Hugh Jackman is a shape-shifting master of showbiz: as the big-screen Wolverine, ripped and brooding; as a charismatic song-and-dance man, ripped and Broadway. Arena concert tours, though, are their own special beast, and in the vastness of Madison Square Garden on Friday night, where he performed with a 22-piece orchestra and a team of acrobatic dancers, he never did fit all those thousands of fans in the palm of his hand . “We’re going to get to know each other a little better by the end of the night,” Mr. Jackman promised a couple of numbers in, before he cast off the jacket and bow tie that went with his body-hugging tux pants. But for all his razzle-dazzle over two and a half hardworking hours — starting with a pair of percussive pop numbers from the 2017 movie musical “The Greatest Showman,” in which he starred as P.T. Barnum — there was an inescapable sense of being kept at a distance, of Mr. Jackman holding himself in reserve.

Source: New York Times June 30, 2019 19:01 UTC