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The 'Greatest Showman' Trailer Is Heavy On Spectacle, Light On Hugh Jackman Singing

The 'Greatest Showman' Trailer Is Heavy On Spectacle, Light On Hugh Jackman Singing

This trailer for “The Greatest Showman” has been a long time coming. Twentieth Century Fox began developing the musical biopic about circus extraordinaire P.T. Barnum in 2011, when the studio hired first-time director Michael Gracey. Six years later, Hugh Jackman is portraying Barnum as a laid-off office drone who revolutionizes the freak show in the 1800s.

For some reason, the trailer hardly lets on that “The Greatest Showman” is a musical, beyond a few shots of characters dancing and a corny ballad that serenades the proceedings. In fact, the music was written by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, who scored the Tony-winning “Dear Evan Hansen” and contributed to “La La Land” and the short-lived series “Smash.”

What the trailer does tell us is that Michelle Williams is given little to do but play Barnum’s wife, while Zac Efron dons a perpetual “OMG” expression as Barnum’s collaborator. Zendaya plays a trapeze artist, and Rebecca Ferguson portrays opera virtuoso Jenny Lind.

“The Greatest Showman” ― written by Jenny Bicks (“Sex and the City,” “Men in Trees”) and Bill Condon (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Chicago”) ― opens Dec. 25.

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