Brenda Braxton Returns to 'Chicago' on Aug. 12th

On Tuesday, August 12, the CHICAGO company is pleased to welcome back Brenda Braxton to the role of merry murderess Velma Kelly.
 
Braxton, an audience favorite and longtime fixture in the worldwide CHICAGO family, has previously appeared in the role on Broadway, on multiple U.S. national tours and in Japan. She holds the record for having played Velma Kelly on Broadway more than any other actress in the show's history -- over 1,200 performances and still counting.
 
Prior to CHICAGO, Braxton appeared on Broadway in Smokey Joe's Cafe. For that performance, she was honored with a 1995 Tony Award nomination, an NAACP Theatre Award, the city of Chicago's Jefferson Award and a Grammy Award for Best Cast Album.
 
Her other Broadway credits include Jelly's Last Jam, Cats, Legs Diamond and the original production of Dreamgirls.
 
Braxton is also the recipient of the DR. Martin Luther King Jr. "Living the Dream" Award and the Josephine Baker Award from the National Council of Negro Women for her work as founder of Leading Ladies Just for Teens, seminars geared to empowering teenage girls.
 
In the fall of 2006, she added entrepreneur to her resume with the launching of BBRAXTON Exceptional Grooming for Exceptional Men, a gentlemen-only grooming parlor in Harlem.
 
Braxton succeeds Nancy Lemenager in the role of Velma Kelly.  Lemenager will play her final performance at the Ambassador Theatre on Sunday, August 10.
 
CHICAGO also stars Michelle DeJean as Roxie Hart, Tony nominee Tom Wopat as Billy Flynn, Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin as Amos Hart and Carol Woods as Matron "Mama" Morton.
 
Visit www.chicagothemusical.com for additional information.

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.