years before returning to Broadway in a musical. True, his career will continue to flourish regardless. But New York theatre is much more energetic and exciting when Jackman is a living, breathing, and radiant part of it.

[jo]

Hugh fan Adam Green of VOGUE.COM writes a blissful review

www.vogue.com/873709/theater-hugh-jackman-is-blissfully-back-on-broadway/

Culture > Theater

Hugh Jackman is (Blissfully) Back on Broadway

ADAM GREENON THE C TRAIN, EN ROUTE TO THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSICON THE BEST PART OF REPORTING ABOUT BROADWAY'S SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK IN “KA-POW!” (PAGE 246).
November 11, 2011 10:05 am
by Adam Green



Looking for a jolt of the giddy intoxication that comes with falling head over heels for someone and discovering that the object of your affection is crazy about you, too? Get to the Broadhurst Theatre, where Hugh Jackman opened last night in his deliriously buoyant new (almost) one-man show, Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, and get swept up in the love affair between a great performer and his audience. The merest nod, wink, or smile from the preposterously handsome Australian star (never mind a swivel-hipped rendition of “Fever”) is enough to elicit squeals of delight and send the crowd—woman, man, straight, gay, young, old—into a kind of collective frenzy. An unwitting civilian who happened to wander in halfway through the show would probably take one look around and mutter, “Get a room.”

Jackman, of course, is a big-screen action hero and leading man, but as he confesses at one point during the evening, “I kind of like being onstage singing and dancing”— he holds up his thumb and forefinger, squinting as he pinches them together—“a little bit more.” No kidding. Anyone who saw his breakthrough performance in the 1998 Royal National Theatre revival of Oklahoma! or his 2003 Tony-winning turn as the Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz (and if you didn’t, he reprises highlights from them here) knows that Jackman was born for the musical stage. A once-in-a-lifetime combination of talent, looks, charm, and charisma, he radiates a joy in what he’s doing that moves through the theater like the spirit of God on the face of the waters. In short, the guy’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Jackman opens the show by making his entrance from the wings in a black suit and an open-collared shirt, giving a goose-bump-making account of “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ” with aw-shucks ease. And he closes with a double encore of “Mack the Knife” and “Once, Before I Leave You.” In between, backed by a swinging eighteen-piece orchestra and six thoroughbred chorus girls, he spends two hours or so crooning, tapping, kicking, strutting, and mamboing through a personal tour of the 20th-century American (and Australian) songbook, with stops along the way for self-deprecating anecdotes, topical wisecracks, and audience banter (Ralph Lauren and Regis Philbin took some friendly fire the night I was there).

Highlights include a tribute to the golden age of movie musicals, a stirring rendition of “Soliloquy” from Carousel, and a gleefully athletic song-and-dance that covers the waterfront from “I Won’t Dance” and “Gotta Dance” to “I Feel Pretty” and “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty.” When he comes out for act two—sheathed in gold lamé as Peter Allen—and launches into a Boy From Oz medley, careening from the super-campy (“I Go to Rio”) to the deeply moving (“Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on the Stage”), it almost causes a riot.

Sure, the evening, directed and choreographed with verve and precision by Warren Carlyle, is more of a deluxe nightclub act than a unified piece of theater, and it certainly doesn’t stint on the schmaltz. But it’s a perfectly crafted vehicle for Jackman’s colossal talent and his unmatched ability to give everything he’s got, generating the kind of pure showbiz electricity that hasn’t been felt, one imagines, since the days of Judy at the Palace or Sinatra at the Sands, while making it look effortless.

And then there’s that thing he’s got going on with the audience. At one point during the night I saw the show, a woman in the mezzanine shouted, “I love you!” Jackman stopped, looked in her direction, flashed her a grin, and said, “I love you too. I just think we should see other people.” Do yourself a favor: Whatever it takes to get a ticket before the show ends its limited engagement on January 1, make sure that you’re one of those people.

[jo]

www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/hugh-jackman-back-broadway-theater-260250

Breaking house records with grosses of $1.2 million a week, the movie star makes a long-awaited return to singing and dancing after his Tony-winning role in "The Boy From Oz."

NEW YORK – Unless someone is sitting on lost footage of Bruce Willis in a kickline, it’s hard to think of an actor in the last 50 years with the combined skills of a bona fide action-movie star and a dedicated song-and-dance man. That puts Hugh Jackman in a class of his own, where he seems tickled to be in his solo showcase, Back on Broadway. Jackman stops (just) short of giving lap dances, but in every other way, he’s a full-service entertainer.

Rat Pack comparisons will no doubt be made, and it’s true that Jackman summons shades of Frank, Dean and Sammy in his effortless blend of suave self-assurance and disarming self-deprecation. The guy is charm personified. And he most definitely embraces the old-school Vegas rule of never doing a number when you can do a medley. But there’s also something of the Judy/Liza tradition in his ability to get on cozy terms with a crowd, and not only while singing “Over the Rainbow.”

At the first press performance for the limited New York engagement, Jackman held the audience in the palm of his hand -- flirting, teasing, sharing personal memories and forging a connection that extended to the ushers and security staff. He jokingly acknowledges the chasm separating the steel claws of Wolverine from the steel-heeled tap shoes of a 21st-century Gene Kelly. It’s the ease and enthusiasm with which he straddles that divide that make him such a winning personality.

While Jackman reportedly has been keeping an eye out for a musical stage vehicle since his 2004 Tony-winning turn in The Boy From Oz, this act came together quickly when Fox’s production schedule on The Wolverine was pushed back. Refined during tryouts earlier this year in San Francisco and Toronto, it boasts polished direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle and dynamic music direction by Patrick Vaccariello.

It’s a solo show with major bells and whistles, given that Jackman shares the stage with six female backup dancer/singers, an 18-piece orchestra, and at one point, a quartet of Indigenous Australian vocalists and didgeridoo players. If all that sounds slick and calculated, it is and it isn’t. What makes Jackman such a throwback to another age in entertainment is his knack for injecting even the glitziest package with spontaneity and heart.

There’s a loose thread running through the show pegged to important calls Jackman has received over the years, and his typically Australian response to every challenge: “Yeah, I’ll have a go.” That applies to playing a brooding mutant with manicure issues, hosting the Oscars, or fronting this cabaret-act-on-steroids.

