How Jeremy Jordan saved The Greatest Showman

In his 2020 cabaret show Carry On, Jeremy Jordan performed songs from The Greatest Showman and revealed how he helped the movie make it to screen.

In a video from his 2020 cabaret show Carry On, Jeremy performs a medley of songs from the hit musical film.

He also finally shares the tale of his involvement behind-the-scenes with The Greatest Showman, including THAT viral From Now On video.

The Tony Award nominee tells how he was originally asked to sing demos for Hugh Jackman’s songs that were to feature in the film.

“I had no intentions of going any further with the film as Hugh Jackman already had the lead role,” Jordan shares. “But as I got to the recording and talking to the people involved, I found that there was a secondary character in the film that I could be perfect for.”

In 2016, he received a call to go to New York to do a presentation reading for the film. Hugh Jackman was going to be there, playing the role of Barnum, and they asked him to play the role of Phillip.

Jordan goes on to tell how just before the presentation he lost his voice before getting another call: “Hugh had to have emergency surgery on his nose – he was fine – but the doctor said he absolutely could not sing at the presentation. Further, the composer had also lost his voice and the only person who could be there and sing all the songs was me.

“They asked if I could stand to the side and sing Hugh’s songs while he stood front and centre and acted them out. And also sing all of Phillip’s songs and scenes… no pressure.”

Jordan then re-enacts how his voice struggled during a performance of Rewrite The Stars.

“The notes were gone, it was just air… I was devastated,” he recalls before moving on to talk about From Now On.

Jordan continues: “We get to the big 11 o’clock number, From Now On. It started out low and builds but not to a point that I couldn’t reach in my current state. I got excited, thinking ‘This is going to be my redemption moment, I’m going to go in there and kick this song’s arse and leave this place dignity intact….

“And then Hugh starts singing, as many of you have seen from the viral behind the scenes video. I played along like a champ but inside I was crushed…

“I got out of there as soon as possible but not before hearing that Hugh had just met with Zac Efron about playing the part of Phillip and just like that I slam shut the chapter in my life tentatively titled The Greatest Showman and I’ve not opened it since… until now.

Carry On was first presented at Feinstein’s/54 Below from February 12th through February 29th of 2020, starring and written by Jeremy Jordan with musical direction by Benjamin Rauhala.