James Monroe Iglehart to play Billy Flynn in 'Chicago' on Broadway
He will step into the role from January 17.
James Monroe Iglehart is ready to razzle dazzle 'em! The Tony Award winner has been tapped as the next Billy Flynn in Chicago. Iglehart will play his first performance as Billy on January 17, taking over the role from Tom Hewitt.
Iglehart was last seen on Broadway as Thomas Jefferson/Marquis de Lafayette in Hamilton and as a guest performer in freestyle love supreme, which just wrapped its second Broadway run on January 2. He has also appeared in Memphis and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway, and he earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for originating the role of the Genie in Disney's Aladdin.
The current principal cast of Chicago includes Ana Villafañe as Roxie Hart, Bianca Marroquín as Velma Kelly, Tony Award winner Jennifer Fouché as Matron "Mama" Morton, Raymond Bokhour as Amos Hart, and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine.
John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse's classic musical Chicago follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudeville star who has an unusual path to fame. After she lands in jail for killing her husband, her slick lawyer, Billy Flynn, helps turn her court case into a media sensation. The musical's first revival, which opened 25 years ago in 1996, is still running at the Ambassador Theatre, making Chicago Broadway's longest-running revival and second-longest running show, only behind The Phantom of the Opera.
Originally published on