Ariana Madix is taking her talents to Broadway. Just a day after the reality star came in third place on Dancing With the Stars, she announced that she would be treading the boards as Roxie Hart in Chicago next year.
“It is just the biggest dream come true,” Madix said on Live With Kelly and Mark. “I cannot believe that this is real life.” The reality star will be on the Great White Way for two months, starting January 29.
It’s fitting that Madix will star in Chicago, and not just because it’s a musical about a woman who kills a man who betrayed her and becomes the center of a media frenzy. She is the latest in a long line of Bravolebrities to step into the Chicago cast. Erika Jayne of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills played Roxie in 2020, just before the COVID shutdowns. Her castmate Lisa Rinna also played Roxie, but that was in 2007 before her Housewives fame. Atlanta Housewives NeNe Leakes and Kandi Burruss both played Mama Morton, but no woman from Andy Cohen’s Chardonnay-scented orbit has played (the actually difficult role of) Velma Kelly yet.
Chicago is famous for stunt casting, so we might as well cut to the chase. With Madix stepping in as Roxie, why not give us an all-Bravo Chicago cast? Kyle Richards will be Velma, Karen Huger will play Mama Morton, and of course Cohen will be playing fast-talking lawyer Billy Flynn. This would print money, mark my words. Either way, I’m still excited to watch poorly shot iPhone footage of Madix’s “Hot Honey Rag.”
