Jackman Considering 'Joey' and Taking a Leap of Faith

According to UPI, Hugh Jackman is indeed interested in returning to the Broadway stage.

However, he is no longer torn between productions of Pal Joey and Stop the World, I Wanna Get Off, as was previously reported. The Tony Award-winner now is contemplating a choice between the Rodgers and Hart musical, a musical based on the film Leap of Faith, and a play.

"I'm doing a workshop of an original piece, based on the movie Leap of Faith, with Alan Menken writing it and Taylor Hackford directing it. It really fits into a musical, trust me. It's all about performances," stated Jackman, who also said he is considering Pal Joey and a play that he did not name.

Leap of Faith is a 1992 film that starred Steve Martin and Debra Winger. With a screenplay by Janus Cercone and direction by Richard Pearce, it concerns a scamming faith healer who finds it difficult to keep a veil over everyone's eyes while stranded in a small town. Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and John O'Hara's groundbreaking 1940 musical Pal Joey similarly follows a title character who practices deception--the amoral and charismatic entertainer Joey Evans.

The multi-talented Jackman won a Tony Award for his performance of Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz--which he will take on a tour of his native Australia beginning this August. He was also won nominated for the 1998 Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical for his Curly in the Royal National Theatre's Oklahoma! A musical theatre veteran back in Australia, he played Joe Gillis in the 1996 production of Sunset Boulevard in Melbourne, and Gaston in 1995's Beauty and the Beast. He also won an Emmy for hosting the 2004 Tony Awards. Film credits include the X-Men films, Someone Like You and Van Helsing. X-Men: The Last Stand will be released on May 26th, and Jackman will also reprise his role as Wolverine in a spin-off movie of the same name.

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