Hugh Jackman in "Sunset Boulevard". Image via Google.

Pop your cork; we’re ringing in 2012 with Hugh Jackman.

Watch this rare early clip of everyone’s favorite action hero/show queen in one of his earliest major stage performances, a late 90′s Melbourne production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard. It’s New Year’s Eve at the Desmond home and doesn’t Hugh look dewey fresh? Can you blame Norma for sneaking a smacker? Let’s watch the clip…

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"Sleep No More". Photo by Yaniv Schulman.

Let’s continue the countdown of my favorite theatrical moments of 2011. (Catch up with six through 10 here.) Just a reminder, this list is based on shows that I saw in 2011 and the descriptions may include SPOILERS; so consider yourself warned.

Drumroll, please. My top five are:

5. Venus in Fur: The Transformation – I bow down to Nina Arianda (who almost made this list twice for her work in Born Yesterday). Let me just quote an earlier blog post, “In this deliciously sexy play, a young, seemingly inept actress auditioning for an S&M-tinged period piece surprises the director (and the audience) by slipping into the “role” with uncanny ease. …[Arianda] doesn’t seem to be acting; to paraphrase a Meryl Streep quote, her soul seems to have shifted. Simple, unshowy and yet transfixing, this transition feels magical and a portent of darker, more mysterious forces at work.”

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"Anything Goes". Photo by Joan Marcus.

It’s obvious but it bears repeating: theater is special because it’s live. A play may run for years but the version seen on a specific night is only for that audience. There are nuances in every performance that will happen only that one time, a singular pearl to be treasured.

So when I thought about writing a best of 2011 list, I kept thinking more about my favorite moments of the year and not the “best” overall productions. To be fair, a list of my favorite plays and musicals of the year wouldn’t look all that different from this list. I’d drop two or three that were only great in fleeting moments (I’ll let you guess which ones) and replace them with the more cohesive pleasures of Other Desert Cities, Blood and Gifts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Arena/Steppenwolf) or The Divine Sister.

Note that this list is based on shows that I saw in 2011 (though some may have premiered earlier) and the descriptions include SPOILERS; so consider yourself warned. Without further ado, my favorite theatrical moments of 2011 were:

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Maine State Music Theatre "Annie". Photo by Annie Rose.

It’s December 4, 1977. The freshly fallen snow glimmers with rainbow hues reflected from golf ball sized outdoor Christmas lights. Little Tommy, all snug in his footie pajamas, is nuzzled into a mustard yellow bean bag, visions of Star Wars characters dancing in his head. And what should appear on the wood paneled TV to warm his tiny show queen burgeoning heart? NBC is airing a holiday special based on the biggest smash to hit Broadway in years, Annie.

Is it a tale of the curly redhead bringing Warbucks-backed cheer to orphans on Christmas morn? A scrappy story of outwitting Miss Hannigan’s nefarious plot to stop Santa? Nope. It turns out that The Annie Christmas Show is a fourth wall breaking look behind the scenes of the stage show (yeah, kids, there’s no real Annie; she’s an actress) involving child labor laws, cheap producers and pesky union rules. And people wonder why it hasn’t become a perennial like It’s a Wonderful Life.

Don’t believe me? Watch the first ten minutes of this jaw-dropping wonder starring much of the original Broadway cast; it’s my gift to you…

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Every third Wednesday, a fabulous actor/singer/dancer will fill out my nosey little questionnaire and offer a glimpse of what they look like from a bit closer than the mezzanine. For December, we’ve got a special holiday treat for you to unwrap…

Photo by Ronnie Nelson.

Name: Bret Shuford

Hometown: Beaumont/Orange, TX

Current Show/Role: Radio City Christmas Spectacular – Singer

The best part of the show I’m in now is: Uh, RADIO CITY!!! It’s an iconic gorgeous building, and a New York City holiday staple.  So excited to be on that stage.

The most challenging job in show business I ever had was: All of them, 8 Shows a week. (Right now, 12-16 shows a week is tough on a person.)

If I wasn’t an actor, I would be: An Imagineer for Disney. I have a bit of a Disney obesession, and would love to use my knowledge of Disney and my passion for performing to create attractions for the parks!

Places, Intermission or Curtain Call? Curtain Call, nothing like applause.

The best post-show cocktail in town is at: My home. I love my SodaStream; I’m getting everyone SodaStream for Christmas. Also Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar (841 Broadway, between 13th and 14th Streets). C’mon! Who doesn’t want Chocolate?!?

After you’ve hit all the traditional sites of New York City, you should totally go to: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

If I could live anywhere else in the world it would be: Paris, France. I love how beautiful everything is there, the architecture, the food, the language! Yum

The best Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza gift I ever got was: in 2001 and it was after 9/11. I went to Texas for Christmas and my family had all the neighbors on our street decorate their houses specifically to welcome me home.  It was like out of a Lifetime made-for-TV movie. It cheered me up at a very tough time. AMAZING!

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"The Book of Mormon". Photo by Joan Marcus.

In our continuing series, we’re taking a look at songs cut from Broadway musicals to see what happens in the making of a show. Next up, the biggest hit of the year, The Book of Mormon…

Musicals are tough to write. There are so many moving parts and so many things that change as a show develops, a tumbling of dominos with each revision. So it’s particularly fascinating to have seen a developmental reading of The Book of Mormon a few years ago and realize now that the show was already in very close to Broadway shape at that early stage. It just worked. The craft of the storytelling was impeccable and is something that remains, for me, the secret of the show’s success.

