NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Alyssa Milan hopes to delight audiences when it makes its Broadway debut this fall the musical “Chicago”, adding your celebrity to a show that challenges celebrity culture.
“The beauty of theater is that you experience new things every night,” she told the Associated Press. “That’s what I loved about doing theater. And that’s what I hope to find again in making ‘Chicago.’”
Milano, former star of “Who’s the Boss?” and “Charmed,” takes on the role of Roxie Hart at the Ambassador Theater beginning September 16 for an eight-week engagement through November 10.
For Milano, taking the stage is a return to his roots. She was in a national touring company of “Annie” at age 8 and starred in Wendy Wasserstein’s “Tender Offer” at the off-Broadway Ensemble Studio Theater and “All Night Long” at Second Stage. She was in the first American musical adaptation of “Jane Eyre” and produced and starred in a Los Angeles production of “Butterflies Are Free.”
Milano says doing a run on Broadway never felt right until now. Her children – ages 9 and 12 – are enrolled in school and extracurricular activities, and her husband is in a good professional position.
“It seemed like when this offer came along, everything fell into place,” she says. “My 9-year-old daughter looked at me and said, ‘Mom, you’d be an idiot if you didn’t do this.’”
In recent years, she has appeared in the films “Brazen” and “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later” and the Netflix series “Insatiable.” Milano has also lent her stardom and voice to the #MeToo movement, launched clothing, jewelry and eyewear lines and hosted Lifetime’s “Project Runway All-Stars.”
Set in the 1920s, “Chicago” is a scathing satire about how show business and the media turn criminals into celebrities. It has Bob Fosse-inspired choreography, skimpy costumes and killer songs like “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango”.
“Chicago” tells the story of Roxie, a housewife and dancer who murders her lover after he threatens to leave her. To avoid conviction, Roxie hires Chicago’s shrewdest criminal lawyer to help her deceive the public, the media, and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by creating shocking headlines.
Milano says he wants to pay tribute Ann Reinking – the iconic Fosse collaborator who originated Roxie in the 1996 revival and created the choreography in Fosse’s style. “I’m really trying to pay homage to her choreography and her portrayal of Roxie. Because it was profound.”
The celebrity-hungry heroine at the heart of “Chicago” has been played by dozens of women since the show premiered in 1996, including Pam Anderson, Melanie Griffith, Christie Brinkley, Marilu Henner, Brooke Shields, Lisa Rinna, Gretchen Mol, Ashlee Simpson, Brandy Norwood, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Givens.
Milano hopes fans come to see her more than once. “I guarantee that I will keep finding things — I will keep finding little moments that will hopefully contribute to the legacy of all the women who have come before me.”
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