He points out the dilemma of being under contract to Fox and required to bulk up for his next Wolverine stint while inevitably shedding pounds onstage eight performances a week. That yields a medley built around the song, “I Won’t Dance.” But of course he does, in a workout that incorporates fragments lifted from Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim and… K.C. & the Sunshine Band.

That kind of musical eclecticism is a constant in the show, though it’s refreshing how few concessions Jackman makes to more contemporary tastes. When he does a hip-hop riff on an a cappella number from The Music Man, it’s a throwaway gag, not an apology for his unabashed love of musicals. That passion is explored in a full-throttle tribute to the movie musical – most of them MGM, but for transparent reasons, conspicuously led by the Fox logo and fanfare.

While Jackman doesn’t preview his role as Jean Valjean in Tom Hooper’s upcoming screen version of Les Miserables, he dips into past career highlights, among them Oklahoma! (which he performed in London with an unfortunate perm), Carousel (from a Carnegie Hall concert that occasions a lovely anecdote about his father) and The Boy From Oz.

That extended set allows Jackman to camp it up wildly as he slips into flamboyant Peter Allen mode and body-hugging gold leather and lamé. He playfully blurs the line between character and performer – notably in a saucy bit of coquetry in which he challenges the drummer to keep track of every butt-popping gyration with suitable accompaniment. Jackman appears to be winking at the audience, as if to say, “I know what you’re thinking and I don’t care.”

He makes no claims to being the world’s greatest singer or dancer. Jackman’s voice leans toward the nasal side at times, but he compensates with tremendous power. And while his dance moves stick within a limited range, his energy and limberness go far beyond. Basically, he sells it, which in the age of the techno-spectacle, is something rare and magnetic. It’s obvious that he’s having a blast up there, and his enjoyment is contagious.

[jo]

www.vulture.com/2011/11/theater-review-hugh-jackman-back-on-broadway.html

Theater Review: Hugh Jackman Is Your Best Broadway Pal

By Scott Brown




SNIKT!, any comic-book fan can tell you, is the sound of Wolverine’s spring-loaded claws lancing out from betwixt his manly X-knuckles. It’s also, I suspect, the sound that goes through Hugh Jackman's head whenever he successfully pulls off another improbable career move. Action-movie star and Broadway song-and-dance man? No worries, mate. (Even Mandy Patinkin couldn’t pull that off in his prime, and he was Inigo Montoya-you-killed-my-father-prepare-to-die.) For someone who once accidentally stabbed himself in the face with his own Wolverine claws, Jackman seems universally adroit, whether he’s grapevining through a movie-musical medley, slaying the high note in “Soliloquy” from Carousel, plugging his upcoming turn as Jean Valjean in the film version of Les Misérables, or segueing didgeridootifully into an infomercial for his nonprofit foundation for the preservation of Aboriginal culture. All of these things and more occur in Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, a one-man show where branding and bonhomie fuse in a martini shaker of old-fashioned showmanship, and the Troy McClure absurdity would overwhelm us if the man were one iota less impressive. By the end of the night, you’re ready to buy just about anything off Hugh: Amway, the Brooklyn Bridge, Berlusconi futures. SNIKT! You’re sold. It’s nearly impossible to emerge from the Jackman corona with anything other than the impression that you’ve just spent an evening not just with great talent but also with a great pal.

That’s because, of Jackman’s many gifts — the brilliantine charisma, those lissome limbs, that adamantium tenor, sometimes vaguely metallic but never less than penetrative — the greatest is his simple Aussie hospitality. Winks, endearingly cornball lines, leaps into the audience, enough mid-song shout-outs to exhaust even Wayne Newton: The guy can flirt with a crowd and make them feel like they started it. He knows how to shrink a room without making himself any smaller: A little song, a little dance, a little Foster’s down the pants. (Not down Hugh’s pants, though: Judging from the surface tension of his gilt Peter Allen getup, retrieved from his Boy from Oz trunk, ain’t nothing’s gonna get between the moon and New York City, if you know what I mean.) Sure, there’s a fizzy orchestra, a bevy of undulating lovelies singing backup, but really it’s just you and Hugh. (Is this a date? Or just a couple of dudes hanging out, shooting the breeze? Neither, either, and both.)

That, sir, is the real razzle-dazzle, a rare thing, and rarer still on an eight-nights-a-week schedule. Before a half-hour’s passed, we’re watching his reel. His reel! His film reel! In his presence, we feel privileged to experience something we choose to ignore on Netflix Instant every single day. And as the clips from Kate & Leopold and Swordfish roll by, as Hugh croons “L.O.V.E.,” we catch the not-so-hidden message: I do this crap to pay the bills, theater patron, but oh, I’d so rather be here with you. We sigh. And SNIKT! he’s got us again.

[jo]

www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/a-star-shines-brighter-than-ever-on-broadway-1.870536

Theater review: 'Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway'

By ROBERT FELDBERG



Personal attributes, we all understand, are distributed unevenly among the population.

Still, there ought to be an investigation into how one man, Hugh Jackman, can possess all of that charm and performing skill. And come across as the nicest guy in the world.

The star of the "X-Men" mutant films, as the comic-book character Wolverine, the ruggedly handsome Australian actor is also a superb singer, capable dancer and possessor of a thousand-watt personality.

He knows exactly what his fans want, and he gives it to them in generous measure in the entertaining "Hugh Jackman, Back On Broadway," which opened Thursday night at the Broadhurst Theatre.

It isn't strictly a one-man show, since Jackman has six backup singer-dancers and a full orchestra, as well as several guests — Australian aboriginal performers — at the very end of the evening.

But, really, it's all about him.

Jackman and director-choreographer Warren Carlyle haven't attempted to reinvent the star-concert. The low-concept show's elements are very typical.

Jackman tells amusing stories, accompanied by film and photos, about his life, career and family; he plugs several upcoming movies; he ventures into the audience to joke with the ticket-buyers, and invites one to come on stage.

He performs several song medleys — an essentially unsatisfying form, which he makes tolerable — including one in which, dressed all in gold, he impersonates Peter Allen.

Jackman soared to stage fame in New York in 2003, playing the flamboyant Allen in the bio-musical "The Boy from Oz," and his reprise of that event, paying homage to Allen's songwriting talent, is high-energy fun.

Perhaps one of the few straight actors willing to adopt a gay persona, Jackman also spoofs Allen's homosexuality in the number. It's done a little excessively, but Jackman is so obviously doing it in the spirit of good-natured merriment, it's hard to think anyone would be offended.

