Former Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams is to follow fellow American Jerry Springer in the cast of Chicago this summer.
The US star will make her UK stage debut in the role of Roxie Hart at the Cambridge theatre from 13 July to 22 August. Springer, the talk show host and former Mayor of Cincinatti, appears as sleazy lawyer Billy Flynn from 1 June to 11 July.
Williams is best known as one third of the Grammy Award-winning girl group Destiny’s Child, the top selling female group of all time whose hits include Survivor, Bootylicious and Say My Name. She has also released three albums as a solo artist.
Williams made her stage debut in 2003, replacing fellow R&B star Toni Braxton as the lead in Elton John’s Broadway musical Aida. She went on to appear in the musical adaptation of The Color Purple in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Chicago, which has extended its booking period to 30 October 2010, opened at the Adelphi theatre in 1997, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production the following year.
The tale of murderous showgirls Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly ran at the Adelphi for nearly nine years before transferring to its current home at the Cambridge theatre in 2006.
The show’s current cast includes How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? contestant Aoife Mulholland as Roxie Hart, Rachel McDowall as Velma Kelly and Ian Kelsey as manipulative lawyer Billy Flynn. McDowall and Kelsey will be replaced from 1 June by Leigh Zimmerman and Springer.
MA