Hollywood stars such as Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow may flock to London's West End to star in theater, but pop stars seem content to remain on this side of the Atlantic and light up Broadway.
While Joey Fatone of 'N Sync continues (through Dec. 22) in his role in "Rent," now comes news that Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson will step into the role of shyster lawyer Billy Flynn in the long-running revival of the 1975 Bob Fosse musical "Chicago," the Associated Press reports.
Richardson -- who, at 31, is the oldest Backstreet member -- follows such actors as Taye Diggs, George Hamilton and Michael C. Hall of "Six Feet Under" in taking over the role. The current Flynn on Broadway is Billy Zane, and Richard Gere plays Flynn in the movie version, which costars Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones and opens Dec. 27.
The original Flynn when the show opened 27 years ago was "Law & Order" star Jerry Orbach.
Meanwhile, in other Broadway news, there's a big new musical hit in town, Baz Luhrmann's production of the Puccini opera "La Boheme," which opened to mostly glowing reviews Sunday night at a premiere that attracted Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Grant, Cameron Diaz, James Gandolfini and Francis Ford Coppola.
On Monday alone, the show reportedly took in $1 million at the box office, with its success spurring the Australian director to bring a stage adaptation of his movie, "Strictly Ballroom" to Broadway and a stage version of his "Moulin Rouge" to Las Vegas.
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