It’s the final week of Hugh Jackman’s hugely successful run on Broadway. Did you go? Only 4 performances left, not including today. And, as anyone who has seen it will tell you, soooooo worth it, which is why he’s been breaking house records and charming crowds and critics.
Here’s Hugh with his family on Christmas Day in New York before that evening’s show. Thing is, I could write something Photo Assumptiony and be all like, oh look how happy Hugh is because he’s doing so great on Broadway, but the problem with that is ... well... what’s the difference in Hugh between when he’s successful and when he’s not successful? He’s always like this all of the time.
Someone wrote to me recently in response to my ongoing criticism of crabby Daniel Craig (what’s up alliteration?) that I should go easier on him because “they all can’t be Hugh Jackman” to which my immediate reaction was: why not? Reminds me of a line in A Walk To Remember (the movie version, and yes I am quoting from a Nicholas Sparks movie, what the f-ck is happening?) when Mandy Moore (hilariously) observes, “Without suffering there would be no compassion”. Dicks like Daniel Craig make you appreciate even more the nice ones like Hugh Jackman. Like that’s what it’s come to now: complimenting someone for the most basic of human courtesies.
Hugh ends his run on Broadway on January 1. And then it’s Wolverine and Jean Valjean. There it is again: the most versatile actor in the business.