At 8 PM the musical plays its 6,681st performance, surpassing the original Broadway production of Les Miserables.
"Throughout the past 17 years, this production has exceeded my wildest expectations time and time again," said producer Barry Weissler in a statement. "Six Tony Awards, a Grammy Award-winning cast album, a six-time Academy Award-winning film adaptation, celebrated productions in 24 countries and 12 different languages across the globe — and now this Thursday we're breaking Les Miserables' incredible record to become the third longest-running show in Broadway history.…This is truly a remarkable day, and on behalf of the entire Chicago company, I want to thank the legions of fans and beloved audience members worldwide who have helped our show achieve this incredible milestone in Broadway history."
As of Dec. 20, the all-time longest-running Broadway shows are:
1. The Phantom of the Opera — 10,356 performances
2. Cats — 7,485 performances
3. Chicago — 6,681 performances
4. Les Miserables — 6,680 performances
The Broadway company currently features Amy Spanger as Roxie Hart, Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly, multi-platinum recording artist Billy Ray Cyrus as Billy Flynn, Raymond Bokhour as Amos Hart, Carol Woods as Matron "Mama" Morton and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine. The ensemble cast includes Donna Marie Asbury, Nicole Bridgewater, Cristy Candler, Dylis Croman, Michael Cusumano, Jennifer Dunne, David Kent, J. Loeffelholz, Sharon Moore, Peter Nelson, Brian O'Brien, Denny Paschall, Angel Reda, Jason Patrick Sands, Brian Spitulnik, Tonya Wathen, Amos Wolff and Ryan Worsing.
The revival of Chicago began life as one of the three annual Encores! presentations offered by City Center. The musical opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in November 1996 where it remained through February 1997. The musical transferred to the Shubert Theatre on Feb. 11, 1997, and played that house through Jan. 26, 2003. The revival reopened at the Ambassador Theatre, its current home, on Jan. 29, 2003. Read more about the revival in the Playbill Vault.
Chicago won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 1997 as well as awards for actors Bebe Neuwirth and James Naughton, director Walter Bobbie, lighting designer Ken Billington and choreographer Ann Reinking. The original production was directed and choreographed by the late Bob Fosse. The modern classic has music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Ebb and Fosse.
The Ambassador Theatre is located at 219 W. 49th Street.
Visit ChicagoTheMusical.com for more information.
