The Dutch production of the John Kander-Fred Ebb-Bob Fosse hit musical Chicago, which started previews in Utrecht, The Netherlands on April 28, will open on May 9. Chicago is the first production in the completely renovated 1,150 seat Beatrix Theater, which also includes the "All That Jazz" restaurant and the Millennium Bar. The theatre, which is part of the Royal Trade Centre in Utrecht, was renovated at the cost of 12 million guilders (approx. 6 million U.S. dollars) and is the second open-end musical theatre in The Netherlands. (The other is the VSB Circustheater in Scheveningen which houses the Dutch production of Miss Saigon until July 4). The cast is led by Pia Douwes (who created the title role in the Austrian musical Elisabeth and played the title role in the Dutch version of Evita) as Velma Kelly and Simone Kleinsma (Sweet Charity, Funny Girl, Les Miserables among many more productions) in the role of Roxie Hart. Stanley Burleson (Cats, Les Miserables, Joe) will play Billy Flynn, Serge Henri Valcke will be Amos Hart and Marjolijn Touw is Matron "Mama" Morton. The Dutch version of Chicago is directed by Scott Faris, following the original direction of Walter Bobbie and is choreographed by Ann Reinking, with Gary Chryst as her assistant. The translation into Dutch was made by Seth Gaaikema, René op den Camp has the musical direction and the production is produced by Joop van den Ende, Holland’s largest television and theatre producer.

Producer Joop van den Ende, who is co-producer of the London production and in the United States is a partner of the Dodger Endemol Entertainment Group, stated that 110,000 tickets for the musical have been sold since ticket sales began on November 25, 1998.

Chicago can currently be seen in New York, London, Boston, Sydney and the Swedish city of Göteborg. The production in Vienna closed on April 20.