Overview
- Mark Ballas and Eddie Cooper began performing in Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre on Monday, with Ballas as Billy Flynn and Cooper as Amos Hart.
- Ballas is booked for a four-week limited engagement that runs through August 16 at the Ambassador Theatre.
- Derek Hough made a one-night-only Chicago debut on July 20 by delivering the 7 p.m. opening monologue and joining a post-show talkback with Ballas.
- The current company features Krysta Rodriguez as Roxie Hart, Sophie Carmen-Jones as Velma Kelly, Jacqueline B. Arnold as Matron “Mama” Morton, and J. Workman as Mary Sunshine, with pop star Ivy scheduled to take over Roxie on August 17.
- The casting moves build on the revival’s long commercial strategy of rotating notable performers to refresh audience interest while preserving the show’s established creative roots under director Walter Bobbie and choreography credited to Ann Reinking.