The show's best moments, for me, were when Jackman simply sang an entire number. With his ability to honor a song as written, yet also interpret it in his own style, he did a haunting version of "Tenterfield Saddler," a quiet number Allen wrote about his heritage, and a compelling "Soliloquy," from "Carousel."

Additionally, Jackman delivered a hilarious rendition of "Rock Island," the a cappella patter number from "The Music Man," singing all eight parts — as he said he did when it was his audition song for his first high school musical.

The wide-ranging selections included a showy version of the disco "One Night Only" and a tender "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

[mamaleh]

Jo, thanks for posting all those reviews. In particular, I'd forgotten that the usually acerbic, I-hate-everything Matthew Murray gave HJ such a glowing review.

I truly hope HJ's next Broadway outing is a musical, whether cabaret-oriented or book-style.

Ellen

[jo]

I've been thinking --

He would probably prefer to do a cabaret-oriented show, but still rooted in musical theatre. This is also the practical thing to do, as it could run on a limited basis. New musicals are almost impractical for him, because that takes a much longer commitment and he might prefer shorter engagements so he can pick up other career options. Houdini did not flourish as he hoped it would.

I have always thought he is such an excellent musical theatre leading man type that he could do a show which is like repertory -- he does all the leading man roles, such as in a show featuring slices of various Rodgers and Hammerstein major musicals? Or it could be shows with different composers featuring different musical eras of Broadway? Or if he wants it to be dance-oriented, he can focus on selected shows known for their dance highlights ( ala Jerome Robbins Broadway). He likes Warren Carlyle...but I think he should try working with Kenny Ortega again from the arena show in Australia ( remember the Fosse-like Legs Diamond number? ).

But there is still THE GREATEST SHOWMAN to film...and to promote ( as well as the last Wolverine movie). Will he want to follow Showman with a musical show on stage?

Jo

[jo]

I just came across this review from BACKSTAGE ( casting/talent agency usually for theatre actors) --

www.backstage.com/review/ny-theater/broadway/hugh-jackman-back-on-broadway/

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway
By Erik Haagensen | Posted Nov. 10, 2011, 5:36 p.m.




Photo Source: Joan Marcus


There are definitely better singers, finer actors, and more-accomplished dancers out there than Hugh Jackman. There are even bigger stars. But I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone else in show business today who can levitate an audience the way Jackman is doing right now in his not-exactly-one-man musical show at the Broadhurst Theatre. Combine his potent triple-threat capabilities with unstinting charisma and bottomless geniality and the result is one of the most memorable performers ever to grace a Broadway stage in my lifetime.

"Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway" is basically a club act writ large, but as it doesn't pretend to be anything more, it's endlessly enjoyable. Director-choreographer Warren Carlyle stages it with smooth style, backing his star up with six lovely and leggy chorines and a smoking 17-piece onstage band under Patrick Vaccariello's swinging baton. Scenic consultant John Lee Beatty's understated work is jazzed up by William Ivey Long's snazzy, sexy costumes and Ken Billington's dancing lights. As is usually the case for such an outing, the material is a mix of songs associated with roles that Jackman has played and new material, with the accent heavily on a Broadway and Hollywood repertoire.

Highlights include an amusing and intricately put-together medley near the top in which Jackman insists that "I Won't Dance" because he's busy bulking up for his next Wolverine movie and terping takes too many pounds off. Of course, he not only fails in his announced resolution but goes on to dance up a storm before the night is through. A ringing pairing of "I Happen to Like New York" and "On Broadway" (with a smidgen of "Lullaby of Broadway" thrown in) makes surprisingly congenial bedfellows out of Cole Porter and the Barry Mann–Cynthia Weil–Jerry Leiber–Mike Stoller songwriting team. Act 2 features a medley of iconic songs from classic film musicals that demonstrates Jackman's versatility and includes some particularly good work from Carlyle, whose choreography gracefully invokes indelible screen moments without slavishly copying them. Jackman also scores big with his closer, a gloss on the popular Bobby Darin recording of "Mack the Knife."

The star opens Act 2 in character as performer-songwriter Peter Allen, the fellow Australian Jackman played on Broadway in the 2004 "The Boy From Oz," winning a Tony for his pains. We ultimately get seven Allen songs from that show, including some Jackman didn't get to sing then, and the sequence is not only a tour de force but also reminds us that Jackman was doing one hell of an acting job in that part. The evening even offers an emotional climax, when Jackman brings on stage four Australian aboriginal musical performers—Clifton Bieundurry, Paul Boon, Olive Knight, and Nathan Mundraby—who hauntingly embellish "Over the Rainbow" with their indigenous musical sounds as Jackman explains his love for their people and his country, a sequence enhanced by Alexander V. Nichols' stunning video montage.

A large part of Jackman's appeal is his intimate bond with his audience. When the star is addressing them or telling stories, they even feel empowered to talk back, something Jackman, a born flirt, clearly enjoys and plays off of adeptly. They love his willingness to make fun of himself, here displayed in a re-creation of his very first audition. He was 14, the show was "The Music Man," and he played all eight salesmen in the famous rhythmically spoken opening number, "Rock Island." It's a hoot.

My two favorite moments of the evening were the opening, with Jackman singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" in character as Curly, a role he played for Trevor Nunn in London, and the first-act closer, a beautifully acted rendition of Billy Bigelow's "Soliloquy" from "Carousel." The man is a superb singing actor, and as entertaining as his current outing is, I long for the day when he's back on Broadway creating a leading role in a new book musical.

Too bad the performance was not recorded. I would like to have gotten a keepsake YouTube clip of his Carousel SOLILOQUY -- so beautifully-acted and so emotionally-compelling!

Jo

[jo]

And we need to reprint the review by NYTimes's Ben Brantley --

www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/theater/reviews/hugh-jackman-back-on-broadway-at-broadhurst-review.html?mcubz=0

'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway'
A Master of Mass Flirtation

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway Broadway, Broadway, Solo Performance, Pop, Musical, Revue Closing Date: January 1, 2012 Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W 44th St. 212-239-6200

By BEN BRANTLEY
NOV. 10, 2011



Hugh Jackman practices safe sex like nobody else. His sweet-and-hot new show “Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway,” which opened on Thursday night at the Broadhurst Theater, is a great, guilt-free platonic one-night stand. O.K., so maybe the guy tends to run on about himself (his dreams, his job, his family, you know the drill) and cracks a few too many hokey jokes.


