Catherine Zeta-Jones Goes from "Chicago" to Broadway

She won an Oscar for singing and dancing in "Chicago" and now she's taking her act to Broadway. Catherine Zeta-Jones will be joining Broadway dame Angela Lansbury in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music."

Zeta-Jones will play Desiree, the daughter of Lansbury's character, Madame Armfeldt. The role of the aging stage actress does not require much dancing or singing except for the most famous song in the musical, "Send in the Clowns."

She had previously won an Oscar for "Best Support Actress" as Velma Kelly in Rob Marshall's adaptation of the musical "Chicago."

Sondheim, the composer, personally called Zeta-Jones and persuaded her to star in the musical. Lansbury had wanted another big-name star to co-headline the show with her, not wanting to shoulder the multimillion dollar Broadway revival by herself. Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt will be largely confined to a wheelchair.

The production is expected to open at the Walter Kerr Theatre in mid-December. The story is based on Ingmar Bergman's movie "Smiles of a Summer Night," and follows the love lives of a group of upper-class Scandinavians one summer evening.

It first opened in 1973 and Sondheim describes it as "whipped cream with knives."

Source: New York Post