UK tour of Chicago starring Lee Mead and Gemma Collins tour opens next month

Lee Mead will play Billy Flynn in the UK and Ireland tour of Chicago The Musical which also stars Gemma Collins.

The West End favourite will join previously announced Towie star Gemma Collins as Mama Morton, Faye Brookes (Kate Connor in ITV’s Coronation Street,) as Roxie Hart, and West End trouper Djalenga Scott(Annie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat & Chicago all in the West End) as Velma Kelly.

Lee Mead won the nations hearts when they voted him their Joseph in BBC1’s Any Dream Will Do. Since then, Lee has gone on to star in the West End in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre, Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre and Wicked at the Victoria Apollo, as well as touring the UK as Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Lee has also appeared on screen establishing himself as a TV favourite on BBC1’s Casualty and Holby City in the role of Lofty.

The lead cast will also feature Jamie Baughan as Amos Hart and B.E. Wong as Mary Sunshine. The cast is completed by Ishmail Aaron, Michelle Andrews, Gabby Antrobus, Delycia Belgrave, Joel Benjamin, Tanisha-Mae Brown, Daniel Clift, Callum Fitzgerald, Emily Goodenough, Billie Hardy, Aaron Jenkins, Liam Marcellino, Theo Reece, Hollie Jane Stephens and Harrison Wilde.

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.

Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, CHICAGO’s sexy, sassy score includes the show-stopping songs “Razzle Dazzle”, “Cell Block Tango”, and “All That Jazz”.  Winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, CHICAGO is the longest running American musical in Broadway and West End history.

The tour opens on Tuesday 31 May at Sunderland Empire and will play dates in Belfast, Plymouth, Cardiff, Blackpool, Sheffield, Norwich, Oxford and Llandudno.

International recording artist Sinitta will reprise the role of Mama Morton at the Grand Opera House, Belfast (6 – 11 June), Theatre Royal, Plymouth (14 – 18 June) and Venue Cymru, Llandudno (25 – 30 July).