Two-time Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award winner Hugh Jackman will make his highly anticipated return to Broadway in what is widely agreed to be the greatest role ever created for an actor in the history of musical theater: Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson’s beloved classic, The Music Man. Two-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy superstar Sutton Foster will star as Marian Paroo. The production, directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle, will begin performances on September 9, 2020, and officially open on October 15, 2020.
One of the most universally cherished treasures of the American musical theater, The Music Man was an instant smash hit when it premiered on Broadway on December 19, 1957. It went on to win five Tony Awards, including the prize for Best Musical, and ran for 1,375 performances. The Smithsonian Institution ranks The Music Man as one of the "great glories" of American popular culture.
Jackman runs the show, it's his show as Harold Hill. He's deflated physically from playing Wolverine, probably from all the dancing, and the non stop action. He is what you look for in a Broadway leading man, full of charisma and optimism. He beams light from the stage. For me, though, it's all about Sutton Foster. They've even created a big tap dance number at the end of the show just for her (Jackman joins her but it's spotlight). When Sutton Foster grins you can see it from all over the theater. I was at the back of the orchestra but it was clear to see how much she was enjoying the show.
Certainly it feels like a glitzy, age-of-musicals move to cast Sutton Foster and Hugh Jackman; it's increasingly rare to see a pair of stage stars of this megawattage sing and dance together. Their celebrity and undeniable presence seem to have overcome any little concerns about fissures between the performers and their characters - there are places where Foster's mezzo strains in the high stuff and Jackman goes sour. But director Jerry Zaks solves that by bringing 'em front-and-center, to stand (or dance) on the stage lip and radiate Golden Age glamor.
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