Review: Hugh Jackman Headlines Hollywood Bowl's 2025 Season Opener

To kick off the official start of its 2025 season, one of the world's most iconic venues, the Hollywood Bowl, welcomed more than 10,000 guests on the evening of June 7, 2025 for its opening night concert "An Evening With Hugh Jackman," featuring the celebrated Australian-born stage-and-screen star performing high-energy numbers accompanied by the lush, grandiose sounds of the Hollywood Bowl orchestra under the direction of Principal Conductor Thomas Wilkins, as well as the Senior graduating musicians of the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) who joined them on select numbers. 

In addition, the opening night celebration also raised more than $2.6 million to support the LA Phil and its learning and community programs.

The one-night-only concert not only showcased the Bowl's impressive hometown orchestra, the show also served as a refresher to all in attendance as to why Jackman—already a recipient of an Emmy, a Grammy, two Tony Awards, and an Oscar nomination—is one of the most energetic, affable, and remarkably exuberant song-and-dance men working today. 

Who knew a muscled action star could be extracted from such an effortlessly natural musical theater creature?

Thanks to an impressive marathon of songs that included hit selections from his many memorable roles throughout his career—from the hit movie musical The Greatest Showman and the film adaptation of Les Misérables, to his roles on Broadway musicals such as the 2022 revival of Meredith Wilson's THE MUSIC MAN and the 2003 Peter Allen bio-musical THE BOY FROM OZ—the now 56-year-old Jackman solidified his status as a talented, versatile entertainer and, yes, a funny, personable, all-around nice guy. 

For the opening night concert's first act, the Hollywood Bowl orchestra began with, of course, the Star Spangled Banner, followed by Sergei Prokofiev's March in B-Flat. They then followed it up with a lively suite of songs from THE MUSIC MAN—an obvious nod to the evening's headliner. Soon after, graduating Seniors of YOLA joined the orchestra on Ethan Chaparro's "A Troupe's Cadence" which drew enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Finally, the short first act ended with another nod to Mr. Jackman, a suite of themes composed by John Ottman specifically from the Jackman film X2: X Men United, one of the many films that featured the actor in, arguably, his most iconic recurring big-screen role he has ever played, the tortured mutant hero Wolverine in the Marvel X-Men Cinematic Universe.

The appropriately much longer, more than 90-minute second act, of course, was all about Hugh. 

Preceded by a sort of mega-mix prologue of Jackman's musical career highlights (snippets included his voice from Oklahoma! among other musicals he's done), the actor then came out in a fancy tux, strumming along on an acoustic guitar while singing Neil Diamond's "Crunchy Granola Suite," which, we soon learned, will be one of several Diamond covers he'll be doing throughout the night—all of which were to serve as special previews of his next big project titled Song Sung Blue, a brand new film releasing on Christmas Day later this year. Based on a true story, the film—which co-stars Kate Hudson—follows the journey of a couple that perform in a Neil Diamond tribute band. 

Next, Jackman proudly revisited a couple of songs from The Greatest Showman, the hit pre-Disney-acquired Fox movie musical that he somehow thought not everyone would know or have seen.

"If you've never seen the [movie], you might think this guy's super confident…" he prefaced before tackling one of several songs from the film he will revisit at the concert.

Well, he certainly was, and Jackman channeled that confidence in his encore of the film's celebratory opening number, "The Greatest Show" followed by "Come Alive," which he performed with enthusiastic gusto—a quality he certainly shares with not only the real-life showman he played in the film, P.T. Barnum, but also the lovable con-man he portrayed in the 2022 Broadway revival of THE MUSIC MAN, bandleader Harold Hill.

And to further channel that showman confidence, Jackman then surprised patrons (or at least those seated within the Bowl's "Garden Circle") by climbing down into the audience, then sprinting up and down the aisles while singing "Ya Got Trouble," the fast-talking showtune from his most recent Broadway triumph that earned him a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical (as well as the heart of his leading lady Sutton Foster). As a delightful surprise, he even stopped for a minute at the Box I happened to be sitting in! Oh what a moment! 

