By Karen Carter | Posted on September 10, 2019 2:58 PM
Hugh Jackman Returns To Broadway Playing A Con-Artist In Meredith Willson's The Music Man, Which Is Similar To His Movie Role In Bad Education
The Greatest Showman Stars In One Of The Greatest Shows
The beloved Broadway show The Music Man will return to Broadway on Wednesday, September 9th, 2020. The show is back on The Great White Way for the first time in 20 years and this time around, the show stars the world renowned actor and producer, Hugh Jackman in the lead role of Professor Harold Hill. Jackman never seems to stop working either in TV shows, movies or live on stage.
The Music Man is starting its in-preview performances right after he finishes acting in roles for two movie productions, one based in Hollywood and the other in Australia.
Hugh Jackman Accolades
Jackman started his acting career in 1995 after he graduated from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in communication with high marks and he never thought he would be able to turn the thing he loved doing the most, into an actual career.
Jackman's impressive film reel
Jackman’s biggest claim to fame was for playing as the human/mutant superhero Wolverine, in Marvel’s X-Men movies. Wolverine is a crime-fighting and peace-keeping hero who possesses superhuman strength, a keen animal like sixth sense and iconic claws that grow out from his fists.
He recently played the corrupt, lead character Frank Tassone, in the British movie, Bad Education,based on the real life events of the largest public school white-collar crime in history, and took place in North Hempstead, NY. Jackman played the superintendent of schools, who embezzled millions of education-intended tax dollars for himself and his colleagues, to buy conspicuously lavish homes in The Hamptons.
Jackman's Broadway street cred
His theatrical career has been littered with great acting and good fortune with four previous Broadway performances that include; Boy From Oz, A Steady Rain, The River and Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway. Jackman finds himself only one award away from gaining the elusive EGOT, but he will need to get an Oscar from the Academy Awards to achieve this title and his greatest movies have been too populist which does not lend well to awards season.
Role in The Music Man Rewritten for Jackman
Similar to his role in Bad Education, Professor Hill in The Music Man is a con-artist. The character attempts to trick parents in River City, Iowa into buying music instruments and marching band uniforms for their children, that he will not actually provide. With the intention of leaving the town once all of the checks are written, his plan is foiled when he falls in love with the school music teacher. This performance is Hugh Jackman’s fifth appearance on Broadway.
Hugh Jackman's Other Interests
Jackman currently leads multiple philanthropic organizations, including the Laughing Man Coffee company, which he launched in 2011 after his sponsored trip in 2009 to Ethiopia with the human development foundation, “World Vision”. On his trip Hugh met some Ethiopian coffee bean farmers who produced some of the best coffee in the world (due to the rich soil and high elevation), but were only paid about 4% of what American coffee bean producers made for a similar product.
He made the company a “fair trade” brand, which ensures that all workers and middle men who work with his company are paid appropriately for their work. All profits from the company go to support educational and community development programs in third-world countries across Africa. Jackman is also one of the top contributors to “Broadway Cares” and “Equity Fights AIDS” funds as he has helped raise over a million dollars for each of the charities.
