Usher makes Broadway debut in Chicago/Wireimage
Barry Weissler Exclusive:
Day 10
By Barry Weissler, Ushering in Chicago’s 10th Year
Mon Jan 28, 2008
For the 10th Anniversary of Chicago, we needed a very special Billy Flynn; someone to reintroduce our show to a whole new generation of audience members. Usher was hot. He was riding high after the release of the Confessions album and sold out tour. You saw him in every magazine and his songs were playing in all the clubs. Everyone told me there was no way at the top of his game he would put everything on hold and come to Broadway. I took a shot and it paid off. As it turned out, Usher is a huge fan of Bob Fosse, his god-father is Ben Vereen and he had always wanted to come to Broadway.
Now came the hard part. We had a huge international star. Usher grew up in the public eye in a culture obsessed with celebrity where the media feeds off of their successes and, even more so, their failures. Under constant scrutiny, it is no wonder many stars are so defensive, untrusting and suspicious. Usher is a perfectionist. He is a real artist in every since of the word. He wanted creative input and control on every level, truly wanting to make this role his own. It certainly made my job more difficult.
But in the end, it was all worth it. Usher transcended his celebrity and became Billy Flynn. In addition, he transformed our audience. We saw younger and more diverse theatergoers filling the seats at the Ambassador. The excitement in the air was palpable. And outside the theatre was pandemonium. I had to hire extra security, block off the street, put up police barricades! Fans who couldn’t get a ticket would wait outside during the show, singing Usher’s songs, waiting to get a glimpse of their idol.
Until tomorrow…
Broadway producers Barry & Fran Weissler are the recipients of five Tony Awards®. Their numerous Broadway credits include acclaimed productions Othello with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer, My One and Only with Tommy Tune, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Kathleen Turner and Charles Durning, Gypsy with Tyne Daly, and the Tony Award-winning productions of Falsettos and Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters and Reba McEntire, among others. They are currently represented on Broadway – and across the globe -- with the international smash hit Chicago, which earned six 1997 Tony Awards® including Best Musical Revival, as well as countless other awards in the U.S. and abroad.