Yesterday, BroadwayWorld exclusively broke the news that the two-time Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award-winning star Hugh Jackman will make his highly anticipated return to Broadway in one of the most iconic roles in the musical theater canon, Professor Harold Hill, in Meredith Willson's beloved classic, The Music Man.

A beloved musical theatre actress, missing from the Broadway stage in recent years, is expected to be announced to play Marian Paroo in the coming weeks.

Producer Scott Rudin will reunite the creative team behind the Tony-winning revival of HELLO, DOLLY!, including four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks who will helm The Music Man and Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle who will choreograph. Performances will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, and officially open on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Despite being a year-and-a-half away, group tickets will go on sale on June 9, and individual tickets will be available on Sept. 15.

In a statement, Hugh Jackman said, "The first musical I was ever a part of was the phenomenal The Music Man. The year was 1983, and I was at Knox Grammar School in Sydney, Australia. I was one of the traveling salesmen, and I think I can actually (almost) remember that unforgettable opening number! That was probably the moment when the magic of theater was born in me."

He added, "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."

Scott Rudin stated, "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. 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."

From the first time Hugh Jackman set foot on stage in the highly acclaimed National Theatre production of Oklahoma! in 1998, to his Tony-winning, sensation-causing turn as Peter Allen in the 2003 musical The Boy From Oz, his reputation as the world's greatest living stage star was secured. Though he has returned to Broadway three times since - in two plays and in a solo concert event - this will be Mr. Jackman's first role in a Broadway musical since his debut more than 16 years ago.

He went on to become one of the biggest stars of our time through starring roles in numerous and varied blockbusters, including eight movies in the fantastically successful X-Men series, Les Misérables (for which he received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor), and The Greatest Showman, one of the top-grossing movie musicals of all time.

The Music Man reunites the creative team of the Tony Award-winning and record-breaking revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler, including (in addition to Rudin, Zaks, and Carlyle), four-time Tony Award winner Santo Loquasto (Scenic & Costume Design), six-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz (Lighting Design), Tony Award winnerScott Lehrer (Sound Design), and David Chase (Dance Arrangements). Patrick Vaccariello and Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick join the team as The Music Man's Musical Director and Orchestrator, respectively.

In the video below, watch as Jackman sings "Rock Island" on the Jay Leno show!

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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