Written by Maya Cantu
Chicago will welcome two new faces to the cast next month.
Mary Testa has been cast as Matron Mama Morton, and Solange Sandy will play Annie, also known as the "Six" of "Cell Block Tango."
Sandy will slink into her role on April 10th, replacing current Annie
Christine Brooks. Testa will portray the raunchy female warden Mama Morton from April 25th to July 17th. She will take the place of
Anne L. Nathan.
They will join a cast that includes
Michelle DeJean as Roxie Hart, Brenda Braxton as Velma Kelly, Ray Bokhour as Amos Hart, R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine, and
Brent Barrett as Billy Flynn. Barrett recently extended his run as the smooth-talking attorney, and will leave the show on April 5th.
The belty, earthy Testa is a familiar presence to many theatregoers. She was nominated for a 2001 Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony for her role as Maggie Jones in the revival of
42nd Street, and other Broadway credits include playing Magdalena in the 1999 musical
Marie Christine, Madame Dilly in the 1998
On the Town revival (which she also did off-Broadway), Domina in the 1996
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum revival, and roles in
The Rink (for which she stood by for
Liza Minnelli),
Barnum and
Marilyn: An American Fable. Her extensive off-Broadway credits include
String of Pearls, The Wax, Boys Don't Wear Lipstick, The Vagina Monologues, Tartuffe, Scapin, Lucky Stiff and
In Trousers. She is the recipient of two Obies--one for the off-Broadway production of
On the Town, and one for
From Above.
Although Julliard-graduate Sandy was notoriously dismissed from the pre-Broadway tryout of the upcoming
Sweet Charity revival (she had played Helene), she was described as a "stage goddess" in Rohan Preston's
Star Tribune review. Her Broadway credits include
Aida and
Dance of the Vampires, and she was a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.
The revival of
Chicago, which opened on November 14th 1996, has reached a run of almost 3, 500 performances. Currently at the Ambassador Theatre, it has yo-yoed from the Richard Rodgers Theatre to the Shubert Theatre to the present one. The
Chicago revival opened with
Ann Reinking as Roxie,
Bebe Neuwirth as Velma,
Joel Grey as Amos and
James Naughton as Billy. Under
Walter Bobbie's direction and Reinking's choreography,
Chicago received 6 1997 Tonys (including Best Revival of a Musical). The revival, based on Bobbie's stylistically stripped-down Encores! staging, featured direction and choreography by Bob Fosse in its original 1975 production.
The Ambassador Theatre is located at 215 W. 49th Street.
