With the respective releases of The Fountain and The Prestige in 2006, Hugh was rid of his action-hero label and entered the Hollywood cream of the crop as a serious actor. However, long before his successful movie career, Hugh had already made a name for himself in the theater industry, appearing among other plays in the hugely successful The Boy From Oz. Below is an overview of Hugh's theater career and possible upcoming on stage projects of his.

• Beauty and the Beast (1995) • Carousel (2002) • Oklahoma! (1999) • Sunset Boulevard (1996) • The Boy From Oz (2003)

•The Boy From Oz (2003)
Hugh as: Peter Allen
Director: Philip McKinley
Selected cast: Isabel Keating, Stephanie J. Block, Beth Fowler, Michael Mulheren...

Details: The Boy From Oz, perhaps Hugh's most acclaimed on stage performance yet, is a biographical musical centering on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and his work, who was in his time romantically involved with both Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. The show premiered for the first time already in 1998 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney and was Hugh's Broadway debut.

Peter Allen Woolnough, born 1944, was an inspirational Australian singer and songwriter, who passed away in 1992 due to AIDS-related throat cancer soon after his diagnosis. For more info on Allen, click here. His music was a major influence in the production of the show, which became the most successful musical in Australia to date and the first Australian musical to enter Broadway. Hugh won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Allen at the 58th Annual Emmy Awards in 2004 and for his Broadway performance in 2003, as well as The Drama League Award and the Theater World Honor for Best Broadway Debut of the Year.

The Boy From Oz premiered on Broadway in 2003 and ran to the end of Hugh's contract in September 2004, after which the musical returned to Australian stages in September 2006 as a new production of the original musical ("The Australian Arena Spectacular" version), this time directed by the Xanadu-choreographer Kenny Ortega.

•Carousel (2002)
Hugh as: Billy Bigelow
Director: --
Selected cast: Audra McDonald, Judy Kaye, Jason Danieley, Lauren Ward

Details: Hugh took part in a special remake of the original 1945 musical Carousel for a gala benefit at the Carnegie Hall in 2002, playing Billy Bigelow, a scruffy carousel barker who marries a mill girl. Billy and his wife's lives together take a turn for the worse after the marriage vows are exchanged. The show aired in New York on June 6 2002.

Since the 2002 special performance, Hugh has not reprised his role of Billy, but there have been rumors of late of him being in talks for taking Carousel onto the silver screen. Whether these plans will ever be realized remains to be seen.

•Oklahoma! (1999)
Hugh as: Curly McLain
Director: Trevor Nunn
Selected cast: Maureen Lipman, Jimmy Johnston, Josefina Gabrielle, Shuler Hensley, Vicki Simon, Peter Polycarpou

Details: The original Oklahoma! was in 1943 a revolutionary musical in terms of storytelling, and broke numerous box office records upon its initial opening. Making his English stage debut, Hugh appeared in the 1999 remake of the musical as cowboy Curly McLain, contesting for the love of Laurey in early 20th century American West. The production of the musical was filmed and released on DVD.

The remake was a major success and was instantly sold out upon its opening night. The musical was then transferred to the Lyceum Theatre in West End, London, where Oklahoma! had a six-month run. Due to its London success, plans were made to transfer the musical onto Broadway. However, these plans were abandoned after the Actors' Equity Association demanded American casting. Though the musical was eventually tranferred to Broadway in 2002, Hugh was no longer a part of the cast, with Shuler Hensley and Josefina Gabrielle being the only remaining cast of the original, London remake. Aside from The Boy From Oz (2003), Oklahoma! is Hugh's best known on-stage performance, springing him roles in movie projects such as X-Men (2000).

•Sunset Boulevard (1996)
Hugh as: Joe Gillis
Director: Trevor Nunn
Selected cast: Debra Byrne, Robert Grubb, Amanda Harrison, Tim Beveridge

Details: This 1996 Australian musical was an adaptation of the 1950's film version by Billy Wilder, in which an aging silent movie actress, Norma Desmond, tries to make a comeback. In the musical version of Sunset Boulevard, Hugh plays the part of Joe Gillis, a screenwriter striving to make the cut and Norma's young lover. He was also responsible for the narration throughout the musical, although the show opens with Joe lying face down in Norma's swimming pool.

The Aussie musical ran through the end of 1996 to June 1997. Unfortunately, no recordings of the Australian production were made.

•Beauty and the Beast (1995)
Hugh as: Gaston
Director: Richard Wherett
Selected cast: Rachael Beck, Michael Cormick, Zachary McKay, Tony Geappen

Details: Hugh appeared in the Australian production of the successful Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast in which Belle, a French girl, accidentally meets The Beast, a prince who was unable to love and was thus cursed. In the Australian musical, Hugh portrayed the handsome but rather superficial Gaston, who was constantly turned down by his love interest, Belle.

Hugh's portrayal of Gaston was his first on stage performance, for which he received an MO nomination for "Best Actor". It was also the performance that sprung him parts in Trevor Nunn's Sunset Boulevard (1996) and Oklahoma! (1999).

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