UPDATE 1-Hugh Jackman looks to dazzle Oscar watchers

(Recasts paragraphs 1-3, adds details, changes throughout)

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for the Oscars on Sunday, hoping to reverse a slide in television viewership by dazzling audiences with a program created around the musical talent of host Hugh Jackman.

With rags-to-riches romance "Slumdog Millionaire" expected to win the world's top film honor for best movie, suspense at the gala affair has shifted to whether Jackman and producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark (movie musical "Dreamgirls") can offer fans a sparkling showcase of top stars and films.

Condon and Mark "are proven showmen who know how to package entertainment and Hugh Jackman knows how to sell it," said Tom O'Neil, columnist for awards Web site TheEnvelope.com.

That would be no small feat as the Oscars, which are given out by the Beverly Hills-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, raise the curtain on their 81st ceremony.

Expected inside Hollywood's Kodak Theatre and outside on the fashionable red carpet are the likes of Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Meryl Streep and scores of other stars.

In recent years, comedians have hosted the show where awards are given in more than 20 categories from best movies and performances to make-up design and even short films.

But U.S. viewership hit a record low of 32 million in 2008, down from 40 million in 2007. Condon, Mark and Jackman, who won a Tony on Broadway for his work in "The Boy From Oz" as well as TV's Emmy award for hosting the stage world's Tonys, were brought to reverse that trend.