Hugh Jackman sets dates for Broadway return in 'The River'

Hugh Jackman on Broadway is a hot enough ticket. Hugh Jackman on Broadway in one of Broadway’s smallest theaters? Go form a line outside now, why don’t you?

The Tony-winning actor will return to the stage this fall in The River, a new play (in the States, at least) by Jez Butterworth and directed by Ian Rickson. Also starring Laura Donnelly and Cush Jumbo, the intimate production will begin previews on October 31 at the Circle in the Square Theatre (current home to Audra McDonald’s Tony-nominated turn in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill). Opening night is slated for November 16; the engagement will play a strictly limited 13-week engagement through January 25, 2015.

Press notes for The River describe it as such: “A remote cabin on the cliffs, a man and a woman, and a moonless night. Jez Butterworth’s The River asks when we find each other, are we trying to recapture someone we once lost? The writer director team who brought you Jerusalem returns with a bewitching new story.”

Jackman last tread the Broadway boards in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway in 2011; prior to that, he starred in the box office-busting two-hander A Steady Rain opposite Daniel Craig, and 2003’s The Boy From Oz, which earned him his first Tony Award. Jackman is also tapped to host this year’s Tony Awards ceremony on June 8.