Chicago: Tony Yazbeck to play Billy Flynn

Tony Yazbeck will play the role of 'Billy Flynn' in the Tony Award winning musical Chicago from 29 Aug 2011. Yazbeck assumes the role from Christopher Sieber who played his final performance on 26 Aug 2011.

Yazbeck's Broadway credits include 'Irving Berlin's White Christmas,' 'Gypsy' (2008), 'A Chorus Line,' 'Never Gonna Dance,' 'Oklahoma!' and 'Gypsy' (1989).

Yazbeck joins the Broadway company that currently features *Nikka Graff Lanzarone (Velma Kelly), **Charlotte d'Amboise (Roxie Hart), Carol Woods (Mama Morton), Chris Sullivan (Amos Hart) and R. Lowe (Mary Sunshine).
*Lanzarone is expected to leave the show on 4 Sep 2011 - no replacement has so far been announced
**Kara DioGuardi assumes the role of 'Roxie Hart' from 5 Sep 2011.

Now celebrating fourteen years on the Great White Way, Chicago is the second longest-running production currently playing on Broadway, as well as Broadway's longest-running musical revival. The show becomes the fouth longest running musical in Broadway history on 27 Aug 2011, surpassing A Chorus Line with a total of 6,138 performances!

The show has been playing on Broadway since 14 Nov 1996, it moved to the Ambassador Theatre on the 29 Jan 2003, where it is currently booking period through to 1 Jul 2012.

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'.

Chicago has music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb, Book by Bob Fosse & Fred Ebb.

The musical 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. It is the fifth longest-running production in Broadway history, as well as Broadway's longest-running musical revival.