In Laman's Terms: Hugh Jackman's Musical Opening Is Still One of the Best Oscars Moments of the 21st Century

The opening segment of the Academy Awards is often tough to crack, but some years, it feels like the people behind this show aren’t even trying. This is particularly true in the modern world (read: 21^st-century Oscar ceremonies), where the Academy Awards often seem negatively daunted by the legacy of this show. This means that the people behind this program produce opening sequences that just seem either too derivative of the past or too quick to leap into weird mean-spirited meta-commentary. The latter phenomenon could be seen in all the cursed musical numbers from host Seth MacFarlane that kicked off the 85th Academy Awards, while the 83rd Academy Awards saw hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco strolling through famous 2010 movies like they were the second coming of Billy Crystal.

Even more restrained stabs at reimagining how the Oscars can start end up going nowhere interesting. Just look at the 93rd Academy Awards, which began with a lengthy shot of Regina King just walking through Union Station and to the program's stage. Where’s the pizzazz and imagination in all of these sequences? What material is being served up right away to the viewer that’ll keep them glued to the screen for the three-hour spectacle that is to come? Thankfully, there is one Oscar ceremony that knew how to kick things off perfectly. Hugh Jackman's hysterical opening musical number from the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009 was a thing to behold...and a masterwork in how to begin an Oscars ceremony just right!

What Was Hugh Jackman’s Oscar Opening Segment?

Given that Hugh Jackman’s famous for his exploits in the world of live musical theater, it’s no surprise that he’d kick off his gig as a live entertainer at the Academy Awards with a song-and-dance routine. In an inspired move, though, the song that kicked off the 81^st Academy Awards was informed by real-world tragedies happening outside the Kodak Theatre. The 2008 economic recession had hit America devastatingly hard in the months directly preceding this show., Jobs had been lost. Budgets were tighter than ever. Unemployment was skyrocketing. Done poorly, the 81^st Academy Awards making jokes related to this economic crisis could’ve been tone-deaf and staggeringly miscalculated.

Shockingly, though, Jackman didn’t crumble under the pressure. Instead, he was at the center of an inspired musical number that saw him putting together cardboard props and raggedy sets under a “tight budget” inspired by the recession. The result was a set-piece that wasn’t ignorant of the hardships of reality but also didn’t trivialize them. Plus, the concept of a “low-budget” Oscars opening ceremony led to ingenious visual gags (like a series of crude dolls used to represent Benjamin Button at various stages of his life) that were unlike anything else in the history of the Oscars. This wasn’t a musical ditty that felt like it was retreading past ground, this was something fresh that could only have existed circa. January 2009.

The writing of the musical number was also incredibly solid, a trick accomplished by the murderer’s row of outstanding writers assembled for this piece (including Ben Schwartz and Dan Harmon!) Many award show musical numbers are cute, but have lyrics that rarely rise above that level. Jackman’s song was actually hilarious, particularly the verse where he talks about how “I haven’t seen The Reader,” an inspired way to get around talking about such a dark movie in a bubbly musical number. Actual wit abounded in this tune on so many fronts and made it something you could hum and titter at in equal measures.

Best of all, it was a musical number that reflected a passion for the movies nominated that year. The cardboard props were meant to reflect the economic realities of early 2009, but they also reflected a ramshackle endearing love for cinema reminiscent of the “Sweded” movies in Be King Rewind or the “series finale” at the center of Brigsby Bear. When you don’t have infinite studio resources at your disposal, passion can carry a low-budget endeavor. That kind of passion came through at the opening of 81^st Academy Awards, which suggested that a love for movies would endure no matter what economic restrictions were in place. Having Jackman finish off the number by belting out passionate long notes about how he’s, in many ways, all of these Oscar-nominated movies (aren’t we all?) was a great capper to the song that conveyed so much enthusiasm for the films this program was recognizing. Compare that to the detached Jo Koy or Ricky Gervais monologues that kicked off modern Golden Globes ceremonies, for instance, and it becomes clear which of these entertainers knows how to star in an award show.

