Broadway’s Chicago Looking for Its Next Roxie Hart

Do you have what it takes to be a Broadway star? Now might be your chance. Producers of the record-breaking hit musical Chicago are, in partnership with Broadway.com, hosting a national casting call to find the next Roxie Hart. The musical revival, which is celebrating its 22nd Anniversary on Broadway, will launch “The Search for Roxie!” in January of 2019. 

Contestants are invited to submit audition tapes online to enter the casting call, Chicago casting directors, producers, and former stars of the show will filter contestants down to the top-three choices. That trio of finalists will be flown to New York City for in-person auditions. Broadway.com will film and produce a video series of seven episodes documenting the event. The series will include interviews with former celebrity Roxie Harts, the cast and creative team, and give us a glimpse of the contestants learning the character’s songs and dances. Ultimately, a new Roxie Hart will be crowned and she will make her Broadway debut at the Ambassador Theatre in the role.  

More information about the contest will be forthcoming. 

Chicago originally opened on Broadway in 1975, with Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, and Jerry Orbach in the leads. The musical features an unforgettable Kander and Ebb score with standout songs such as “All That Jazz”, “Roxie”, “Razzle Dazzle”, and “Nowadays.” The book by Ebb and director-choreographer Bob Fosse, is based on the Maurine Watkins play of the same name. The original production ran 936 performances, but was entirely eclipsed at the Tony Awards by A Chorus Line. The current Broadway revival (which opened in 1996) was a product of the New York City Center Encores! series. For Broadway, the cast featured Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, and James Naughton. Walter Bobbie directed and Reinking choreographed in a style that was an homage to the late Bob Fosse. 

“Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids.”