But when he gets down to business, this dream date delivers. And even when he’s grinding his hips before front-row patrons at eye level, you know that with Mr. Jackman there’ll be no morning-after regrets or feelings of sleaziness. He is, in his gold lamé way, as perfect a gentleman as anyone your grandmother swooned over at the Roxy. You half expect him to send you (and everyone else in the theater) flowers the next day.

The impossibly talented, impossibly energetic Mr. Jackman is a glorious dinosaur among live entertainers of the 21st century: an honest-to-gosh old-fashioned matinee idol who connects to his audiences without a hint of contempt for them or for himself. A movie star with a major action franchise (as Wolverine in the “X-Men” series), Mr. Jackman says he’s happiest as a song-and-dance man, the kind who conducts mass flirtation with a wink, a wriggle, a firmly handled melody and maybe a cane and some tap shoes.

This hot-ticket concert, previously seen in San Francisco and Toronto, has had writers comparing Mr. Jackman to fabled entertainers like Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra (in his pre-chairman-of-the-board days). If Mr. Jackman isn’t in that league (and I wouldn’t dare try convincing the audiences at the Broadhurst that he isn’t), it’s only because he’s too nice, too sane.




"Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway," and impossibly energetic, at the Broadhurst Theater.
Credit
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times


There’s never that lurid, dangerous threat in the air that he might just fall apart (as there was with Garland) or turn nasty (as with Sinatra and the rawer rock ‘n’ roll idols of the last third of the 20th century). On the other hand, you never think that he’s some synthetic, airbrushed illusion — like many of the stadium-playing chart toppers of today — held together by smoke, mirrors and synthesizers.



No, Mr. Jackman is palpably present and in his own skin. You feel you could reach out and touch him, and you may well have occasion to as he works the aisles of the Broadhurst, where his show runs through Jan. 1. That’s what he’s there for: to connect, to love and to be loved. And he makes it clear from his first entrance — striding across the stage, hitching up his pants over his lean hips and raising his eyebrows companionably as a fan emits a passionate squeal — that he’d be oh so easy to love.

That’s love in a major key. Mr. Jackman sings the occasional ballad, but he’s more in his element in sunlight than in shadows. Born in Sydney, he makes much of being a game-for-anything Aussie, always up for a drink, an adventure, a good time. This is not to suggest that there’s anything remotely slapdash about his performance in this show, which is directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Mr. Jackman dances with a Rockette’s precision and makes sure that his lyrics (sung with a hint of an outback twang) land with clarity and meaning.

Of course those moves and words wouldn’t count for nearly as much if Mr. Jackman didn’t inflect them with infectious affection for what he’s doing. He is as much of a classic musical-comedy nerd as any character on “Glee” and a lot more authentic.




Hugh Jackman on Broadway with, from left, Kearran Giovanni, Lara Seibert and Emily Tyra.
Credit
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times


He establishes his Broadway bona fides in his opening number. His voice, a capella, precedes him onstage, singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” from “Oklahoma!,” the show that established Mr. Jackman as a musical star to reckon with when he appeared in it 13 years ago at the National Theater in London. And he concludes the first act with a beguilingly sincere version of Billy Bigelow’s “Soliloquy,” from another Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, “Carousel.”

In between he croons, belts, twirls and shimmies through several high-powered medleys — tributes to New York City and the irrepressible urge to dance (in which “I Won’t Dance” segues into “gotta dance!”). He has smooth assistance from a terrific onstage orchestra (with musical direction by Patrick Vaccariello) and a comely sextet of dancing backup singers. The second act finds him blissfully reincarnating a man who has become an alter ego for him (and the opposite of the manly mutant Wolverine).


That’s the pansexual, endlessly insinuating Peter Allen, whom Mr. Jackman portrayed to Tony-winning perfection in the 2003 bio-musical “The Boy From Oz.” (Channeling Allen provides the chance for Mr. Jackman to get as close to down and dirty as he allows himself in this show.) There is also a sprightly homage to the Hollywood movie musicals Mr. Jackman says he watched on television on Sunday afternoons in his boyhood (after finishing rugby practice, mind you) and an earnest novelty rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” performed by Mr. Jackman and aboriginal musicians from Australia.
The topical jokes and misty reminiscences that mark time between musical numbers are standard issue at best. And you should know that there are (oh dear) perky video montage sequences. (Mr. Jackman as a lad, Mr. Jackman with his son, Mr. Jackman in various movies).

nyti.ms/2vkllbb
Hugh Jackman sings “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” in his 2011 concert on Broadway.

I usually wince when performers truck out self-celebrating scrapbook stuff. But Mr. Jackman presents this material with a deflating air of not humility exactly or self-mockery, but rather an ingratiating sense of how absurd, silly and wonderful it is to be a real-live star who can make grown women (and men) tremble just by smiling.

For that’s what this show is all about, finally: the erotically charged, two-way relationship between a star and his fans. The Playbill for “Back on Broadway” makes it clear that sex is what this production is selling. It shows Mr. Jackman looking surly with a two-day stubble and a large-headed microphone rising straight up his chest.

The Hugh Jackman that awaits you inside is friendlier than that, not to mention clean-shaven. And I promise you he won’t do anything untoward with his microphone. All he asks is that you love him loving you loving him. And it’s pretty close to impossible to deny him that.

[mamaleh]

Great review. I remember seeing Brantley outside the theater, leaning on the building, lost in his thoughts. And I don't believe that was opening night. So he must have made return trips (sound familiar?) to the Broadhurst. Imagine that.

Ellen

[jo]

Following his review of BACK ON BROADWAY, Ben Brantley wrote a controversial article on Hugh Jackman, The Performer. It drew mixed reactions ... and if you read through the 41 responses, one gets more insights on how Hugh is viewed as a performer ... and some brickbats towards Mr. Brantley.




www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/theater/how-hugh-jackmans-two-sides-make-women-swoon.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Theater | Arts & Leisure

Hugh Jackman Keeps His Pants On

By BEN BRANTLEYDEC. 8, 2011





Hugh Jackman with fans after the opening night of his Broadway show.
Credit
Charles Sykes/Associated Press


IT takes two to be Hugh. The most adored performer on Broadway at the moment is, without question, Hugh Jackman, both of him. “Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway,” at the Broadhurst Theater, has created this season’s most virulent case of box office fever by presenting the snazziest single double act New York has known since Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner played Siamese twins in “Side Show” 14 years ago.

