Photos: Brinkley Makes West End Debut in Chicago

Brinkley, who takes the role in the long-running Kander and Ebb musical for four weeks, had been billed to start on Monday 11 July but delayed her appearance because her mother was admitted to hospital.

A spokesperson for the show today said Brinkley had arrived in the UK on Saturday and had been rehearsing with the musical’s London company since Monday. Brinkley takes over from Sarah Soetaert in the role.

Producers today invited photographers to the West End’s Cambridge Theatre to see Brinkley and Wright reprise their Broadway performances.

TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF CHRISTIE BRINKLEY’s CHICAGO PHOTOS,
JUST CLICK ON THE “NEXT >” LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.
PHOTOS BY DAN WOOLLER FOR WHATSONSTAGE.COM.

Chicago must finish, after five years at the Cambridge, on 27 August 2011 to make way for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming transfer of Matilda the Musical. Producers have previously said they are looking for a third London home for the show, which first opened at the Adelphi in 1997, but no new venue or dates have yet been announced.

The current revival of Chicago opened at the Cambridge Theatre (where the musical’s original London production ran for 603 performances from April 1979) on 28 April 2006, after eight-and-a-half years at the Adelphi Theatre. It won the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production as well as the 1998 Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical.

Kander and Ebb’s 1975 musical is based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins and has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The current production, which transferred from Broadway, is directed by Walter Bobbie and designed by John Lee Beatty, with choreography by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse.