The actor known for playing “Wolverine” in superhero movies made a visit to a Milwaukee high school earlier this week.
Hugh Jackman surprised students Dec. 2 at Milwaukee High School of the Arts as part of his visit to Milwaukee for the premiere of his newest movie Song Sung Blue.
To make the surprise visit happen, Milwaukee High School of the Arts choral director Raymond Roberts said he told his students they were going to be recording a song for a Milwaukee Public Schools’ commercial. He thought that would plausible enough for the students to believe since they had recorded a song for a commercial earlier in the fall.
“This all happened really quickly and required a lot of communication on the part of adults just to coordinate how we would keep this surprise element. I wanted to have them ready to sing for him because that’s just what we do and I thought that would be an important element to the entire presentation,” Roberts said.
To set up Jackman’s entrance, Roberts said the movie’s director Craig Brewer spoke before students watched a video of Jackman sharing a message of support and encouragement to them and that there would be new instruments. Jackman donated $10,000 to allow the school to purchase new instruments and another $5,000 to help the school make upgrades to its auditorium, Roberts said.
Then in the video, Jackman said, “You know what? I think I’ve got something better,” walked out of the shot in the video and then through the classroom door. The students “just went bananas,” Roberts said.
“Even in that moment of shrieky sounds and screams, I think the kids felt like ‘Wait, someone sees us and someone hears us and someone values what we do and how hard we work at it and they’re in the room with us,’ so it was pretty memorable,” Roberts said.
James Ferguson, a Milwaukee School Board member and Milwaukee High School of the Arts alumnus, was also there for Jackman’s visit. He was thrilled to see the students’ excitement.
“It’s not everyday you get Hugh Jackman to walk through your classroom door, but everyday they walk through those doors, they’re working to get and achieve that level of success in their own artistic forms. I think the energy in the room was reflective of the hope and excitement that our students have in their own respective areas,” Ferguson said.
Roberts said Jackman provided words of encouragement and support the students.
“He just talked about why it’s important and how the world needs more performers. It was really lovely,” Roberts said.
Along with getting selfies with Jackman, the students sang the song “From Now On” from The Greatest Showman, a film Jackman himself starred in, Roberts said.
“He was just so encouraging of the students and just genuinely said how much that meant to him. It just made his day. It was really powerful,” Roberts said.
Another conversation that took place after students sang to Jackman was about the theme of the song, in particular about the phrase “Home Again, Home Again” that’s repeated frequently in the song. Jackman asked students where home is and what that means to them, Roberts said.
“There were students in the choir that said ‘here, in this room’ and it was just really important and a beautiful acknowledgement of how powerful communities are, especially music communities because people do find their place and they find their home and a safe place to just be. The fact that he knew that it was important to say that to the students, I can’t even explain how validating and gratifying that was to hear. It was a beautiful moment,” Roberts said.
Contact Alec Johnson at 262-875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hugh Jackman visited Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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