Mega, ultra, massive swoonage.
People, Hugh Jackman is my favorite living actor. My #3 favorite actor of all time. He's very dear to my heart for the roles he chooses, the way he behaves in real life, just his laid-back intensity and evident kindness. And on Monday, I spent two hours in the same room with him. And like a million other people, but hey. We breathed the same air. His words left his mouth and entered my ears without passing through a screen. He made me laugh and cry in real-time.
And he sang my favorite song.
MY FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME.
Which is not a song from any movie or any musical he was in. A song I have never connected in any way with him in my mind. A song I had no even vague thought of, "Maybe he'll sing that tonight" because there was no reason he would. No way that would ever happen.
He sang "Mack the Knife." And he sang it the way Bobby Darin sings it. Like, the whole setting, it was so very much Bobby's swingy, sassy, big-band version. He even snapped his fingers. He even did the "Look out, ol' Mackheath is back!" line at the end that is 100% pure Bobby Darin.
I cried. And bounced. And reveled.
That was Bobby Darin's signature song. Hugh Jackman not only knows that song, he clearly knows Bobby Darin's version, and he chose to sing it that way in his concert.
Yup, I'm tearing up all over again.
Someone with a better camera than I am has kindly recorded him singing it and posted it to YouTube, so I can relive my memories of it a little bit, and share with you:
So, um, yeah. Magical evening. Especially because I was there with MY BEST FRIEND!!!
We had nice seats, not quite centered, but being aslant a little like this let us see eeeeeverything, which was awesome.
I didn't take a ton of photos, which is kind of rare for me, but I knew my phone's camera was too crummy to get any really good pictures, so I chose to just enjoy the moments as they came and not worry too much about trying to capture them. But I did grab one fairly good shot of him singing "Luck be a Lady," which is from my absolute favorite musical, Guys and Dolls.
So, as well as I can remember, these are the songs he sang:
"The Greatest Show" (from The Greatest Showman)
"Come Alive" (from The Greatest Showman)
"Gaston" (from Beauty and the Beast)
"When Somebody Loves You"
"Soliloquy" (from Carousel)
"A Million Dreams" (from The Greatest Showman)
"What Have I Done" (from Les Miserables)
"One Day More" (from Les Miserables)
"I Go to Rio" (from Boy from Oz)
"I Honestly Love You" (from Boy from Oz)
"Don't Cry Out Loud" (from Boy from Oz)
"Quiet, Please, There's a Lady Onstage" (from Boy from Oz)
"Tenterfield Saddler" (from Boy from Oz)
"I Got Rhythm"
"Singin' in the Rain"
"Sing, Sing, Sing"
"Luck be a Lady" (from Guys and Dolls)
"Mack the Knife"
"This is Me" (from The Greatest Showman)
"From Now On" (from The Greatest Showman)
"Once Before I Go" (from Boy from Oz)
I'm not solid on the order of all of those, other than the first three and last two. Also, someone else sang "I Dreamed a Dream," which is my favorite song from Les Mis, so that was pretty amazing. And there was a segment with didgeridoos and Aboriginal tribal leaders singing some native Australian such, which was very interesting. But aside from those two, Hugh sang All The Songs. So much singing. So much dancing. Even a little acting thrown in on songs like "Soliloquy" and "What Have I Done," and he reprised his Peter Allen persona from when he was in Boy from Oz on Broadway years ago.
I came away with this solid bit of knowledge: Hugh Jackman LOVES to entertain. Clearly having the time of his life on that stage, holding nothing back, just full-throttle fun times.
So, um, those are my memories and my pictures and yeah, it was an incredible experience and I'm so glad Cowboy said to me, "You have to go. We will make this happen." Thank you, thank you, dear, kind man.
AAAAAAHHH. This makes me so, so happy. :D
ReplyDeleteIt's SO exciting that you got to have this amazing experience--and with your best friend, too! Ack. Your husband does indeed sound like a wonderful man. :)
I love the fact that you're wearing a "Come Alive" shirt, too. :D And it just looks like the show was spectacular and tons of fun. Huzzah and hurrah!
Thanks, Olivia :-) I bought that shirt specifically to wear to this! And I didn't see anyone else wearing it, so that was really cool too.
DeleteTHIS MAKES ME VERY VERY HAPPY FOR YOU
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Thank you, Katie :-)
DeleteThis sounds so, so incredible. What an awesome coincidence that he sang 'Mack the Knife'!!! <3 I would really like to see this show if he ever does it in Canada. Which it looks like he's not going to do. :P (I just checked the website.)
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, it sounds like you had a super time and I'm really happy for you.
Eva, I just checked the back of the shirt I bought at the show, which lists all his tour dates, and which I happen to be wearing right now, and he popped up to Toronto last week, but that's his only Canada date :-( BUT if you follow that video I posted to YouTube, you can see lots of vids of the concert, so that's something, anyway.
DeleteAnd thanks :-) It was wonderful.
Whoa! That sounds like it was a thoroughly awesome experience! I'm so glad that you got to do it! :-)
ReplyDeleteMC, it WAS! Me too :-)
DeleteYeah, Wolverine sure can sing, can’t he? :-D
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing he could’ve done for his career was to establish his bonafides as a musician. Kinda surprising he doesn’t do more romantic movies, given his fan base, but so few star actors do romance anymore. Maybe he should host the Oscars!
