Hugh Jackman will return to Broadway during the 2013/2014 season starring as America’s greatest showman in HOUDINI, an original musical. Making his Broadway debut as librettist, Academy Award and six-time Emmy Award winner Aaron Sorkin will collaborate with three-time Academy Award and four-time Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz.
Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien, HOUDINI is presented by film and theatre producer Scott Sanders and David Rockwell. Mr. Rockwell will also design the sets for HOUDINI. Additional HOUDINI casting, creative team and design team to be announced at a later date. The show, when previously announced, was to feature music by Danny Elfman and lyrics by David Yazbeck.
One of the world’s most fascinating figures takes center stage in HOUDINI, an original and contemporary look at the life--and death--of America's first superstar.
“I have been deeply fascinated by the life of Harry Houdini since I was young, and in many ways I’ve been preparing for this role my whole life,” said Hugh Jackman. “I am thrilled to be collaborating with this collection of artists who are all at the top of their game.”
"Rather than being a biography, HOUDINI--told in a contemporary tone--tells the story of an epic battle that took place between the world's greatest illusionist and a trio of women, known as 'Spiritualists', who convinced millions of people, including the editors of Scientific American and The New York Times, that they could communicate with the dead,” said Aaron Sorkin. “The chance to collaborate with Stephen Schwartz, Jack O'Brien and Hugh Jackman on a new Broadway musical is a huge gift."
BIOGRAPHIES
Hugh Jackman (Harry Houdini) has uniquely balanced a movie and theatre career that has made him a star on Broadway as well as at multiplexes around the world. On stage, he won critical kudos and awards for the Australian productions of Sunset Boulevard and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. In London he starred in Trevor Nunn’s staging of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at The National Theatre. This was followed by his Broadway debut portraying the 1970’s singer-songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz, for which he received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a musical as well as Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards. Hugh Jackman made his first major U.S. film appearance as Wolverine in the first installment of the X-Men franchise, a role he reprised in the enormously successful X2 and 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. He reprised his role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, one of the most successful ‘prequels’ of all time. On February 22, 2009, Jackman took on the prestigious role of Oscar host as he fronted “The 81st Annual Academy Awards.” Previously, Jackman served as host of the Tony Awards three years in a row from 2003-2005, earning an Emmy Award for his 2004 duties at the 58th annual ceremony, and an Emmy nomination for the following year. In the fall of 2009, Jackman made a return to Broadway in a sold-out engagement of Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain co-starring Daniel Craig. Other films Jackman has starred in include Darran Aronofsky’s The Fountain, Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, Woody Allen’s Scoop and opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia. In addition, he leant his voice to the animated features Happy Feet and Flushed Away. He has also played leading roles in DreamWork’s Real Steel, Someone Like You, Swordfish, Van Helsing and Kate and Leopold, for which he received a 2002 Golden Globe nomination. Hugh just finished a record breaking, SRO run at New York’s Broadhurst Theatre in Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway. Early this year he will begin filming the screen adaption of the musical Les Miserables, directed by Tom Hooper.
