Hugh Jackman has hopped to his Tony Awards hosting duties, opening the show with a bouncing dance routine.

The energetic X-Men star opened the show by jumping through New York's Radio City Music Hall foyer, down the stairs and into the auditorium, high-fiving audience members on the way to the stage.

He then bounced backstage to greet guests including Sting, Neil Patrick Harris and the casts of Aladdin, Cabaret, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder and the stage musical revival of Les Miserables.

The cast of After Midnight followed with a rendition of jazz standard Sunny Side of the Street.

Jackman had been teasing fans in the lead up to the ceremony, posting videos of himself "bouncing" through his daily routine.

Explaining the sequence, choreographer Warren Carlyle said it was a homage to Bobby Van's bopping routine from 1953 musical, Small Town Girl.

"One of the things I love about Hugh is how physical he is," Carlyle said. "He loves to dance."

Fans on Twitter welcomed the high energy routine as they watched the awards show kick off.

"I don't care if #HughJackman is clawing mutants, raising orphans, arm wrestling or dancing, he can do no wrong," viewer Toby Williams quipped.

Another seemed impressed by the Wolverine star's "strong legs", given the strenuous nature of the opening routine.

But not everyone was impressed.

"Jumping does not an opening make," Blake Erickson tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Jackman had posted a shot of his pre-show sushi to Instagram, including an a sneaky Wolverine comic cameo in the background.

He even received well-wishes from another Australian in showbiz, television host Rove McManus.

"All the best to @RealHughJackman for tonight's #TonyAwards," McManus tweeted.

"Don't let your immense talent, popularity & extreme good looks make you nervous."

This is the fourth time Jackman has hosted the Tony Awards.

AAP

Jennifer Lawrence mop movie gets release

Jennifer Lawrence is putting down Katniss Everdeen’s famous bow and picking up - a mop?

The Oscar winner will reportedly play Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano in her third collaboration with Silver Linings Playbook director, David O Russell.

Fox has set Christmas Day, 2015, as the release date for the film.The rags-to-riches tale will follow the Long Island single mother as she becomes one of America’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Bridesmaids screenwriter Annie Mumolo will write the script.Earlier this year, Lawrence hinted on a TV talk show that O Russell had approached her about the part.

‘‘He recently texted me at, I think, four in the morning,’’ she recounted.‘‘And it was like, ‘I think I want to make a movie about the woman who made the Joy Mop. You wanna do it?’’’

‘‘I can just imagine David looking at someone mopping and being like, ‘Yeah, that’s my next screenplay.’’’

AAP

Justin Bieber baptised in a bathtub

Embattled pop star Justin Bieber turned to religion and was baptised in a bathtub as controversy loomed over his use of racist slurs, according to a report.

The baptism was done in one of Bieber’s friend’s bathtubs after attempts to find a church for the ritual came to nothing after it was realised it couldn’t be done without risking the singer’s privacy.

Pastor Carl Lentz tells editors at TMZ.com he spent a week working with the Baby songwriter on intensive Bible study sessions after the star’s aides were approached earlier this year by a man who had two videos showing the singer using the N-word.

According to the website, the sessions focused on studying Bible passages and attending services.

The troubled hitmaker issued a number of apologies after the emergence of two videos last week, made when he was a teenager, in which he uses derogatory terms.

One involves the singer telling a joke using the N-word, and the second shows him replacing the words of his hit One Less Lonely Girl with the N-word and joking about joining race-hate group the Ku Klux Klan.

WENN

J Lo pulls out of World Cup opening

Pop star Jennifer Lopez has pulled out of the World Cup opening ceremony in Brazil four days before the tournament kicks off.

Lopez recorded the official World Cup song, We Are One, with rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.She’d been due to perform with them at the opening ceremony in Sao Paulo but had to cancel, soccer’s governing body FIFA said overnight.

Lopez also missed the January event where Pitbull and Leitte unveiled plans for the song alongside FIFA officials in Rio de Janeiro.More than 60-thousand people will be in Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena to watch the ceremony and kick-off match between Brazil and Croatia.

AAP

Baldwin accepts key to Rhode Island city

Actor Alec Baldwin has received the key to Rhode Island’s smallest city for his donations to help reopen the financially struggling city’s library.

Baldwin donated $US10,000 ($A10,820) to the Adams Memorial Library in Central Falls in 2011 after he read a New York Times story about how it was forced to close because of financial problems.He gave another $US5000 in 2012.

The 2.59 square kilometres city emerged from bankruptcy that year.Baldwin’s visit on Saturday was his first to the library.Library director Joel Pettit says Baldwin accepted the key from the mayor on the library steps.

He was headlining a fundraiser Saturday night in nearby Providence for the library. Pettit said Baldwin is a great guy, and he’s hopeful the event will bring attention to the importance of libraries.

AP