Technically, you may object, there’s only one Hugh Jackman. He’s that strapping, muscle-flexing actor who plays the manly mutant Wolverine in the lucrative “X-Men” movie franchise. But wait a minute. Isn’t he the swivel-hipped song-and-dance man who won a Tony Award in 2004 playing the epicene entertainer Peter Allen in “The Boy From Oz”?

The point of Mr. Jackman’s show — which ends its limited, sold-out run on Jan. 1 and is the hardest ticket in New York to come by — is that he contains, if not multitudes, then a teeming crowd of two. Eight times a week he clefts himself in twain for the delectation of largely female audiences who love him just for his selves. Let’s face it. Mr. Jackman is, unapologetically and triumphantly, the bi-est guy in town: bicultural, bimorphic, binational, biprofessional and, for entertainment purposes, bisexual.


I’m really not talking about sexual identity here. Well, I am, but only in a Platonic sense. Mr. Jackman makes a point of reminding us throughout his fleet-footed show, which combines musical numbers with an “All About Hugh” narrative, that he’s a long- and happily married man, and I have no evidence to the contrary. But despite — or perhaps because of — his firmly affirmed marital status Mr. Jackman often gleefully comports himself onstage in the manner of what, in less enlightened times, might have been called a flaming queen.



Hugh Jackman, rugged show-tune lover.
Credit
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times



Mr. Jackman, though, would like to make it clear that a fellow can wallow in a splashy, dance-crammed Vincente Minnelli film like “The Band Wagon” and still be a sweaty ace on the playing field. (That’s one of the lessons of the television series “Glee” too, but Mr. Jackman claimed the territory first.) Growing up in Sydney, Australia, he tells his audience, he couldn’t wait for Sunday afternoons, when the local television station would show old movie musicals. But please note that the young Hugh would sit down to bliss out on Busby Berkeley only after rugby practice on Sunday mornings.
This dichotomy shapes both the form and content of “Back on Broadway,” which is directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, lending it a wholesome, all-embracing eroticism that would seem to be more appealing to women than to men. (That’s certainly been confirmed by the demographics of audiences I’ve seen there.) The show unfolds as a point-counterpoint presentation of, if you will, the yin and yang of Hugh.


His opening number, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” is from “Oklahoma!,” the most classic of classic musicals, in which Mr. Jackman starred for the National Theater in London in 1998. He played Curly the cowman, a reminder of when musical-comedy heroes were virile guys’ guys and shy showoffs with women. The first of act of “Back on Broadway” ends with Mr. Jackman embodying another, similar Rodgers and Hammerstein figure, singing the “Soliloquy” of Billy Bigelow, the burly carnival barker from “Carousel.”

In between, though, Mr. Jackman slips out of the clenched-fist, working-clothes persona of the Rodgers and Hammerstein man and into something more shimmery. He confesses — and succumbs — to urges to swing his hips and tap his toes. A medley centered on the song “I Won’t Dance” becomes an anatomical, Jekyll-and-Hyde study of a man being seduced by Broadway rhythms, erupting into show-boy choreography despite himself.




Hugh Jackman signing shirts for Broadway's AIDS charity.
Credit
Richard Perry/The New York Times



Mr. Jackman explains that this sort of dancing gives him a lithe, lean body that is markedly different from that of the bulked-up Wolverine he plays in the “X-Men” films, and he shows us movie footage to illustrate the difference. The producers of “X-Men,” Mr. Jackman says, worry about this transformation from mesomorph to ectomorph. But watching “Back on Broadway,” you feel that if he chose, he could regrow those missing muscles on the spot. He doesn’t of course. Instead, his body becomes even more serpentine for the top of the second act, and the show’s high point.

This is the sequence in which Mr. Jackman, in second-skin gold lamé, reincarnates the pansexual Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen (who died of AIDS in 1992). Though Mr. Jackman has been flirting with the audience since the show began, as Allen he progresses into serious polymorphous foreplay. Conducting an erotic dialogue with a drum beat (and the drummer who provides it), he’s about as far from Curly as Oklahoma is from Australia.


Australia itself is the focal point for other illustrations of Mr. Jackman’s double-sided nature. While he serenades Manhattan with a smitten rendition of Cole Porter’s “I Happen to Like New York,” he lets us know that even as a Gothamite, he remains an easygoing, outdoors-loving Aussie. And when he sings “Over the Rainbow,” he performs it with four indigenous Australian musicians and a new mystical-sounding arrangement.

Singing “Over the Rainbow” on a Broadway stage is throwing down a gauntlet. That’s the song most associated with Judy Garland, whose concerts at Carnegie Hall half a century ago are remembered as the ultimate transcendent love affairs between a singer and an audience. Because of his intimate rapport with theatergoers, Mr. Jackman has been compared to Garland. And there’s a classically Garlandesque moment in “Back on Broadway” when he reaches from the stage to clasp the hands of audience members reaching up to him.

But, oh, what a gap separates Le Jackman and La Garland. She too embodied the performer as a divided self, but in a far more frightening (and, yes, exciting) way. She was perhaps the ultimate example of the star who loved and hated the anonymous souls who loved her, who needed them and resented them in equal measures. Accounts of Garland in concert often speak of the suspense of them, of never knowing if she might suddenly turn on her audience or herself.



Hugh Jackman sings “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” in his 2011 concert on Broadway. By 'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway' on
Publish Date
November 10, 2011. . Watch in Times Video »
Jo's Note : Video is uploaded from YTube.


That same nervous anticipation emanates from the one-woman shows of Garland’s daughter Liza Minnelli, who, for the record, was briefly married to Peter Allen. Will she make it all the way to the final curtain? The answer to that question seems to hinge on the amount of the adoration her audience is willing to give her. Even an utterly in-control, spectacle-camouflaged pop artist like Lady Gaga exudes a raw hunger — for the embrace of the little monsters in the dark — that provides a titillating edge of discomfort. And a swaggering macho hip-hop artist like Kanye West has been known to melt down onstage into orgies of self-abusing revelation.


