Hugh Jackman Tony Award Opening
On June 8, 2013, Australian entertainer Hugh Jackman opened Broadway’s 2014 Tony Awards presentation with a 5 minute hop, skip and jump performance from the red carpet in front of the theater, on stage, backstage and back on stage to sing the opening song. His performance blew me away.
Within minutes the social media overloads began condemning what they thought was a poor way to open a major award presentation. They preferred and expected a lavish broadway extravaganza.
After completing his 5 minute hop, Jackman, age 45, burst into song to open the award show as if he had just walked out on stage. Very few people especially sedintaery Americans that age, or any age, could have accomplished such a feat. A majority of Americans get no daily exercise so even if their ankles and knees could take the stress and strain of hopping and jumping continuously for 5 minutes. Kangaroos are excellent hoppers and so where the Apollo astronauts, but they didn’t hop about the moon for almost 5 straight minutes.
People today are so quick to criticize. They have set expectations and social media has given anyone with an account the ability to say what they think even when missing the forest for the trees or can’t see beyond the tips of their noses.
If most Americans were capable of accomplishing what Jackman did, there would be no need for diet plans, type-2 diabetes would be a crisis, and there would billions of dollars of saved avery year in increased productivity from fewer lost work days and lower healthcare costs.
What I saw Sunday night, June 8th, was an excellent example of physical conditioning not the illusions created by Hollywood so many people except as reality. Jackman’s performance was live and uncut unlike Bobby Van’s performance in the 1953 movie Small Town Girl that inspired the routine. Van hopped for less than 3 minutes and unlike Jackman’s performance movies are made from multiple scenes that can take hours or days to shoot.
The 2014 Tony Awards was an excellent show with an expectational host.