The Greatest Showman Preview

“Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed.”  Phineas Taylor Barnum, best known today as simply P.T. Barnum, was born in 1810 in Bethel, Connecticut.  In his early 20s, Barnum was a small business owner and founder of a weekly newspaper.  He moved to New York in 1934 where his entertainment career began when he purchased Scudder's American Museum that he renamed after himself and transformed into a "freak show" playing on human curiosity with features like the Feejee mermaid and General Tom Thumb.  Later in life, Barnum returned to Connecticut where he served as Mayor in 1875.  He was an author, publisher, politician, businessman, and philanthropist, but is best remembered for his showmanship.  It is that achievement that has inspired the new musical The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum.

If you have read any of my previous Previews or Reviews for films based on actual events or people, I have given up on doing too much research beforehand as the movies often take many creative liberties with regards to the timeline of events, the location of events, characters involved, roles they played, and more.  And they have every right to do so as the films make no claims to be historically accurate or documentaries.  The Greatest Showman is based on the life of P.T. Barnum, specifically in regards to his creation of the Barnum & Bailey Circus dubbed The Greatest Show on Earth.

Hugh Jackman tackles the title role of Barnum and he is no stranger to singing on stage or in film.  Jackman grew up a theatre performer in Australia including musicals.  He branched out of Australia when he landed the role of Curley in Oklahoma in London in 1998.  Two years later, he emerged in America in the role of Wolverine in the X-Men comic movies.  While he continued to perform musical theatre on the side, the world was finally exposed to his singing abilities in 2012 with his role as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, a performance that earned him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, an award that went to Daniel Day Lewis for his performance in Lincoln.  Jackman received both praise and criticism for his vocal performance.  I was one of the critics asking the question "Were you impressed with the performances in Les Miserables because you wouldn't expect Wolverine and Gladiator to be able to sing like that, or did you really think they gave the performances you would expect if you had paid $500 to watch this on Broadway?"  Jackman has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in The Greatest Showman and the preview has me excited to see and hear his singing that sounds cleaner than it did in Les Miserables.

Zac Efron burst onto the screen in Disney's High School Musical in 2002, a role that earned him the Teen Choice Award for Breakout Star.  His leading man roles in his career, however, have been campy, goofy and sophomoric starring in such movies as Neighbors 1 and 2, Dirty Grandpa, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, and Baywatch.  He is slated to play a completely opposite role as Ted Bundy in a film titled Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile that could really reshape his career and propel him to a much higher platform possibly opening many more doors for the young actor.  His performance in The Greatest Showman could really pave the way for America to accept him in that role and to see him as more than just the goofball in crude comedies.

Last year, when La La Land came out, I said we were long overdue for a new musical and La La Land was hopefully the first of many.  Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul took home the Oscar for Original Song with their creation of "City of Stars" from La La Land.  They're back and have written the original music for The Greatest Showman.  While La La Land's musical numbers had the old school throwback feel you'd expect from the 50's mixed with some 80's hits and a little more modern jazz, The Greatest Showman will feature more of a modern pop feel as team Pasek and Paul were not bound to embody the 1830's when the film is set.  It's a risk, but a risk that looks to payoff judging from the preview.

I'm excited for The Greatest Showman and have high expectations.  I'm giving a 4.5 Star Prediction as I anticipate thoroughly enjoying Jackman and Efron's performances along with co-stars Michelle Williams and Zendaya, the music, and the spectacle from director Michael Gracey who is literally making his big screen debut.  He's so green, he doesn't even have a completed biography on IMDB.  I have a feeling this is just the beginning for Gracey after a hugely successful Greatest Showman.  Am I right?  We Shall See.