THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (PG)

Tailor’s son PT Barnum (Hugh Jackman) falls under the spell of Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams), who hails from privileged stock.

They live modestly with two cherubic daughters (Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely) until PT blags a 10,000 US dollar bank loan for a museum of living curiosities.

The exhibits include bearded lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle), dwarf Charles Stratton (Sam Humphrey) and high-flying trapeze siblings WD and Anne Hugh Jackman as PT Barnum and Keala Settle as the bearded lady Lettie Lutz, far right

Wheeler (Yahya II, Zendaya).

Sardonic newspaper critic James Gordon Bennett (Paul Sparks) denounces the AbdulMateen

enterprise as “a primitive circus of humbug”. The public disagrees, swarming to PT’s palace “of the offensive and indecent”, which he

expands with investment from rich kid Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron).

The Greatest Showman is a joy-infused, whoop-inducing blast of pure pleasure that calibrates every swoon of romance and doff of a top hat with masterful precision.

Razzle smooches dazzle in each breathlessly choreographed, crowd-pleasing frame of a rags-to-riches fairy tale set to a wickedly infectious score composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Jackman embraces his underwritten role with gusto, catalysing a sweet screen romance with Williams in between spectacularly staged musical sequences that frequently take the viewer’s breath away.

Efron and Zendaya take flight in their duet Rewrite The Stars, soaring almost as high as Michael Gracey’s picture.