Quick: Name every A-list star you can think of who is almost equally famous for A) playing an iconic action hero and B) their work in (and passion for) musical theater.
Sure, there a handful of names that could appear on such a list, but, if we're being honest, there is only one name that it would feel like a crime not to include on one. So, if your list during the exercise above had exactly one name on it, there is a very good chance that name was "Hugh Jackman."
After checking his "iconic action hero" box by dominating the box office last year in his ninth (!!!) appearance as Wolverine for Deadpool & Wolverine, the 56-year-old Australian actor marked the the beginning of 2025 by shifting gears and focusing on the "passion for musical theater" side of his talent.
On Friday, Jan. 24, Jackman kicked off his new concert series at Radio City Music Hall, From New York, With Love, in which he performs songs from some of the iconic musicals he's appeared in over the years, including The Boy From Oz, Les Misérables, The Greatest Showman and The Music Man.
In addition to being present for the first performance of what People notes is Jackman's first new concert offering in five years, the show's opening night audience also enjoyed a surprise appearance from Jackman's Deadpool & Wolverine co-star/longtime BFF, Ryan Reynolds, who took the stage to deliver a speech that was one part hilarious comedy and two parts just genuine, heartfelt love.
Reynolds popped up out of the audience to deliver his surprise tribute—which began with the kind of on-point yet still somehow unexpected humor that's basically the Deadpool star's trademark at this point.
"I was told this was going to be a comedy version of Les Mis as a one-man show," Reynolds joked. "We all said it was a terrible idea but he carried on. I see he's duped me once again!"
The joking didn't last long though before Reynolds switched gears and delivered touching tribute to Jackman and their almost 20-year friendship.
"This was the first major movie star I ever worked with, 16 or 17 years ago on X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Reynolds shared with the audience "And I was young still. I was impressionable. I was expecting going to this movie set with this guy right here, and I didn't know, I really didn't know what was gonna happen...But what I saw was just about the best thing anyone could possibly experience if you're working your way up in the industry."
"I saw a movie star, a capital M movie star," Reynolds continued. "I saw this gentleman right here walk around that set, and just like here, he knew every single person's name, even though he was making them up half the time. He showed a kind of courtesy and gentleness and curiosity, and he put value into every single crew member that we were working with."
Reynolds, who called Jackman his "gotcha for life," ended the touching speech with more humor, even bringing his kids into the joke.
"I mean it," he said. "And I know we were supposed to finish this bit where these two security gentlemen come and they try to take the mic for me — it's like a struggle, and then they tase me and I go down, and then they hog-tie me and then they put me in the Radio City music garbage dump, and then they just light it on fire. But I wanted to actually just say, I love this man, I care about this man. He is, he is genuinely the best human being I know—and I have four children!"
