Tony Yazbeck to Take on Billy Flynn in CHICAGO, 8/29

On Monday, August 29, 2011, the acclaimed revival of the Tony Award-winning musical CHICAGO will welcome Tony Yazbeck to the role of "that silver-tongued prince of the courtoom," Billy Flynn.

Tony Yazbeck's Broadway credits include Phil Davis in Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Tulsa in the recent revival of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (for which he earned an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Al in A Chorus Line, Never Gonna Dance, Oklahoma! and Gypsy with Tyne Daly.

His Off-Broadway credits include the City Center Encores! productions of On the Town, Gypsy, The Apple Tree, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Pardon My English, as well as the York Theatre production of Fanny Hill.

His regional stage credits include Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain (Muny) Billy in My One and Only (Goodspeed, Connecticut Critics Circle Award), Alexas in Antony and Cleopatra (Hartford Stage), Andrew in Sycamore Trees (Signature, Helen Hayes Award), Wally in Animal Crackers (Goodman), Bobby in Crazy for You (Maine State), Tony in Copacabana (PCLO) and Tony in West Side Story (Trinity Rep.).

Tony can be seen in the feature documentary Every Little Step. He has toured nationally in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Annie Get Your Gun and Doctor Dolittle.

CHICAGO's current Billy Flynn, two-time Tony Award nominee Christopher Sieber, will depart the production on Sunday, August 28 in preparation for his upcoming role in the first national tour of the recent Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles.

CHICAGO also stars two-time Tony Award nominee Charlotte d'Amboise as Roxie Hart, Nikka Graff Lanzarone as Velma Kelly, Chris Sullivan as Amos Hart and Carol Woods as Matron "Mama" Morton.

As previously announced, former "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi will make her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in an eight-week engagement beginning Monday, September 5.

DioGuardi will be joined by longtime CHICAGO veteran and fan-favorite Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly. (Nikka Graff Lanzarone plays her final performance on Sunday, September 4.)

With a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, CHICAGO is the winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Cast Recording.

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.

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.

Visit www.ChicagoTheMusical.com for more information.