Hugh Jackman Never Returning to the Oscars is a Good Thing

Not only have future Oscars failed to deliver opening numbers equally enjoyable, but this is also, to date, the only appearance of Jackman as a host at this award show. Jackman didn’t run the goodwill generated from his 81^st Academy Awards appearance into the ground with endless further hosting gigs that tried to replicate the lightning-in-a-bottle success he got the first time around. Instead, Jackman’s Oscar hosting stint seems to have been a one-and-done affair. Some years, when the Oscars are really lacking energy, it’s easy to wish Jackman would come back and spruce things up again. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s good that Jackman didn’t overstay his welcome or tarnish the memory of this exquisite Oscar opener.

It’s also become even easier to appreciate in hindsight how deftly Jackman and the crew behind the 81^st Academy Awards managed to reflect the inescapable brutalities of reality in the middle of a bubbly awards show. You don’t want to capsize the zippy atmosphere of the Oscars, but also, it’s foolish if you don’t acknowledge the harsh realities viewers themselves can’t escape. That’s a tough balance to walk, but subsequent Oscar ceremonies have often eschewed even trying to execute that balance! Most egregiously, the 93^rd Academy Awards presented an Oscars that acted like the world didn’t shut down because of COVID-19 13 months prior. Nobody on-camera ever wore face masks, while the Academy instituted a strict policy forbidding actors from accepting awards virtually.

In hindsight, such mandates were clearly made to just make the Oscars look “normal” for viewers and advertisers. In execution, all they did was make the Academy Awards feel creepily detached from the realities of living in the middle of a health crisis that had taken countless lives. Such gross miscalculations make the miracle of Jackman’s 81^st Academy Awards opening number all the easier to appreciate. This performer and the show’s writers didn’t run from real-world topics that could be considered “buzzkills”, they ran towards them and found inspired idiosyncratic sources of humor in the process. Leaning into “unpleasant” real-world events only made the 81^st Academy Awards opening number more entertaining, not less!

Jackman's performance is even easier to appreciate thanks to subsequent Oscar hosts, who haven't come anywhere close to his level of showmanship or sense of fun. Not everyone who’s hosted the Oscars since Jackman has been a dud, but folks like Seth MacFarlane and James Franco certainly solidified themselves as all-time bad hosts. Meanwhile, folks like Neil Patrick Harris disappointed compared to the potential they carried while someone like Jimmy Kimmel (who’s gearing up for his fourth hosting gig across eight ceremonies) is a painless presence but he's not really memorable as a host unless he’s skewering Matt Damon (a gag he carried over from his late-night show). Hugh Jackman’s work would’ve been exceptional under any circumstances, but subsequent underwhelming Oscar hosts make his virtues as an entertainer easier than ever to appreciate.

Hugh Jackman’s 83^rd Academy Awards Opener Was Truly a Golden Moment

Subsequent Oscar ceremonies have inundated audiences with snark, endless homages to past Oscar hosts, and Amy Schumer. These negative qualities have often been so unpleasant to watch that they make one yearn for the Academy Awards to ditch hosts altogether! Hugh Jackman’s work kicking off the 83^rd Academy Awards, though, showed off how good an Oscar host can be. These figures can come into this award show and get the ball rolling with lots of razzle-dazzle, wit, and an infectious love for movies that reminds us all why we tune into this ceremony year after year. The dismal track record of post-2009 Oscar hosts suggests those qualities may be sparse in modern entertainers, but at least we all got to feel them once more when Jackman belted out his opening number.

Since this 2009 Oscars stint, Jackman’s gone on to play Wolverine a further six times (a seventh is on the way with Deadpool & Wolverine), headlined movies like Bad Education, and starred in various stage and movie musicals. He’s done a lot of interesting work…but this 83^rd Academy Awards opening number may be his greatest work as a performer in show business. Not only did Jackman have the chops and great writers to execute a winning opening musical number, but that year’s bevy of Oscar-nominated films provided ample material for great visual gags. It was the perfect confluence of events that resulted in an Oscar opening number like no other…and one we’re unlikely to see replicated in effectiveness anytime soon.