How ‘Chicago’ Is Bringing a New Reality to Broadway — And Reaping the Rewards

In the alley outside Broadway’s Ambassador Theatre — home for 23 years now to the musical Chicago — there’s an unofficial “wall of fame.” Adorning the white bricks are the names of all the actors who’ve played the lead roles in the show, a group that includes a slew of Broadway legends, but also quite a few unexpected show people.

There are pop artists like Brandy, Usher and Ashlee Simpson, and actors known better for the screen than the stage, like Pamela Anderson, Melanie Griffith and Sofia Vergara.

And then there’s a different sort of celebrity altogether: seven Chicago alumni best known from the world of reality television.

Soon, a new name will join them under the list of actresses who’ve played Roxie Hart: Reece Weaver, the breakout star of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders .

Weaver is the latest example of an approach to casting that Chicago ’s producer team has excelled at perhaps better than any other on the Great White Way, one which has surely contributed significantly to Chicago ’s standing as the longest-running current show on Broadway, and the longest-running American musical, period: “put-in” a star from outside the musical theater world; prove said star can hold their own alongside actual Broadway people; and hopefully, watch ticket sales soar.

In recent years, Chicago has taken that mandate one step further with reality stars, mainly “Bravo-lebrities,” along with RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Jinkx Monsoon (as Matron “Mama” Morton), The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives ’ Whitney Leavitt (whose casting as Roxie yielded the highest grosses the show has seen), and, now, Weaver representing Netflix.

The practice has its roots in the mid-90s, when Barry Weissler ( Chicago ’s lead producer with his wife Fran) was working on the revival of Grease and started to realize the potential benefit of casting new faces with established brands (like Brooke Shields, John Stamos and Rosie O’Donnell) in the show.

“I think Barry started to realize you can bring in someone that’s at the top of pop culture, or in the cultural zeitgeist, and that can bring people to purchase a ticket — and then they discover all this other Broadway talent surrounding them,” says Brett England, now Weissler’s associate producer on Chicago .

Chicago — John Kander and Fred Ebb’s now-iconic musical about two “merry murderesses” who get their 15 minutes of fame in Jazz Age Chicago — was an even more natural fit for celebrity casting, particularly for reality stars.

“The show is structured as a vaudeville, and it’s about the cult of celebrity,” says England.

“We’re satirizing what celebrity is.