Rich, he sure can. All through the concert, he shared little stories from his life, like how he got the part of Gaston in a stage production of "Beauty and the Beast" in the '90s and had to go take singing lessons. And IIRC, it was kind of that production that got him his role as Wolverine in the first place, as they had to replace Dougray Scott just before shooting started, and one of the casting people had like seen him onstage as Gaston or something.
DeleteHe's done a few really romantic movies. Someone Like You and Kate and Leopold and Australia come to mind. But he does stray more toward action or straight-up drama.
He did host the Oscars back in the early 2000s :-)
I figured you would have an awesome time, and I'm so glad you did -- and he sang your favorite song. YAY for making memories with your BFF. :)
ReplyDeleteCharity, I was crazy nervous about it, but it was amazing. Happy, happy memories :-)
DeleteNot only did he sing my favorite song, he sang it the way I like it sung. Cuz it was not originally a snazzy, snappy swing sort of song -- Bobby Darin made that version famous, broke Billboard chart records with it and such, so now we think of that version when we think of the song, but it's actually much different in the original setting, like this version by Bryn Terfel.
Being Hugh sang a song from CAROUSEL I want to ask are you a fan of GORDON MACRAE? He worked with DORIS DAY in a few movies. I liked OKLAHOMA and CAROUSEL was OK. He and SHIRLEY JONES were good in both movies but the last one was different to say the least. Speaking of entertainers what is your opinion of FRANK SINATRA and DEAN MARTIN? What about HOWARD KEEL? Classic TV Fan
ReplyDeleteClassic TV Fan, I like Gordon MacRae okay. I like him in Oklahoma, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and On Moonlight Bay. As you say, Carousel is different. It's too much of a downer for my taste.
DeleteI like Frank Sinatra okay -- more as an actor than as a singer. But I love Dean Martin! He's my second-favorite singer, in fact (Bobby Darin obviously being #1 there), and I really like Martin's acting too. Not so much a fan of his movies with Jerry Lewis, but stuff like Rio Bravo and The Sons of Katie Elder and Texas Across the River and Bells are Ringing.
Howard Keel is not a big fave of mine, but I enjoy some of his movies. Especially Seven Brides for Seven Brothers :-)
Im a big fan of Dean also. I know his movies a lot more than his songs. Did you see HOW TO SAVE A MARRIAGE AND RUIN YOUR LIFE? It co-starred STELLA STEVENS who not only was glamorous and sexy but also a good actress. Dean guest-starred on THE LUCY SHOW as himself and his movie double EDDIE FELDMAN. I read that LUCILLE BALL said that was her favorite episode. Also I remember on an ep of HERES LUCY where SHELLEY WINTERS played a movie star named SHELLEY SUMMERS it showed a Dean Martin record but Im not sure if they played it. I think they did. By the way, who are some of your other fave singers including women? I think they should have put Dean in a movie with DORIS DAY. Do you think they would have made a good movie couple? By the way on THE DORIS DAY SHOW her name was DORIS MARTIN. HA HA! Classic TV Fan
ReplyDeleteClassic TV Fan, nope, haven't seen that one, and don't think I've seen that ep of The Lucy Show either.
DeleteHmmm, Dean Martin and Doris Day. They could work if it was straight-up comedy, I think.
My favorite singers are Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Rob Thomas, Johnny Cash, Doris Day, the Andrews Sisters, Andrea Bocelli, and Harry Connick Jr. You could add Jon Bon Jovi and Bing Crosby in there to make it an even 10.
THIS IS SO EXCITING!!! So happy for you!
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Thank you, Skye! It's a little hard to fully accept that yup, this truly happened, I didn't just imagine it :-)
DeleteHave you seen JOHNNY CASH in any of his acting roles? He guest-starred on COLUMBO and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. He did movies and TV-Movies. Do you like biography movies? There was WALK THE LINE about Johnny and his wife June Carter Cash. There was the one about BOBBY DARIN. Classic TV Fan
ReplyDeleteClassic TV Fan, yeah, I've seen Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash in a couple episodes of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
DeleteAnd I've watched both Walk the Line and the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea many times :-)
I saw the first two times that Johnny Cash did that show. June was in the second one. Later they did two more that I didn't see. I also saw the remake of STAGECOACH with Johnny, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. It aired on CBS in 1986. June had a part in it and so did John Carter Cash(their son). Also did Kevin Spacey do his own singing as Bobby Darin? I know Kevin from the TV-movie where he played James Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye was played by Bernadette Peters who is multi-talented. Bernadette was close friends with Mary Tyler Moore and they did a TV-movie together. I think the title was MY LAST BEST YEAR. Classic TV Fan
ReplyDeleteI've not seen any of the remakes of Stagecoach besides Hombre with Paul Newman, which was not a straight-up remake, really.
DeleteYes, Kevin Spacey did his own singing for Beyond the Sea!
No way!! I'm gonna go see him live in September (in Australia)!!! :D EEEKKKK SO EXCITED!!!!
ReplyDeleteGabby, how wonderful!!! You will have a delightful time :-)
DeleteNoooooo wayyyyyy this is amazing WHAT. YAY I'M SO GLAD YOU GOT TO GO!!!! :D
ReplyDeleteNatalie, um, yup. Yup, yup, yup. I'm so glad too! :-D
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