From the era of Billie Holiday to that of Amy Winehouse, singers with cult followings have often seemed poised over a black of hole of pain that might swallow them at any moment. When Garland did “Get Happy,” it was perceived as a triumph of style over sorrow. The relationship between this kind of performer and the audience is always tinged with sadomasochism. Mr. Jackman generates no such frissons. His erotic energy is purely and pleasurably consensual. For some women his double-jointedness makes him the perfect platonic lover: part leading-man seducer (who gives you the best sex you never had), part gay best friend (who picks up your spirits by singing show tunes with you).

And for all his charm and charisma, as a singer of standards, he isn’t nearly on Garland’s level as an interpretive artist. I think that’s partly because — matters of vocal talent aside — there’s no discernible friction between the different Hughs, no danger of internal combustion. His emotional arithmetic is clear-cut, elementary-school-level division.


I recently went back to a Wednesday matinee, after which he auctioned off items of apparel he had worn that day for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. He raised at least $28,000 that afternoon, and it’s worth itemizing the tab: two sweat-soaked undershirts (at $10,000 apiece) and a gold belt he wore as Peter Allen ($8,000).


So there were mementoes from both Hughs. But I never felt he was selling off pieces of his heart, which I assume is equally divided. (Whose isn’t?) That organ he keeps to himself, and I suspect that he’ll live the longer for doing so.

[jo]

The article drew 41 responses, in some cases quite strongly-worded

Let me reprint the criticisms, positive and negative! The mix is probably better balanced than theatre boards and other fanboards.

Btw, I plead quilty for having sent in the second most recent response, written much later on.

Robert Segal Boca Raton, FL May 8, 2012
I thought that most of the criticism of the critic Brantly was misplaced and unfair. I found his review insightful and very positive with regard to his respect for Jackman.
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jo philippines April 10, 2012
I am writing this some three months after his one-man show has closed. Why - because another image has emerged. Hugh Jackman, in the first official photo from Les Miserables, looking like the grim and wretched convict Valjean from Victor Hugo's pen. He will still be singing here but this portrayal is not meant to entertain us as his Broadway show did. It will not show the two performing sides that Ben Brantley tried so hard to define in his article. Rather, it is meant to bring us a story of faith and redemption... and in this dramatic tale set in 19th century France, albeit in musical form, we hope to see another side to the performer that is Hugh Jackman. A fine actor who makes another portrayal memorable and resonant, in a totally different way! Who knows, it may well be the film role that Oscar will hail next year!
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Rygan Rio de Janeiro December 19, 2011
Mr.Brantley makes a great gift to all of us, change job. Without losing yourself in a thousand insinuations, would have been sufficient to do a easy Google research. Here is the explanation to you: Male dance moves catch a woman's eye, and it's so since time immemorial before the male dancing was mortified by accusations of homosexuality, it's a scientific fact fully explained on the website rsbl royalsocietypublishing com "Male movements serve as courtship signals in many animal species, and may honestly reflect the genotypic and/or phenotypic quality of the individual. Attractive human dance moves, particularly those of males, have been reported to show associations with measures of physical strength, prenatal androgenization and symmetry. such movements may form honest signals of male quality in terms of health, vigour or strength. Listen to me, change job Mr. Brantley...
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JW Dobbs Ferry, NY December 19, 2011
I'm fairly astonished at those who've torn into Ben Brantley's admiring assessment of Hugh Jackman. I suppose I should be amused at the infinite variety of interpretation, but mostly I'm annoyed at the narrow-mindedness.

A special note to those who've detected sour grapes in Brantley because Mr. Jackman isn't "available" to him: Of course Jackman is available to Brantley. That's clearly Brantley's point -- that the hallmark of a great performer is his or her infinite availability.
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J here December 16, 2011
I can't think of anything more insidiously terrible than Hugh Jackman, or any red meat eating male for that matter, prancing about shirtless in a silly musical. And if that isn't enough salt in my eye, having a NY Times journalist try his damndest to infer that we men ALL need to channel that same sexual ambiguity.
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Bill Burlington, CT December 16, 2011
My choice to play Sir Harry Flashman...
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spenyc NYC December 21, 2011
Brilliant!
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Craig Haffner New York December 14, 2011
They are the "It" men !! Hugh Jackman on stage and Ben Brabntley's energetic recounting of it. Bravo to both.
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Eddie Lew December 13, 2011
Hugh Jackman has that "thing" that Marilyn Monroe had: he absorbs and reflects back our fantasies and wishes, in a totally innocent, charming manner (I hope his life is happier than her's though), This is what makes a star. There is a certain talent to it, but it's mostly organic and shouldn't be explained away.

We can go into Mr. Jackman's mind and question why he needs the adoration of the crowd - clearly he does need the infusion, or he wouldn't go through such a grueling ordeal eight times a week. But why analyze and spoil the magic he exudes, and absorbs back, in a genuinely good natured manner?

Mr. Brantley merely expressed his "desire" for Mr. Jackman, that which is "understood" by those lucky to be in the audience and enjoy the lovefest live, We just don't write about it, or even express it too loudly. It's a totally innocent orgy of love and appreciation between a star and his audience, which will radiate a lasting afterglow for all those fortunate people who participated..
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Yankee Texan Austin, TX December 13, 2011
I great enjoyed reading this exquisitely written article. In fact, it was so rich for me, I had to read it few sittings just to pace myself. Also it looks like Hugh lost some weight. Maybe that's why he was selling his shirts.
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Ju Monteiro Rio de Janeiro December 13, 2011
Mr. Jackman is a great professional, one of the nicest guys in the Hollywood and Broadway world, thus, he deserves all respect.

Brantley wrote: “Let’s face it. Mr. Jackman is, unapologetically and triumphantly, the bi-est guy in town: bicultural, bimorphic, binational, biprofessional, and, for entertainment purposes, bisexual.”

The only conclusion that I have about Mr. Brantley's affirmation is: Envy is a complex and puzzling emotion!
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Freddie New York, NY December 13, 2011
As to the subject of the article, are people paying (really donating to Broadway Cares) $10,000 to get a sweaty shirt because Mr. Jackman is a top-notch actor or showman? No, it’s because of the attractiveness of the star who wore it, and I think Mr. Jackman is aware of how his attractiveness fits into, well, the attraction. There is no reason an honest theater critic should pretend it is not a key element in the case of this show.

