Tony winner Paulo Szot and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Erika Jayne join the Broadway production of Chicago beginning January 6 at the Ambassador Theatre.
Opera star Szot steps into the role of Billy Flynn for a four-week run through January 31. He begins his engagement the same day singer/reality star Jayne makes her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart. Szot will later return to the company for a nine-week run March 16–May 19.
Szot made his Broadway debut as Emile de Becque in Lincoln Center Theater’s South Pacific in 2008, winning Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Awards for his performance. He has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Scala di Milano, Paris Opera, Teatro Real (Madrid), London's Barbican, and more.
Jayne is the latest star from the Real Housewives franchise to step into the long-running musical, following Atlanta’s NeNe Leakes and Kandi Burruss and Beverly Hills’ Lisa Rinna (albeit five years before joining the series). In addition to the Bravo series, Jayne's television oeuvre includes Dancing With the Stars, The Young and the Restless, and Lip Sync Battle.
Jayne and Szot are joined onstage by by Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly, Raymond Bokhour as Amos Hart, NaTasha Yvette Williams as Matron “Mama” Morton, and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine.
See What Else Is Coming to Broadway in the Near Future
With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Ebb, Chicago is now the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Produced by Barry and Fran Weissler, the staging is the winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Cast Recording.
Directed by Tony winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Tony winner Ann Reinking, Chicago features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Tony winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony winner Ken Billington, sound design by Scott Lehrer, and casting by Stewart/Whitley.
Szot has been a special guest performer on Playbill Travel’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travel’s first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Aaron Lazar, Beth Leavel, and Faith Prince (April 26–May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31–September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020–January 7, 2021) and Broadway on the Caribbean (February 15–22, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.
(Updated January 6, 2020)