But, of course, things did change during the process of writing it. Instead of me explaining why the song “The Bible is a Trilogy, Too” was cut, let’s let the affable co-writer Bobby Lopez tell the story and play selections from it. (There’s a lot more where this came from; listen to the complete WNYC Soundcheck interview.) Who knew the Bible has something in common with The Mighty Ducks…

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GrooveLily. Photo by Leslie Lyons.

Screwed up people make great art..or so says a song from the lovely (and rocking) holiday musical Striking 12. Ergo, the writers of the show–Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valerie Vigoda–should be absolute basket cases. Well, I hate to be picky but they lied. I can’t vouch for Ms. Sheinkin but Brendan and Valerie are two of the nicest, most talented people in the music theater biz.

The questionable veracity of their lyrics aside, their show is an entertaining, one-of-a-kind combo of indie rock concert and touching holiday fairy tale (though secular…the holiday is New Year’s Eve), with enough bah-humbug cynicism and fourth-wall-breaking humor to keep it well out of saccharine territory. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s returning to New York for eight performances only, December 26-31, at the Metropolitan Room. Even better, Brendan, Valerie and drummer Gene Lewin who make up the band GrooveLily are performing the show themselves in the Big Apple for the first time in three years. It’s a must-see opportunity.

Now I can’t get that song (inspired by Hans Christian Anderson) out of my head, so I’m going to make you hear it, too…

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Richard Roxburgh & Cate Blanchett in "Uncle Vanya". Photo by Lisa Tomasetti.

Breaking News: According to the New York Times, the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company production of Uncle Vanya starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving will play a short New York City engagement at City Center from July 19 through July 28 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Given that it was easily one of my theatrical highlights of the year when I saw it at the Kennedy Center in DC this past summer  (hint: it will definitely be on my top 10 when I post it next week), this will be one of the must-have tickets of 2012. More information to follow when it is announced.

Laura Osnes & Jeremy Jordan. Photo by Nathan Johnson.

It’s the end of the road for Bonnie & Clyde–and this time it wasn’t the coppers but disappointing reviews and ticket sales that brought the infamous duo down. Producers announced that the new musical will play its final Broadway performance on December 30 after 69 shows. One bright side: leading man Jeremy Jordan, who was in a bit of a bind having played starring roles in two shows headed for Broadway, no longer has to fret about whether to leave Bonnie & Clyde to headline Newsies, scheduled to begin previews March 15.

Openings and closings; it’s the Circle of Life on Broadway. So let’s raise a toast (or a small lion cub) to comings and going in our latest theater news round-up:

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  "Venus in Fur". Photo by Joan Marcus.

  Praise goddess! The fabulously entertaining S&M/audition (I know, same thing) comedy Venus in Fur will live on beyond its limited Manhattan Theater Club engagement. After closing up at the Friedman December 18, a commercial production will open Friday, February 7 at the Lyceum Theatre, with unimprovable stars Nina Arianda (I want to be her when I grow up) and Hugh Dancy (and marry him when I grow up, sorry Claire Daines) continuing in their roles. The production is slated to run through June 17 and tickets are on sale now. Lovely news…and aren’t they clever pusses for skipping over the January ticket-sales doldrums?

• The news was not as good for another sexy couple of the stage. The charming revival of Private Lives starring a very entertaining Kim Cattrall will close December 31, five weeks ahead of schedule. Though reviews were generally good, tickets sales were not. Hopefully the early ending doesn’t put a crimp in a possible Tony nod for Ms. Cattrall when the season comes to a close in the Spring.

• It’s hard to imagine who can fill the fuh-lapping tap shoes of last year’s Tony winner (and, to my mind, main reason to see the show) Sutton Foster but producers announced a national tour for Anything Goes. Launching October 2012 in Cleveland, the Cole Porter musical comedy will set sail for 25 cities with casting and official dates to be announced.

• Do you hear that playing? It’s not Gabriel blowing his horn; it’s the siren call of Carla Gugino as she returns to New York in a revival of Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca at the Roundabout (previews start today). As I’ve mentioned before, the last time Ms. Gugino appeared on stage here in Desire Under the Elms, she made a believer out of me as far as her acting prowess…and nearly converted me to heterosexuality with her, well, prowess. This time, she plays a South African teacher who befriends an elderly artist played by the divine Rosemary Harris. Something tells me neither will be wearing lingerie in this play.

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  Taran is Winn-Dixie. Photo by Kim Tyler.

  It’s been a news roundup full of delicious divas of the stage, so how about one bitch? Producers announced a spring 2012 development reading for a new musical based on the beloved novel Because of Winn-Dixie, about a young girl, her estranged father and the dog that brings them together. Yes, a musical starring a dog in the lead role. The creative team is certainly nothing to sniff at: music by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and lyrics/book by Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde). And for those just itching to be the lead, you’re too late; Taran, an Irish wolfhound, has already been cast as Winn-Dixie. [Full disclosure: Taran is a male dog so my initial joke is entirely unfair and possibly slanderous.]