Hugh Jackman sheds more light on his upcoming concert tour
Hugh Jackman performs on NBC's "Today" Show at Rockefeller Plaza Tuesday in midtown Manhattan. Credit: Getty Images/Dominik Bindl
Tony and Golden Globe Award winner Hugh Jackman offered more details Tuesday about his recently announced world concert tour, "Hugh Jackman: The Man. The Music. The Show."
Saying the production will include songs from musicals in which he's starred — including Broadway's "The Boy from Oz," the Carnegie Hall benefit production of "Carousel," the film "The Greatest Showman" and the West End's "Oklahoma!" — Jackman, 50, added it will also feature personal favorites "like some Irving Berlin. [And] I grew up watching those great Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire [movies and] I want to sing and dance and do compilations [from them]."
After telling "Today" last week that he would include songs from "stuff that I auditioned for that I didn't get cast for," he told Newsday during a gathering with a handful of reporters, that "I was being a little facetious." He added jocularly, "This is not a revenge show!"
The set list, he cautioned, is in flux. "Honestly, my show right now is about 4 1/2 hours long. It's all about cutting it down."
The roster of special guests also is incomplete. Keala Settle, who played bearded lady Lettie Lutz in "The Greatest Showman," is "gonna come and do a bunch of them. . . . I'm not sure which because she's getting offers from all over. I just texted James Corden the other day. I'm, like, 'Do you wanna come and do the Hollywood Bowl with me?' He goes, 'I'm in! That would be great!' "
Jackman's dream list includes Kristin Chenoweth, Sutton Foster, Kelly Clarkson and "Audra McDonald, who I did 'Carousel' with the first time I sang in America. By the way, I haven't asked any of them yet!"
Jackman laughed when asked if he expected former Roslyn Schools Superintendent and convicted embezzler Frank Tassone — whom Jackman portrays in the upcoming movie "Bad Education" — to come see the show. "Whoa!" he said, comically widening his eyes. "I dunno. Hope so!"
Hugh Jackman attends a Montblanc event in Manhattan on April 4. Credit: Invision / AP / Evan Agostini
The production, which includes a 26-piece orchestra and backup singer-dancers, plays Madison Square Garden on June 28 and 29. Tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. at HughJackmanTheShow.com.
