Lee has talked in his concerts about going up last year for the role of Billy Flynn in the UK tour of Chicago and the addition of All I Care About to his setlist made us wish his panto commitments hadn't prevented him taking the role. Happily that wasn't the end of the story and it was announced yesterday that he will take over from Russell Watson later this year, making his first appearance at the Sunderland Empire on 31 May and playing through to the end of the tour in Llandudno on 30 July, though sadly for his fans across the Irish Sea, he will not be doing the Belfast dates (6-11 June).
Lee stars alongside the previously announced Gemma Collins as 'Mama Morton' (except in Plymouth and Llandudno where Sinitta will reprise the role), Faye Brookes as 'Roxie Hart', Djalenga Scott as 'Velma Kelly', Jamie Baughan as 'Amos Hart' and B.E. Wong as 'Mary Sunshine'.Tickets for the tour have been on sale for a while and I'm delighted to see how well sold it is. It makes ticket-buying more challenging but after the last couple of years I can't begrudge Lee and his fellow cast members playing to full houses even if my view of them doing so is a little more distant than I'm used to!
UPDATE 12/05/2022:
First production pictures of Lee as Billy Flynn released today... looking sharp, sir! (Credit: Matt Crockett - click for full-size images)
TOUR SCHEDULE
Published: 20/04/2022; last updated: 12/05/2022
