Hugh Jackman's 'Oklahoma!' set for PBS telecast

Want to know the exact moment when Hugh Jackman became a star? Hint: It didn’t happen in a movie.

No, it happened in Ooooooooklahoma, where the something something happens down the plain.

I swear, I know the lyrics to the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, but you don’t want to hear me sing type them. Instead, you’ll want to allow the divinely scruffy Hugh Jackman to serenade you with the musical’s classic title tune, which he did in 1998 as cowboy Curly in Trevor Nunn’s Royal National Theatre production.

Jackman was a hit (because who else is better suited to play an American cowboy than an Australian?) and it was in this production that the then-30-year-old Aussie became internationally known for the first time. Just one year later he landed the role of a lifetime as Wolverine in X-Men. That’s the POWER OF THEATER.

If you weren’t among the lucky few to catch the performance in London, PBS wants you to relive the Oklahoma! fun; the network will re-air the 1999 filmed version of the production in high definition on Nov. 15 at 9 p.m. ET as part of the network’s Great Performances series. Tonight, the network airs the 2011 Neil Patrick Harris-led Company.