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STAGE The Boy From Oz (2003) Carousel (2002)  Featuring Leonard Slatkin conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Cast: Hugh Jackman, Audra McDonald, Judy Kaye, Jason Danieley, Norbert Leo Butz, Lauren Ward, Phillip Bosco, Blythe Danner, John Raitt Synopsis: After the mill girl, Julie Jordan, marries that handsome, but uncivilized carousel barker, Billy Bigelow, things turn sour for the couple. Fifteen years pass before Billy is allowed one final chance to set things right with his wife and daughter. This performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical tragedy/romance was a gala benefit for Carnegie Hall on June 6th, 2002, part of the Richard Rodgers Centennial Celebration. Charles Isherwood, Variety: 'He acts with natural ease and has charisma to burn. He met the role's greatest challenge, the demanding "Soliloquy," with impressive wit, intelligence and authority. The audience responded with rapture.' Oklahoma! (1999)  Dir: Trevor Nunn Cast: Maureen Lipman, Hugh Jackman, Josefina Gabrielle, Shuler Hensley, Jimmy Johnston, Vicky Simon, Peter Polycarpou Synopsis: Breaking all Broadway box office records when it opened in 1943, Oklahoma! was the first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein - the legendary team who went on to create Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. Set in the Indian territory of the American West at the turn of the century - against a background of conflict between farmers and cattlemen - it is the story of Laurey and two rivals for her affections: Curly, a cowboy, and Jud, the hired farmhand. The National Theatre's production of Oklahoma! transferred from its sellout run at the RNT's Olivier Theatre to the Lyceum Theatre in London's West End in January 1999. The show was videotaped and is available on Region 2 (PAL) video and DVD from Amazon UK. Awards and Honors: Hugh garnered an Olivier Award nomination (UK's equivalent of the Tony) for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his performance as Curly. Matt Wolf, Variety: '...it's hard to imagine a more immediately charming Curly than Jackman, an Australian performer inheriting a role that in lesser hands can seem oddly smarmy...Jackman makes an appealing (and beautifully sung) case for a man who won't be left behind by the winds of change in "this here crazy country."' Production Info: Sunset Boulevard (1996) 
Dir: Trevor Nunn Cast: Debra Byrne, Hugh Jackman, Robert Grubb, Amanda Harrison, Tim Beveridge, Grant Dodwell, Clive Hearn Synopsis: Based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film, Sunset Boulevard tells the story of Norma Desmond, an aging silent screen star desperate to make a comeback, and her young lover, a struggling screenwriter named Joe. Although the musical begins with Joe's corpse floating facedown in Norma's pool--a feat accomplished by designer John Napier in the original production--it is the young screenwriter who provides narration for the entire story. The Australian production in which Hugh starred as Joe ran from October 1996 to June 1997; he later collaborated with co-star Debra Byrne on her album New Ways to Dream (in a duet from Sondheim's Into the Woods. Awards and Honors: Hugh received the Variety Club and MO Awards for Musical Theater Performer of the Year for Sunset Boulevard. Note: Unlike the British and American productions of Sunset, there was no recording ever made featuring the Australian cast. Though there are some MP3's floating around on the net claiming to be Hugh as Joe, they're actually Alan Campbell from the Los Angeles OCR. Production Info: Beauty and the Beast (1995) 
Dir: Richard Wherett Cast: Rachael Beck, Michael Cormick, Zachary McKay, Tony Geappen, Hugh Jackman, Ernie Bourne, Robyn Arthur Synopsis: Belle is a girl who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Maurice, Belle's father, causes the two to meet. The Australian production of the hit Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast was in fact recorded, and copies frequently turn up on eBay. Awards and Honors: Hugh received a MO Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for Beauty and the Beast. Trivia factoid: Probably the funniest anecdote you'll ever hear Hugh tell involves this production, a bout of dehydration and an unfortunate incident in his red tights. We'd explain, but that would be telling. <g> Production Info: Back to Filmography
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