A Wizard and a Wolverine Depart...

If you're a theater geek like me, 2012 started with a couple of theatrical goodbyes. 

First up:  after approximately 345 performances - and having not missed a single one - Daniel Radcliffe hung up his bowtie for good as he played his final performance as J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying yesterday.  One would think after playing the same character in a movie series for ten years, the last thing any young actor would want to do was spend nearly a year singing and dancing through eight grueling performances a week in a 50-year-old Broadway musical, but Radcliffe did it so well that by the end of the first song you forgot he was ever Harry Potter:

In addition to Radcliffe, his co-star John Larroquette (who won a Tony Award for his role as boss JB Biggley) also played his final performance yesterday.  Having grown up watching him as Dan Fielding on Night Court, he was as much fun to watch on stage as Radcliffe was.  You can watch a shaky-phone-cam version of Radcliffe's goodbye speech from the show yesterday here.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying will continue performances tomorrow with Glee's Darren Criss taking over the role of J. Pierrepont Finch (for three weeks only - Nick Jonas takes over after that) and Beau Bridges in the role of JB Biggley.

The other Broadway departure yesterday was Hugh Jackman, who ended the 10-week run of his one-man show Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway.  The show (which happened as a result of the Wolverine sequel being postponed yet again), was a mix of Broadway showtunes, classic standards, a mini-revival of The Boy From Oz, a jaw-droppingly amazing medley of movie musical songs, some hilarious audience interaction, and a simply beautiful Aussie-flavored version of "Over the Rainbow", complete with didgeridoo players and Aboriginal singers. 

In short, it was awesome.  I saw it twice:

It's also worth noting that all of these guys did some amazing charity work during their stage runs.  During their two fundraising drives for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, How to Succeed raised a combined total of $597,851 from selling autographed posters and programs and holding nightly post-performance auctions of Radcliffe's show-worn bowtie. 

Jackman's show only played during the fall fundraising drive for BC/EFA, yet he still managed to raise a record-breaking $1,789,580.  How the hell did he manage to do that?  By not only selling the usual autographed posters, programs and photo ops backstage, but also by auctioning off the sweaty undershirts he wore during the show.  I saw two of the shirts go for $13,500 at one of the shows I saw.  No, I didn't bid on them.  But the auction was fun (and a little frightening) to watch.

And it's always good to know these movie star guys can do some major kickass stuff when they hit the stage as well.