Jeff Goldblum Puts on Impromptu Piano Gig at London Station to Celebrate ‘Wicked’ Release
Jeff Goldblum shocked passersby with an impromptu piano performance at London’s St. Pancras International train station on Wednesday, in celebration of the release of Wicked.
The Jurassic Park alum, who stars as the Wizard of Oz in Jon M. Chu’s impending musical adaptation, performed an intimate rendition of a Wicked number and two Christmas tunes as travelers and shoppers watched on.
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Goldblum is a musical talent as well as an actor. Performing as part of The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, his band is known for their contemporary arrangements of classic jazz and American songbook standards.
The station he performed at on Wednesday unveiled a Wicked themed Christmas tree in partnership with Universal Pictures, to celebrate the movie’s release. In taking to the St. Pancras piano, Goldblum followed in the footsteps of Grammy award winners Alicia Keys and Nora Jones, and dynamic duo Rod Stewart and Jools Holland, who also performed there. Others to have graced the famous St. Pancras piano include Elton John and John Legend.
Goldblum was in attendance alongside co-stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh, Bronwyn James and Ethan Slater at the film’s European premiere in London Monday night at the city’s Royal Festival Hall.
“It’s been a long journey to get here,” producer Marc Platt, who has overseen Broadway’s historic run of the musical, said. “I want to thank my colleagues and friends at Universal Pictures for their support of the show and of the film for all these many, many, many years.” It turned out, he said, that the movie took so long because he was waiting for the perfect director in Chu. Platt said: “I was waiting for someone who had such imagination, such talent and such humanity to raise his hand and say, ‘I want to direct this film.'”
Leading research firm NRG shows Wicked opening to $85 million at the box office — which would be one of the biggest starts for a musical, sources with access to the data have shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
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