Star of RuPaul's Drag Race TODRICK HALL to star as Billy Flynn in CHICAGO
by Best of Theatre Staff on Tuesday 6 November 2018, 9:52 am
Star of RuPaul’s Drag Race, American Idol and YouTube sensation Todrick Hall will star as Billy Flynn in CHICAGO from 19 November 2018 until the end of the show’s run at the Phoenix Theatre on 5 January 2019.
Todrick will join Sarah Soetaert as Roxie Hart, Josefina Gabrielle as Velma Kelly, Mazz Murray as Mama Morton and Paul Rider as Amos Hart.
Alexandra Burke plays the role of Roxie Hart until 10 November and Duncan James plays the role of Billy Flynn until 17 November.
Todrick Hall first rose to fame as a semi-finalist on the ninth series of American Idol. He joined YouTube in 2006 where he now has 2.9 million subscribers with his videos being viewed over 593 million times. In 2016 he appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, later appearing as a full-time judge for RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 2 and again for the ninth season last year. No stranger to theatre he as appeared on Broadway as Billy Flynn in Chicago and Lola in Kinky Boots.
The multi award-winning Kander & Ebb musical CHICAGO, winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, returned to London’s West End on Monday 26 March 2018, with a press night on Wednesday 11 April at the Phoenix Theatre in London.
CHICAGO originally ran in London for 15 years, making it the West End’s longest running revival. It first opened at the Adelphi Theatre on 18 November 1997 to rave reviews and immediately became a sell-out hit. CHICAGO won the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for 'Outstanding Musical Production' as well as the 1998 Critics Circle Drama Award for 'Best Musical'. CHICAGO transferred from the Adelphi Theatre to the Cambridge Theatre in April 2006, where it ran for five years until 27 August 2011. The show then opened at the Garrick Theatre on 7 November 2011, where it ran until 1 September 2012.
Since it opened in New York in 1996, CHICAGO has played in 36 countries worldwide, and been performed in English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, French, Danish, Japanese and Korean. It has grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide and has played over 32,500 performances worldwide, with an estimated 31 million people around the world having seen CHICAGO. CHICAGO continues to play on Broadway, where it celebrated its 21st birthday last year, and around the world in multiple languages. It is the world’s longest running American musical.
CHICAGO, which is based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO was choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse, directed by Walter Bobbie, and produced by Barry and Fran Weissler.