Apparently you have until September 12 to catch this star vehicle. The
performance of Hugh Jackman, this year's Tony Award winning actor in a
musical, has been the reason to go see this show ever since its opening last
October. Mr. Jackman is under contract through September 12 but will have to leave
the show at that time to start work on another movie that will be seen by
millions and make him a great deal more money than even the highest priced
contract for eight shows a week before a maximum of 1,421 paying customers.
What happens when a star leaves a star vehicle? All too often the show keeps
going with a replacement that disappoints and the producers finally close
the show when the income drops below the running expense. The producers
of The Boy From Oz, on the other hand, have tended to do the right
thing at each stage of developing and running this show. They even shut down
the show when Jackman had a scheduled vacation or a conflict. They are
showing just as much class at the end by announcing that when he leaves, the
show closes. Good for them!
Storyline: This Australian born and bred bio-musical stars Australian star
Hugh Jackman as the last boy from his home country to star on Broadway, song
writer and singer Peter Allen. Using the songs he wrote by himself or with
the likes of Burt Bachrach, Dean Pitchford, Jeff Barry and most frequently
Carol Bayer Sager, the show tells the story of Allen's youth in Australia,
his club gig in Hong Kong where Judy Garland saw him and brought him back to
New York as an opening act, his failed marriage to Liza Minnelli, his
relationship with a man who died of aids and his own demise from the same
scourge. The show covers much of his career, including the major success in
a concert at the Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Center, and his flop of
a Broadway musical, Legs Diamond.
Jackman, who is known to many more millions for
his movies like X-Men and Van Helsing, has strong stage credentials. He won
over his home country's theater goers in productions of Sunset Boulevard
and
Beauty and the Beast down under, earned honors in London as Curley in the
Trevor Nunn revival of Oklahoma! and drew New York's plaudits in the concert
version of Carousel at Canegie Hall with Audra McDonald. Now he's completely
taken the Broadway world with The Boy from Oz which, while it has
substantial pleasures other than his performance, is really an excuse to
spend a high energy evening with Mr. Jackman. He gathers everyone in the
house under his spell with open enthusiasm and he seems to be having even
more fun than the audience. The part gives him the opportunity to pull a few
heartstrings, get a great many laughs, kick higher than the Rocketts,
schmooze with the audience and give some good natured guff to late comers
and generally ingratiate himself for two and a half hours (he's rarely off
the stage all night).
The rest of the cast is good, too. It is a
measure of Jackman's power that no effort is made to keep others from
overshadowing him. Isabel Keating does a mean Judy Garland impersonation, and
manages to do some fine acting while she's at it. Stephanie J. Block may not
be quite as much of a Liza Minnelli impersonator but her "Liza" act is
convincing and she also plays very strong scenes with Jackman. Jerrod Emick
doesn't get to come in as the post-Liza boy friend until late in the show
but he makes a strong impression, especially in the "I Honestly Love You"
number. Beth Fowler who made a warmly nurturing mother who happened to be a
teapot in Beauty and the Beast, here is a warmly nurturing mother who
happens to be from the outback. Jackman isn't the only one on stage with
astonishingly high energy level. He's matched for a few minutes by a twelve
year old wonder by the name of Mitchell David Federan as Peter Allen as a
boy. (His understudy, P.J. Verhorst is no less impressive.)
The production is just bright enough, just
colorful enough and just clever enough to keep it from looking like a Hugh
Jackman concert. The legendary Robin Wagner's theatrical imagination
continues to be fresh as he constructs sets that are distinctive and work
very well with the staging. His rotating panels that move the action from
Hong Kong to New York in a blink of an eye, his grand white staircase for
the finale/curtain call and most particularly his combination of cut-outs
and mirrors for the Rocketts choreographed by Joey McKneely are just plain
fun. Michael Gibson's orchestrations are sharp and delightfully jazzy and
Patrick Vaccariello gets the orchestra to the right energy level for the
show. The sound design is very good indeed although the decision to add a
bit of bass boost on a final note as an extra-strong button is overdone
again and again and seemed irrelevant in such a loud, high energy show.
Music and lyrics by Peter Allen and others. Book
by Martin Sherman. Original book by Nick Enright. Directed by Philip Wm.
McKinley. Orchestrations by Michael Gibson. Dance Music by Mark Hummel.
Music Direction by Patrick Vaccariello. Choreography by Joey McKneely.
Design: Robin Wagner (set) William Ivey Long (costumes) Paul Huntley (wigs
and hair) Donald Holder (lights) Acme Sound Partners (sound). Cast:
Stephanie J. Block, Jerrod Emick, Mitchel David Federan, Beth Fowler, Hugh
Jackman, Isabel Keating, Michael Mulheren.
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