Tony Winner Hugh Jackman Eyes Return to B'way in Pal Joey Revival
Will Tony winner Hugh Jackman headline Pal Joey on Broadway in the spring of 2007? According to The New York Post, plans are afoot to bring the star of stage and screen to the Great White Way in a revival of the classic tuner directed by Matthew Bourne and Joe Mantello.
Jackman has hosted the Tony Awards three times and earned rave reviews and a Tony Award for his performance as Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. He will reprise his role in the tuner in an Australian tour later this year. A musical theater veteran, with Australian productions of Beauty and the Beast and Sunset Boulevard among his credits, Jackman also earned an Olivier Award nomination for his performance as Curly in the National Theatre production of Oklahoma! in 1998. He also starred as Billy Bigelow in a Carnegie Hall concert of Carousel in 2002. Jackman's film career took off with a high-profile part in X-Men. He has since appeared in the movies Someone Like You, Swordfish, Kate & Leopold for which he earned a 2002 Golden Globe nomination, X-Men 2 and Van Helsing. He will be seen on the big screen later this year in Scoop, The Fountain and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Pal Joey, which first opened on Broadway in 1940 and has had three revivals, features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and a book by John O'Hara. The plot centers on Joey, an opportunistic cad who always seems to land on his feet. He elbows his way into a job at a seedy Chicago nightclub and is soon juggling the affections of a naive chorus girl and a wealthy society dame who just happens to be married. Once Joey has charmed the socialite into setting him up in his own joint, he ditches the chorine and is riding high, playing the big-time operator. When a punk threatens to spill the whole business to the socialite's husband, she decides that she's bored with Joey anyway, dumping him and the club. Having had a taste of his own medicine, you'd think Joey would head back to the sweet kid who really loves him, but you'd be wrong.
