Hugh Jackman Will Open Brit Awards With Song From 'The Greatest Showman' Despite Not Being Nominated

The Brit Awards is set to open with Hugh Jackman performing a hit from the hottest musical of the year The Greatest Showman.

In spite of the soundtrack from the musical not being nominated for a gong, Brit-Awards bosses reckon a song from Hugh's character, P.T. Barnum, would be the best way to kick off the night's events.

The 50-year-old actor will be flown into the UK from Hollywood especially for the event, according to The Sun.

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A show insider also told the newspaper that the "Brits bosses did everything they could to sign up Hugh".

The said: "He may not be as cool as the younger stars performing on the night, but he will certainly be the most popular.

"They are banking on his opening performance being a must-see for fans of the movie and are convinced he will be enough to persuade older viewers to tune in.

"Because it was a soundtrack it didn't fit into any obvious awards categories but it has been the biggest thing in music for years so they had to acknowledge it somehow."

The honour of being asked to perform comes just four months before Hugh comes back to the UK for his world tour of The Greatest Showman hits.

The UK leg of the tour is happening from May to June 2019 with shows at the Manchester Arena (on Friday, 24th May 2019), Birmingham's Resorts World Arena (Monday, 27th May 2019) and London's 02 Arena (Monday, 3rd and Friday, 7th June 2019).

While The Greatest Showman didn't get receive many positive cinematic reviews at the box office - its soundtrack broke records and sat at number one of the UK album chart for 11 weeks in a row, matching a record set by Adele's iconic album '21'.

The album remained in the charts for a whopping 21 weeks, beating Saturday Night Fever to become the longest-running soundtrack album at #1 in the charts since the 1960s.

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Hugh will also be performing songs from the movie version of the musical, Les Misérables, in which he played protagonist, Jean Valjean and was later nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.

And if that wasn't enough for Hugh's fans, he says he would totally be down for a sequel of The Greatest Showman.

During a BBC Radio 5 Live interview the actor said: "If a genuine opportunity came up where it felt like the right thing to do, then yep, I'd get the top hat back out."

We'll keep you posted.

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, News, Music

Amelia Jones

Amelia is a freelance journalist and editor specialising in beauty, health, fitness and lifestyle. She has previously worked for titles including Women's Health, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, Red and the Mail on Sunday.

@ameliajeanjones