Pamela Anderson is going from Baywatch to Broadway! Making a splash on opening night of the Bob Fosse Jazz Age musical, Chicago, the actress is making the Great White Way her new home, starring as Roxie Hart in an eight-week run of the Broadway production.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to do anything at this level. I’ve always been a dancer and a singer in my head,” Anderson recently told Vogue. “I just had to do it…it was a leap of faith.”
Donning her costume, in a sheer black undershirt, a black leotard and a pair of fishnets, the Baywatch alum proudly held a bouquet of roses as she stood alongside her costar Lana Gordon (who plays Velma Kelly) at curtain call.
The musical, which debuted in 1975, tells the tale of two murderous women seeking acquittals for homicide in the 1920s. It was written by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb, featuring music by John Kander, with lyrics composed by Ebb, and choreography by Fosse.
Marking its 25th year on Broadway, the musical was cemented in cinematic history in 2002, with the adaptation winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Catherine Zeta-Jones snagging Best Supporting Actress for her role as Velma Kelly.
According to Playbill, Chicago is “the longest-running American musical in Broadway history and the second-longest running Broadway production ever,” after Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.
Joining the likes of actresses from Ann Reinking, Brandy, Ginger Rogers, Christie Brinkley, Renée Zellweger, Melanie Griffith, the Spice Girls’ Mel B, and more, to have played Roxie Hart, Anderson is in good company.
Anderson recently spoke to People of her Broadway experience, saying, “I’m so curious to see what I’m made of. Each day, my voice is getting stronger. The choreography is settling in. We’re doing the original choreography — they’re not holding back with me — and I’m just loving it. I’m just eating it up. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I should have been doing this longer!’ But this is the right time. This is the beginning of the rest of my career — maybe.”
With a new Netflix documentary on its way and a memoir, Anderson is taking control of her own narrative after the recent Hulu miniseries, Pam + Tommy, aired without her involvement. With part of the forthcoming feature showcasing some behind-the-scenes action from her Broadway debut, we can’t wait to see what else Anderson’s impressive second-act will bring.
Catch Anderson on Broadway through June 5.
