Hugh Jackman returns to broadway, hostsTonys

X-Men actor excited about Broadway return and hosting the Tony Awards

Hugh Jackman IS jacked to host the Tony Awards for the third time, but he’s also looking forward to being onstage for a longer stint in the near future.

“I’m going back to Broadway. I’m doing a play called The River, a Jez Butterworth play. So I’m really looking forward to treading the boards here on Broadway,” Jackman confirmed.

The play, the first since Butterworth’s Jerusalem, is about a trout fisherman in a remote cabin who is visited by two of the women in his life. It was first seen in London in 2012.

But before that, it’s the Tony Awards for Jackman on June 8.

“It’s like the Olympics for an athlete or the Super Bowl for a football player. You want to do your best, and, of course, you only get one shot at it. But they’re the things you look back at the end of the day and say, ‘I’m glad I had a go at that,’” Jackson said of the annual awards ceremony that celebrates the best in theatre.

“I’ve done it three times, the Tonys. For me it’s one of the best shows out there. It is one of the most accepting, generous audiences you can ever get at Radio City Music Hall,” said Jackman, who has also won a Tony. “I never take for granted how lucky I am to be embraced by that community. After all, I’m an Aussie, but I’ve always felt at home there.”

The new play will be Jackman’s fourth on Broadway. He was last there with a one-man show in 2011 that routinely sold out the 1,176-seat Broadhurst Theatre. He also starred in The Boy From Oz in 2003 and the play A Steady Rain with Daniel Craig in 2009.

The 45-year-old star, who is promoting his latest film, X-Men: Days of Future Past, says he’s already started rehearsals for the Tonys, but doubts his X-Men character Wolverine will be making an appearance.

“I’m not sure Fox will be thrilled if Wolverine came out singing and dancing,” he joked.

Jackman undergoes second surgery

Hugh Jackman says that he went through a second surgery and got another Basal-cell carcinoma removed from his nose.

Jackman took to Instagram and posted a photo of his bandaged nose, reports eonline.com.

He also wrote: “All out now. Thanks doctor Album and Doctor Arian. Please! Please! Wear Sunscreen!”

A Basal-cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer and is usually entirely treatable, though it can spread and cause damage to surrounding tissue.

The actor went under the first surgery and got one tissue removed in November and his experience could be a lesson for everyone about the necessity of a good SPF (sun protection factor). IANS