Broadway stars might be thought of as extinct creatures from a bygone era of entertainment. But reports of this species being wiped out are greatly exaggerated.
At the moment on Broadway, two nuclear-powered performers with avid theatrical followings are beaming bright in classic American musicals. One can set off an earthquake in ticket sales even in the midst of a pandemic; the other can go viral by giving a tour of her basement, snatching a cellphone out of the hands of an audience member or simply being the subject of a hilarious send-up.
Hugh Jackman stars in “The Music Man” at the Winter Garden Theatre in a production built entirely around his overpowering charisma and box-office muscle. His co-star, two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, is prominently featured on the marquee. But when Jackman appears on Broadway, he is the sun around which all other celestial bodies revolve.
Patti LuPone isn’t the lead in the new revival of “Company” at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Katrina Lenk plays Bobbie in the gender-swapped version of this Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical, directed by Marianne Elliott. But there’s no confusion about who the audience is there to see. Even when LuPone is just shimmying along with the ensemble, her magnetism is as incontrovertible as a natural law.