Picture: Matt Crockett
Reality TV regular Gemma Collins has reportedly withdrawn from the UK and Ireland tour of Chicago just days before she was due to make her musical theatre debut as Mama Morton in the production.
Currently playing to packed houses in Manchester, the production features The Three Degrees singer Sheila Ferguson (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Soul Train) as Mama Morton alongside chart-topping classical recording artist Russell Watson (Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds tour, English world premiere of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ Kristina, Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall) who is due to take his final bow as Billy Flynn this weekend.
Stage and screen favourite Lee Mead (Wicked, Legally Blonde and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) will take over as Billy Flynn when the production opens at the Sunderland Empire from 31 May 2022.
Mead will join 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. Former 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.
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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