Emma Barton, who is best know for playing Honey Mitchell in EastEnders, is to take to the West End stage later this month. From 26 April, she will play Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago at the Cambridge theatre.
Barton, who previously played the imprisoned performer on the UK tour of Chicago in 2009, is joined in the cast by Vivien Carter (Velma Kelly). The pair replaces current leading ladies Ruthie Henshall and Anna-Jane Casey. Terence Maynard (Billy Flynn) and Adam Stafford (Amos Hart) will continue in their roles.
The former Albert Square regular has a host of stage credits including Grease, Love Shack and the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Secret Garden.
Chicago is one of London theatre’s longest running current musicals, fourth in the list behind Les Misérables, The Phantom Of The Opera and Blood Brothers. The tale of murderous showgirls, manipulative lawyers and the power of fame opened at the Adelphi theatre in 1997, where it ran for nine years before transferring to its current home at the Cambridge theatre in 2006.
MA