Photo Flash: Worlds Collide When Takarazuka CHICAGO Meets Broadway Cast!

Takarazuka, Japan's famous all-female musical theater troupe, makes its first appearance in New York in over 25 years with Takarazuka CHICAGO at Lincoln Center Festival July 20-24 only at the David H. Koch Theater, running concurrently with the Tony Award-winning show, with a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb, and now the number one longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

Just yesterday, the cast of Takarazuka CHICAGO was introduced to the cast of New York City's Broadway production by producers Fran and Berry Weissler. Check out photos from the special event below!

Takarazuka CHICAGO cast members include: Saori Mine, Saki Asaji, Asato Shizuki, Yoka Wao, Wataru Kozuki, Hikaru Asami, Natsuki Mizu, and Yuga Yamato.

Directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Tony Award winner Ann Reinking, Chicago features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington and sound design by Scott Lehrer.

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.

Photo Credit: Wire Image