Sarah Necoloff is a theatrical layman (although she has seen two stage productions in the past week), and a Hugh Jackman aficionado. She had a few things to say about Hugh's show (on now thru Sunday at The Princess of Wales theatre!) Read on!
Hugh Jackson charmed the pants (almost literally) off the matinee audience on Saturday.
He started with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning", which I assumed was because of the matinee timeslot, and I also immediately thought it was going to be lame...but his incredible voice won me over in mere moments.
Between each musical number he told little stories and quips about himself, his family, his Hollywood fame, and a number of jokes that were both timely and Toronto based. He was humble, hilarious and totally engaging.
I believe what made all of his performances so incredible was his obvious passion for the stage – I could genuinely feel how happy it made him to perform for me.
He sang songs from a wide variety of musicals -
Singing In The Rain, Guys and Dolls, and his most recent show
The Boy From Oz. As well as a tribute song to his father, and another stunning performance for Australia and its Aboriginal people.
I would say that any theatre buff would a) get way more of his references than I did and b) enjoy every moment of each performance.
As an employee of the film industry it became obvious to me very quickly that Fox Pictures must own his fine ass, as the Fox logo was prominently on display during the trailer reel of Hugh Jackman films (all distributed by Fox) and the orchestra was well-versed on the Fox Pictures logo interlude. Soooooooooo it was bit of overkill for the Fox Pictures corporate placement, but I also thoroughly enjoyed his recollections of how he became the Hollywood star that he is today.
Favourite numbers? I have two: one was him performing all 8 parts of the song at the same time, as he recreated an audition in his high school play
The Music Man....he turned it into a rap with a funky beat and danced as the youngin's do these days. Talented and hot.
The other wasn't performed by Hugh (we are on first name basis now) He had two backup singers with long Broadway resumes of their own...and they sung my very favourite from
Rent...”Take me for what I am”. Insert shivers to spine and tears to eyes.
To sum it all up: he took my breath away with his fantastic voice and charm… and also when he removed his jacket… and again when he rolled up his sleeves… and then again, one more time, when his top button popped open....but that's just because he is delicious.
If you are fortunate enough to see him while he is here....run, don't walk.
Mirvish has just released new tickets for the remaining shows! Click
here to book 'em!
Friday, July 15 at 8 PM
Saturday, July 16 at 2 PM
Saturday, July 16 at 8 PM
Sunday, July 17 at 2 PM.
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