Of all the Broadway shows, few have packed them in over the years such as Chicago. The November 23 performance of the musical is going to be a hot ticket now that we know the show's original cast will be making guest appearances throughout the performance to celebrate the show becoming the second longest-running musical on Broadway, according to Billboard.
Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, James Naughton and Joel Grey were the original stars when Chicago first came to New York during during 1975, but its 1996 rendition became the one adored by fans and it's logged thousands of performances since then. Theoretically (you know, barring arson or something) the show will log its 7,486th performance near Thanksgiving this year, allowing it to pass Cats and take the no. 2 spot for longest running shows. It has a while before it catches no. 1, The Phantom of The Opera, which cracked 10,000 during 2012 and is still running strong.
It's not exactly clear what each of the original cast members will do when they step back onto the stage. Will they play their original roles for brief bits? Seems unlikely. The transition won't be that tough for Neuwirth, who has come back to Chicago twice: to play Roxie Hart during 2007 and to play Mama Morton earlier during 2014 (she originally played Velma Kelly). Perhaps the most exciting return is that of James Naughton, who won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Billy Flynn. Grey received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Amos Hart.
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