The Sydney Morning Herald reports that international superstar
Hugh Jackman--soon to be touring his native Australia in
The Boy from Oz--may soon be performing with the famed Sydney Theatre Company--in a straight play.
"Jackman
hankers to do a play for the company and has been negotiating with
its artistic director,
Robyn Nevin....A graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts,
Jackman says he has barely touched on his full depth and range as
an actor," according to the article.
I spent four years training in drama which I haven't actually
done...I love the immediacy of the
theatre … I want to do a straight play and there are moves
afoot. I think
Robyn Has done an incredible job," he said of the artistic director whose theatre company has drawn fellow movie star/stage stars such as
Cate Blanchett (who will make her directing debut there in November).
Jackman is will soon be reprising his Tony Award-winning performance as
Peter Allen in the Australian tour of
The Boy from Oz, which will play arena theatres in cities such as Sydney (where it will launch in early August), Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. In recent months, he has also been reported to be considering taking on roles in a possible Broadway revival of
Pal Joey and a new
Alan Menken musical based on the film
Leap of Faith (as well as starring in a possible film version of
Guys and Dolls). However, no plans have been confirmed.
The multi-talented Jackman was recently nominated for an Emmy for hosting the 2005 Tony Awards; he had previously won an Emmy for hosting the 2004 ceremony.
He was also nominated for the 1998 Olivier for Best
Actor in a Musical for his Curly in the Royal National Theatre's Oklahoma! A musical theatre veteran back in Australia, he played Joe Gillis in the 1996 production of Sunset Boulevard in Melbourne, and Gaston in 1995's Beauty and the Beast. Film credits include the X-Men films, Someone Like You and Van Helsing. X-Men: The Last Stand was released in May, and Jackman will also reprise his role as Wolverine in a spin-off movie of the same name. Other upcoming films include Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, Woody Allen's Scoop and an untitled film that will be directed by Baz Luhrmann. According to the Morning Herald article, it is "an outback epic film in which he will play a drover
opposite
Nicole Kidman."
