Carmen Ruby Floyd is Chicago's new Matron Mama Morton

Carmen Ruby Floyd begins performances in the Broadway company of Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre in the role of Matron Mama Morton tonight, taking over from Carol Woods.

Ms Floyd's Broadway credits include 'After Midnight', The Gershwins' 'Porgy & Bess', and 'Avenue Q'. Other theatre credits include 'Cotton Club Parade', 'Little Miss Sunshine', and 'Blind Lemon Blues'.

She joins the current cast which also includes Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart, Amra-Fay Wright as Velma Kelly, Christopher Fitzgerald as Billy Flynn, Paul C. Vogt as Amos Hart, and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine.

Chicago is the second longest-running production currently playing on Broadway, Broadway's longest-running musical revival, as well as the longest-running American show in Broadway history. It has been playing on Broadway since 14 November 1996, and it moved to its current home, the Ambassador Theatre, on the 29 January 2003.

Chicago follows not your usual housewife, Roxie Hart, who gains dubious notoriety when she kills her boyfriend, invents her defence and manipulates everyone from her trustworthy husband to the fickle media and the unsuspecting public. The show features the well known songs, 'All That Jazz,' 'Razzle Dazzle' and 'Mr. Cellophane'.

The musical features a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with a book by Bob Fosse & Fred Ebb. The revival production is directed by Walter Bobbie, with choreography by Ann Reinking, scene design by John Lee Beatty, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Ken Billington and sound by Scott Lehrer.

Chicago is the winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Cast Recording. The show is currently booking to 4 January 2015.

- by Tom Millward