Billy Ray Cyrus Broadway Debut As Smooth Lawyer Billy Flynn
Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus has traded in his guitar and cowboy boots for a slick new hairdo and a tuxedo as he premieres on Broadway, Monday, November 5 playing the charistmatic lawyer Billy Flynn in the popular musical “Chicago“.
Cyrus is committed to the role at the Ambassador Theatre in New York City through December 23. The show’s setting is quite a change of pace for the laid-back country star, set in 1920s Chicago.
“I’ve been preparing for quite some time, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous …. OK, a lot nervous,” he tells The Boot with a laugh. “Last night, I was so tired — I’d done interviews all day, but trust me, I ended my night studying that script and singing those songs. I’m really excited about getting up to New York City and living there. I’ve never lived in New York City, let alone step out on Broadway and pretend that I was Billy Flynn! It’s going to be so fun.”
Cyrus plays the town’s most successful criminal attorney, hired by nightclub performer Roxie Hart after she is accused of murdering the man she is having an affair with.
Although treading the boards on Broadway is new territory for the accomplished singer, whose latest album premiered this fall, Cyrus is no stranger to acting.
For five seasons he portrayed the father of real life daughter Miley Cyrus on television’s “Hannah Montana” series. Amy Spanger, Carol Woods and Corey English are his “Chicago” co-stars.