In a hilarious running bit throughout the evening, Jackman reminded the Bowl audience that, yes, there was a strict curfew imposed on patrons of the bowl, so he was going to do his best to adhere to this policy (he even projected a "redacted" set list to show the concert's progress). Alas, he felt he may not be able to comply because he, of course, tended to talk and banter a lot—something the audience didn't seem to mind in the least.

He then went back to the Diamond songbook next, explaining how proud and excited he was about his upcoming role in that movie musical releasing in movie theaters later this year, which led to lots of enthusiastic audience participation in "Sweet, Caroline," Diamond's signature call-and-response ditty.

The audience-supported camaraderie he elicited in that song was an easy enough segue to a touching song penned by Greatest Showman's songwriting team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul: "You Will Be Found," the inspiring anthem from the duo's Tony Award-winning musical DEAR EVAN HANSEN. For this bit, Jackman had a grand piano brought on center stage, which helped him fulfill an apparent life-long dream of playing piano at the world-famous venue, even though, humbly, he admitted that his talents behind the ivories are pretty minimal compared to the accomplished, highly-trained musicians that make up the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

"Please forgive me," he sheepishly asked, "I've only had a few lessons back when I was very young."

That sort of humility coming from a big star would, perhaps, seem false or forced from other A-listers like him, but Jackman continuously sells it with genuine, endearing panache. Throughout the evening, he took many opportunities to not only thank the backstage crew and the hardworking musicians at the Bowl, he also took time to highlight his trio of impressive back up singers—Adam Halpin, Lauren Blackman, and Salisha Thomas Weiss—making sure to sing their praises with emphatic punctuation. This was certainly evident during Jackman's spirited duet with Halpin on "The Other Side" (again from The Greatest Showman) and his many adorably sweet mentions of Weiss' "Plus One"—referencing the fact that she was singing up a storm on stage 5 months into her pregnancy (congratulations!)

Midway through his program, Jackman mixed things up by repeatedly jumping genres and timelines from one song to another that kept the audience on their toes. Gorgeous dramatic interpretations of "Stars" and "Valjean's Soliloquy" (both a nod to his role as Prisoner 24601 in Les Mis) were sandwiched between enjoyable tributes to the likes of John Denver, Frank Sinatra, and his hero, the subject matter of his Tony-winning role in BOY FROM OZ, Peter Allen.

In his cheeky cover of Denver's "Thank God I'm A Country Boy," Jackman joked that he decided to insert six new verses to turn the song into, natch, "Thank God I'm an Aussie Boy" to pay homage to his roots. Another famed Australian, Allen, got a longer, even more reverent medley from Jackman that included rousing covers of his famous compositions like "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)," Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud," Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You," Allen's touching tribute to Judy Garland "Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage," and, the ultimate conga-line anthem "I Go to Rio" that had Jackman gleefully urging the audience to shake vigorously to the rhythm.

He then welcomed back the senior class of YOLA back on stage to play alongside the Bowl Orchestra on the touching "A Million Dreams," another saccharine-laced song from The Greatest Showman, a fitting climax to the work of these accomplished young musicians, followed by a stirring Sinatra medley that included familiar standards "Fly Me to the Moon," "That's Life," and, naturally, the "Theme From New York, New York."

A dazzling display of fireworks high above the Hollywood Bowl accompanied his flourish-heavy penultimate number, "From Now On," from, you guessed it, The Greatest Showman.

Fittingly, he ended the concert with another Allen song, the message-laden "Once Before I Go," a song about looking back and cherishing one's life with no regrets—and to emphasize the enduring strength of love and the importance of hanging on to one's memories of loved ones, whether good or bad. It was certainly a touching note to end his thoroughly entertaining concert on, giving the supremely likable Jackman another chance to genuinely thank the warm reception he received from the audience—a sentiment he definitely earned. 

* Follow this reviewer on Bluesky  / Instagram / Threads / X: @cre8iveMLQ *

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Concert Photos by Timothy Norris, courtesy of the LA Phil / Hollywood Bowl.

Tickets to upcoming performances at the Hollywood Bowl may be purchased online at HollywoodBowl.com, by phone at 323-850-2000, or in person at the Hollywood Bowl box office. The Hollywood Bowl's 2025 season runs through Sunday, September 28, 2025. For tickets or for more information on the 2025 Hollywood Bowl season, visit hollywoodbowl.com.

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