Maybe the thing to do is come up with some title when Mr. Brantley or any of the critics write an article reflecting an audaciously real human point of view, a diary, or a journal entry, as one of the other commenters said. Those of us who look forward to the online London Theater Journal and the Theatre Talkbacks are used to the critics letting their hair down, figuratively doing away with some of the safe remove, and becoming real people with us readers.

I truly value knowing more about the people whose advice I’m following when choosing what to see. They write and analyze with much more skill than we generally do, and that’s why they have their jobs – but it’s good to feel assured that there’s a real live person there as well.
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Dee Western New York December 12, 2011
When I was 13, I desperately wanted John Lennon to marry me.
Now that I am an adult, when I see a film or go to the theater, all I want is that the performer do his job and make me laugh, cry, think, get angry, or be amazed and delighted.
All the ticket holder has the right to expect from Hugh Jackman is that he do his job.
It's really juvenile to expect more from a professional than that.
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Richard OH December 12, 2011
Why did the editors let this get printed? There's a point of view in the article that's valid, but it's written as if it's a journal entry. I felt like I was invading Brantley's privacy. The piece could have used a good edit and a rewrite.
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frosty7530 Philadelphia, PA December 12, 2011
Hugh Jackman deserves all that praise & more, definately, and along with Jarrod Spector (lead Jersey Boy) one of the hottest men to ever grace the Broadway stage. I hope Hugh makes a video out of his sold-out show so those of us who weren't able to go go, will at least be able to see that.

Better yet, I hope & pray Hugh continues to sing & dance. We've got enough action figures.
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Michael Rochester, NY December 12, 2011
Um . . . er . . . Mr. Brantley, exactly how many times have you been to see the hottest ticket on Broadway, hmmm?
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Tory San Francisco December 12, 2011
Reading some of the angry comments posted to this article makes me truly worried about the poor reading comprehension skills of the posters.

While I can certainly quibble with some of Mr. Brantley's comments, I must say that those who are upset about this review are truly mistaken about what they think Mr. Brantley wrote.

(1) He did NOT state or imply that Mr. Jackman is gay or bisexual. He accurately stated that Mr. Jackman has played a gay/bisexual character. I am at an utter loss as to how Mr. Brantley was supposedly homophobic in his review as one poster alleged.

(2) He did not state or imply that there is anything wrong with straight men liking musicals, or enjoying singing or dancing. He accurately referenced some misguided societal notions about what the enjoyment of musicals by men supposedly implies. He did not say he shared these views.

(3) He did not say he wanted to have sex with Mr. Jackman. And, whether he does or does not have such desires is completely irrelevant to his review.

I think certain posters either need to take remedial reading or choose reading material geared toward their level of comprehension.
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Sedgie NYC December 12, 2011
Ben Brantley's "review" reveals more about him than it does about Hugh Jackman. And most of all, what was the purpose of this second review?

I've seen "The Boy from Oz" and the current show twice and when I watch Mr. Jackman onstage, his sexual preferences do not even enter my mind. Because really who cares? All I see is the consummate performer sharing his love of performing with his audience. He is known to be an incredibly nice human being who loves his life, his family and, yes, his fans. And, in the end, that's all that should matter.
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john b New York December 12, 2011
Perhaps Ben Brantley is just disappointed Hugh didn't take his pants off ~ Jackman is a great performer who isn't afraid to show off his talent ~ he appeals to men, women and those who claim they can't stand Broadway musicals. I took my neighbor, an elderly gent, who hasn't seen a Broadways show since, well ~ Mame which we dragged him too, also. He loved Mr. Jackman, of course, and said 'what a guy!

Enough already ~ the guy is a charmer who has more talent than any of us have in one finger. Keep it up Hugh Jackman your a wonderful showman.
Reply 6Recommend



Bruce Spokane, WA December 13, 2011
"Perhaps Ben Brantley is just disappointed Hugh didn't take his pants off..."

Well, I know I'M disappointed... *swoon*
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TeriLyn Friday Harbor, WA December 12, 2011
"...the performer as a divided self" is a feeble description of Jackman's efforts to beat the commercial entertainment's insistence on a performer as a single consumable entity. Jackman has always had more talent, facets, experience than could be dealt with. Yet he insists on saying they exist. They refused to cast him as Curley when "Oklahoma" moved to the U. S. and so he proceeded to win a Tony for the Allen show. What a laugh. And the joke is on the commercial entertainment machine that has to have a single market-able idea, byte, or "face" in order to proselytize its products.
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-- Mary Campbell portland, oregon December 12, 2011

Mr. Brantley, Freud called, he wants his outmoded homo theories back!
This is quite possibly the weirdest summary of a performer I've ever read! It felt the writers own convoluted sexual drama knitted over Mr. Jackman like an ill-fitting sweater! Is the writer attempting to "out" him or express his desire to be with him? What of the "objective" data like sweaty t-shirts going for ten grand? Can't a straight man love a "wink wink" gay pursuits like musical theater? I love changing the oil on my car -- does that make me a lesbian? Jackman's wife Deborah Furness is an very talented actress adored in Australia and was quite famous before her husband broke through the stratosphere. That do have a family together. I'm sure Miss Furness finds your "interpretive" piece in the Times hilarious! Their kids are gonna love it.

Also to compare the insipid Glee to anything on level remotely related to what Hugh Jackman does is over-the-top completely out of touch.
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riggs boston December 12, 2011
The emphasis Mr. Brantley places on Mr. Jackman's sexuality is confusing ... and troubling, for a so-called professional to project so much about the life a man who is (by all accounts) happily married.
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Tess Harding Lake Placid, NY December 12, 2011
This odd review seems to reveal more about the strangeness of the author's perception than anything about Mr. Jackman and his talent.
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dc lambert nj December 12, 2011
Mr Jackman is really sensual and very attractive to a straight woman. That's actually part of his appeal. He gives no gay vibes at all. But who cares? I don't understand how Brantley got it so wrong, but I REALLY don't understand what his point is. It comes off as sounding like he's jealous that Jackman isn't available to him. Or that he's homophobic. Or something. Next time, please have a review that is a review.
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Liat S New York December 12, 2011
I saw the show last week, on a Wednesday, so he had done a show a few hours previously, and it was just electric. He held us (and yes, there were more women in the audience than men, but that's often the case in musicals) in the palm of his hand and he was so... just so charming! You let yourself fall a little in love with him and I did think of Liza Minelli, who I saw a few years ago, and thought to myself, I'm seeing a master here at the height of his powers, and it was a genuine pleasure I was happy to pay for.

