How ‘Music Man’ Choreographer Helped Hugh Jackman Perfect His Moves for Broadway Revival

variety.com:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorNot even the pandemic was going to stop “Music Man” Tony Award nominee Hugh Jackman from mastering the tap and dance routine for the show’s Broadway revival.Jackman kept training with choreographer Warren Carlyle as the health crisis delayed the musical’s opening from fall 2020 to May 2021 to its eventual bow in February.

Carlyle, who first worked with the star on the 1998 stage production of “Oklahoma!,” received a Tony nomination for his “Music Man” choreography, which took three years to fine-tune.In a musical filled with show-stopping moments, one standout is “76 Trombones.” Early in the show, Jackman’s Harold Hill must convince the people of River City, Iowa, they need a boy’s band.

He proceeds to tell them about the time he saw a marching band with 76 trombones and 110 cornets. Carlyle, who approached the “Music Man” revival like a brand new musical, wanted Harold to sell the number to the parents and kids as well as to the audience. “This song is about faith,” Carlyle says. “If Harold can get the kids to believe they’re playing these instruments, then the parents will buy the instruments and off we go.

My mission by the end of the number was getting the audience believing that they too were seeing a band and these kids play the instruments.”Carlyle kept dancer-choreographer Jerome Robbins’ style in mind as an inspiration when structuring the number. “I wanted it to be resplendent, shiny and bright,” he says, estimating that the choreography took around five days to initially create.With Broadway shuttered, Jackman and Carlyle utilized a studio space in the city.