Josh
05-07-2004, 11:19 AM
NEW YORK - Hey ladies (and guys who think he's hot): Wanna meet Hugh Jackman (news)? It's easy, though it could be expensive and a little embarrassing.
All you have to do is buy tickets for his Broadway musical "The Boy From Oz," preferably in the front row, and show up late, preferably after the first couple of numbers have come and gone.
You will undoubtedly find yourself on the receiving end of what has become Jackman's now-famous heckling.
That's where a group of four tardy women were during a recent matinee when Jackman — who remained flamboyantly in character as Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen — forced them to stand up, swivel their hips and show the rest of the audience the fake Kate Spade purse one of them had just bought.
The foursome — and the audience — ate it up.
"I was a bit nervous about it at first. I mean, what if you start heckling someone who stumps you? And New Yorkers are pretty vocal," said Jackman, star of the upcoming movie "Van Helsing."
"Then after a while I kind of realized, it kind of doesn't matter if you come up with something that's not very funny. ... People just, I think, like the fact that you're going off the script and that you interact with them. And the effect on the show — I think it's made the audience more relaxed."
All you have to do is buy tickets for his Broadway musical "The Boy From Oz," preferably in the front row, and show up late, preferably after the first couple of numbers have come and gone.
You will undoubtedly find yourself on the receiving end of what has become Jackman's now-famous heckling.
That's where a group of four tardy women were during a recent matinee when Jackman — who remained flamboyantly in character as Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen — forced them to stand up, swivel their hips and show the rest of the audience the fake Kate Spade purse one of them had just bought.
The foursome — and the audience — ate it up.
"I was a bit nervous about it at first. I mean, what if you start heckling someone who stumps you? And New Yorkers are pretty vocal," said Jackman, star of the upcoming movie "Van Helsing."
"Then after a while I kind of realized, it kind of doesn't matter if you come up with something that's not very funny. ... People just, I think, like the fact that you're going off the script and that you interact with them. And the effect on the show — I think it's made the audience more relaxed."