Hugh Jackman will play Harold Hill in a revival of “The Music Man” next year.
Produced by Scott Rudin, the revival will reassemble the creative team from the last “Hello, Dolly!” revival, with director Jerry Zaks, choreographer Warren Carlyle and set and costume designer Santo Loquasto.
The revival will begin previews on Sept. 9, 2020 with a planned Oct. 22 opening at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Additional casting, including an announcement of who will be playing opposite Jackman as Marian, will be announced in coming weeks.
“There is just no way to accurately describe the level of excitement I feel about the opportunity to present Hugh in what I think is the best role ever written for an actor in all of Broadway musical theater,” Rudin said in the press release. “Although I have spent a lot of time and energy wishing there was a way to stop the passage of time, this is the one moment when I wish it would just move faster. I can’t wait for us to begin working on this together in earnest.”
‘The Music Man’ creative team will include lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound designer Scott Lehrer, David Chase on dance arrangements, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and music director Patrick Vaccariello.
Jackman has appeared on Broadway four times previously, in the musical, “The Boy From Oz,” the plays “Steady Rain” and “The River” and a concert event “Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway.”
“The idea of bringing The Music Man back to Broadway has been lurking in the back of my brain for a long time, maybe even for 35 years, and when Scott Rudin called me with that very idea, I was floored. To finally be doing this is a huge thrill,” Jackman said in the release.
Rudin also has a “West Side Story” Broadway revival planned for December 2019.
“The Music Man,” featuring a book and score by Meredith Wilson, premiered on Broadway in 1957. It has been revived twice on Broadway, most recently in a 2000 revival starring Craig Bierko.
