David Hasselhoff in Baywatch

Baywatch Hasselhoff Debuts in West End Chicago
Date: 5 July 2004

Baywatch star David Hasselhoff (pictured) will make his West End debut this month in long-running Kander and Ebb musical Chicago. For a strictly limited season, from 19 July to 4th September 2004, Hasselhoff will play super-slick lawyer Billy Flynn, opposite Rebecca Thornhill and Anita Louise Combe as murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly.

Hasselhoff is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the Most Watched TV Star in the World," thanks to his starring roles in the TV series Knight Rider and Baywatch. When the American TV network NBC cancelled the latter, Hasselhoff and his partners acquired the rights to continue it internationally. The programme has since been viewed in 140 countries by more than one billion people.

Hasselhoff’s other screen credits include The Young and the Restless, Layover, Legacy, Don’t Call Me Tonto, One True Love, Shaka Zulu, Nick Fury and Avalanche. In the late 1980s, Hasselhoff launched a solo recording career and has enjoyed particular success in Germany, where his debut album Looking for Freedom went triple platinum. In 2000, Hasselhoff made his Broadway debut, playing the title role(s) in Jekyll and Hyde (the musical receives its UK premiere this year, starring Paul Nicholas – See News, 25 Jun 2004).

Chicago, based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Scenic design is by John Lee Beatty, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Ken Billington and sound by Rick Clarke. Musical supervision is by Rob Fisher and musical direction by Gareth Valentine. The production is choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse and directed by Walter Bobbie.

The musical opened at the West End's Adelphi Theatre in November 1997 and went on to win the 1998 Olivier for Outstanding Musical Production and the 1998 Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Chicago is currently booking until 13 November 2004.

- by Terri Paddock

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