If you get a chance, get a ticket, it's so worth it!
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Hans Christian Brando Los Angeles December 12, 2011
Come on, Ben. Just come out like a man and say "I'm attracted to Hugh Jackman and am annoyed that I can't have him." Honey, we all are, but we get over it.

Peter Allen was not epicene. Flamboyance was not exactly an anomaly in the '70s.
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Cliff Asheville December 12, 2011
What a pretentious, stupid article. The guy is a popular entertainer doing his best to give people a couple hours of fun, and suddenly he's subject to this kind of sexual analysis?

Does Brantley really hold himself in such high esteem as to think he is qualified to put an actor on the psychosexual couch? One suspects that is where he, himself, would like to be, along with Mr. Jackman. Ah, but who would be on top, and who would sing, "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life" while unzipping gold lame pants? Hey, there's the topic for Mr. Brantley's next piece. It could be a new low, even for him and for the NYT editors that allowed this insult to be published. Get to it!
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Sara Fink Seattle December 12, 2011
I hope Hugh & his wife are drinking their coffee and laughing hysterically
at Mr. Brantley's ridiculous homophobic rants.
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JayEss Australia December 12, 2011
It's interesting that in one of Hugh Jackman's first films (paperback hero - 1999) he plays a butch road train (very long big rigs) driver who writes romance novels under a female pseudonym. He also does some fairly camp dancing in a couple of Lipton Ice Tea commercials.

Hugh ain't gay but he's not afraid of his feminine side (a lot more than I can say for most aussie blokes).

I'm not gay either, but I have to admit the bloke is hot...
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OJ Melbourne, Australia December 12, 2011
What a strange piece from Mr Brantley. Hugh is as straight as a die and to review his abilities on stage from a rather queer angle is roughly akin to analysing NASCAR through the eyes of the local embroidery group.

Hugh's a talented professional performer and I and my fellow Australians are proud of both him and his various successes. He can sing. He can dance. He can act. And he works hard ... really hard. Add to those characteristics the fact that he's a straight up-and-down family man and he's become a great role model for aspiring men and women - in any field of endeavour - anywhere in the world.

He's not your sort, Mr Brantley, and you've somehow left a skunkish odour around the place. Pity!
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Dan TO December 12, 2011
definitely swoonable
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Dan TO December 12, 2011
the only label that applies to Huge Ackman? Crowd Pleaser!
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PicklesB Charlotte December 13, 2011
Hugh Jackman's universal appeal is a characteristic missing from most of today's male stars. Many stars find that one path excludes them from another (action star and leading man vs. singing & dancing). I think Jackman's approach should be the model for the future marketing of ALL stars. You probably have heard Gwyneth Paltrow sing right? This is a trend I would like to see much more of in the future. Embrace ALL your talents to become worthy of public admiration. Well done Mr. Jackman!
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Nick R. Chatham, NY December 12, 2011
Hugh Jackman is a genius. He is a great performer.

Ben Brantley is a great critic, always thoughtful, always able to put his finger on the one thing lacking that might have put a show over the top.

But in this case, Brantley's longing for the tragedy of a Judy Garland or Liza Minelli is understandable but misguided. Their sadness resonated with audiences, particularly gay men, who could never be who they were in their time or place, the same sadness as the blues before the Civil Rights movement. People denied freedom are sad.

Hugh Jackman's joy, and what resonates with audiences is, in fact, the opposite. Hugh Jackman could be gay--it wouldn't matter. And that is what he is trying to say. There is a new generation of men who have little fear of their supposedly feminine sides. The joy of being Hugh is that even if a bigot were to hurl anti-gay slurs at him, he would probably feel pity for the ignorant pig before choosing not to punch his or her lights out.

For Hugh Jackman, I think the joy is about being who we are, to hell with anyone who puts you down. Some of the same joy is found in Gaga. As for the needs of the audience? While they used to wallow in self pity with Garland and Minelli, now they want to share self-pride even if they haven't the tools to take it for themselves.
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athinker Lufkin, Texas December 11, 2011
you really need to get some critics without sexual hangups
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Mark W watchung December 11, 2011
Why is there a double standard for black men? Put a handful of black guys in matching turquoise or peach, have them sing and dance in close harmony and voila! we have the Temptations (or whoever). Put glitter and funny hats on men from Bosnia or Mexico and the audience assumes they are all butch, straight men. Do the same with white guys and people scream, “Gay!!!!”

The only exception is rap or hip-hop. As long as the dance is sexual and the lyrics are angry, white boys can sing and dance on stage and still be “straight”.

It wasn’t always like this. The generation that fought one of the biggest and deadliest wars liked musicals: the performers who starred in Broadway shows and musical films entertained soldiers overseas. Lavish movies with singing and dancing were shown to the troops. But now those same films are considered “gay”. Strange, isn’t it?
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Sean Martin Montreal, PQ December 11, 2011
I honestly cannot tell if Ben is happy or upset that Mr. Jackman isnt available to him. This is a most bewildering article — it's not "okay" for a straight guy to like musicals? It's somehow "unacceptable" for a straight guy to be a good dancer? By doing these things, one has to call in the question of Mr. Jackman's sexuality?

How very... American of you.....
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Bob Y Palm Springs, CA December 11, 2011
There is something quite repulsive in this article. Even though Jackman feels compelled to show his happy hetero life, But this article just doesn't know when to stop. The writer seems to have a theme that is slightly homophobic, and just goes going and going and gooing....
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Judy Manhattan December 12, 2011
And it's the second time he's written this same article.
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Ruth Stevens Vancouver, WA December 11, 2011
I completely disagree with Ben Brantley's review. I have seen Hugh Jackman' s show in various locations seven times and as a woman, I would say that he projects a powerful masculine vibe.

The worst thing about the review is that it gives a totally false impression of Hugh Jackman's show. Mr. Jackman exudes joy and happiness as he sings and dances some great popular music. That is why people are flocking to his show.

How could Mr. Brantley get it so wrong? I could but won't speculate about his sexual predilections.
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From a distance of 6 years since he was in his one-man show, would you like to share any comments?


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

ONCE BEFORE I GO -- at the closing show of BACK ON BROADWAY!