The show, which will be staged under the auspices of Chichester Festival Theatre as part of its summer season this year in collaboration with producer Cameron Mackintosh, originally starred Jim Dale on Broadway and Michael Crawford in its West End debut in 1981 at the London Palladium.
In a report in the UK's Daily Mail, Mackintosh is quoted saying of Fitzgerald's casting, "[The show] needs an actor who can sing, dance, juggle, be a clown and an acrobat - and this man can do all of that."
Fitzgerald, who made his Broadway debut in the short-lived Amour in 2002, originated the roles of Boq in Wicked in 2003 and Igor in Young Frankenstein in 2007. Other Broadway credits include starring as Og in the 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow and playing Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice in 2010.
No dates have yet been announced.
