Brenda Edwards as Mama Morton in the UK and Ireland tour of Chicago. Picture: Catherine Ashmore
One-time X Factor finalist turned musical theatre performer and Loose Woman contributor Brenda Edwards will return to the stage as Mama Morton in the UK and Ireland tour of Chicago. Gemma Collins, who had been cast in the role, has been forced to pull out due to a knee injury.
Edwards (Hairspray UK tour, We Will Rock You, Dominion Theatre and UK tour) who made her West End debut in the role following her X Factor run in the ITV talent show’s second series will be joining the cast at the Sunderland Empire on 2 June 2022. Edwards will also play Mama Morton at the Cardiff New Theatre, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal and the New Theatre Oxford.
The singer will feature alongside the production’s new Billy Flynn, stage and screen favourite Lee Mead (Wicked, Legally Blonde and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), former Coronation Street regular Faye Brookes (The Sound of Music, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) as Roxie Hart, Djalenga Scott (Annie, Piccadilly Theatre) as Velma Kelly, Jamie Baughan (Kinky Boots, Adelphi Theatre) as Amos Hart and B.E. Wong (Sleepless: A Musical Romance, Troubadour Theatre) as Mary Sunshine.
Ex-pop singer Sinitta (Cats, New London Theatre, Mutiny! Piccadilly Theatre) is also due to return to play Mama Morton for selected performances beginning at the Grand Opera House in Belfast (6-11 June). The former pop star’s previous run in the role in 2021 marked her first stage role in two decades.
The cast is completed by Ishmail Aaron, Michelle Andrews, Gabby Antrobus, Delycia Belgrave, Joel Benjamin, Tanisha-Mae Brown, Daniel Clift, Callum Fitzgerald, Emily Goodenough, Billy Hardy, Aaron Jenkins, Liam Marcellino, Theo Reece, Hollie Jane Stephens and Harrison Wilde.
Produced by David Ian in association with the Broadway producers Barry and Fran Weissler, the production is based on the successful 1996 Broadway revival which was directed by Walter Bobbie with choreography by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse.
Inspired by the 1926 play of the same name by crime reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, Chicago boasts a book by Fred Ebb and Fosse, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Ebb. The original Broadway production debuted in 1975 and arrived in London in 1979.
The hit revival production opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 18 November 1997 to rave reviews and ran for 15 highly successful years in the West End. The production claimed the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and the 1998 Critics’ Circle Drama Award for Best Musical. The show is the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history.
Chicago has played in 36 countries worldwide and has been performed in English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, French, Danish, Japanese and Korean. The musical has been seen by an estimated 33 million people, grossed over $1.7 billion and played over 32,500 performances.
Angela Thomas
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