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Video: Ariana Madix Talks CHICAGO Ahead of Her Broadway Debut
May 16, 2024
Her name is on everyone's lips! TV personality, actress and author Ariana Madix will make her Broadway debut in the role of 'Roxie Hart' in Chicago this month! Ahead of her first performance on Monday, January 29, BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge sat down with Madix to talk about the upcoming role! Check out the video here!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Reality star Arianna Maddox is getting ready to make her Broadway debut as Roxy Heart in the hit musical Chicago for eight weeks only beginning on January 29th
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And I caught up with her at 48 Lounge. I'm so excited
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And I love the rehearsal process. It's like my favorite thing. So I just love being in there and playing and working on things and feeling like I'm getting in it
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And so I'm really excited. for that day to come because I just know that we'll be ready
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So what a rehearsal's been like? I mean, it's a great role. It's an iconic role of Roxy
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Yeah. What have you been working on so far? So far, I've been working on music
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Last night was a big dance rehearsal. Worked a lot on Hot Honey Rag last night nowadays and me and my baby
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which that's a big one. Yeah. Yeah. So last night, a lot of dance
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Just starting to get into a courtroom scene. Yeah, really exciting stuff. So when you found out that you were coming to Broadway in Chicago, like what went through your mind
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Like, it's happening? Yeah, it's all happening. You know, it's my life's dream
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And so I was crying, screaming, and just I couldn't believe it
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It's so exciting. So talk about what you love already about Roxy. It's such an iconic character, so beautifully written
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What do you love about her? I love Roxy resilience I love that when she doesn have it figured out she is figuring it out And she figures things out quick And when you think she down she not
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You know, she comes right back. And I love that about her. And living in the world of candor and Ebb already and Bob Fawsey, what that's been like for you learning the show and what you love about this show
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Oh my gosh. Well, the music is incredible. There's always something, you know, whether it's, you know, a turn of phrase
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or a little detail every time, you know, we're working on this music
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there's like more and more to find to play with. And the fossey of it all, I mean, that is, it's daunting
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You know, it's the type of movement that when you watch, you might think this might be simple, but it's not
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And it's something that is so different for me to take on, you know
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even just having my hands, the water off the hands. These are things that I'm learning, but it's
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It's really cool. So you're learning the Fosci Lingo. The Fossi Lingo, yeah
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Yeah. This is such a beloved musical. Why do you think that is? I think that when you think about the show is set in the 20s
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came out in the 50s, and they even have that year in 50 years or so, it's going to change
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Okay, well, it's now been 50 years since the 70s when the show first came about
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And so I think that you think about these characters, we still relate to them We still root for them And the book the music everything about the show is it so tight It so I mean it moves
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And there is nothing in there that doesn't need to be in there. And that story just keeps moving right along
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And you're glued when you're watching it. So, like, when you look at your poster, that's a stunning photograph
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It's a great poster for Chicago. Like, what are you thinking? I can't believe that it's real
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It's really, really. Cool. I need this. I need to take this with me. It's kind of hard to believe, yeah. You know, it's
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I've been hustling for a long, long time. I graduated college in 2007. So, you know, from then until now
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it's been a grind and a hustle and a lot of weird winding roads that ended up at this point
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and so it's kind of, it's hard to believe that it actually is a reality
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So I was going to say, was Broadway always a dream of like, wow, one day I'd love to appear on Broadway, you know, in something
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Yeah, that, being on Broadway was the entire, it was the reason for everything
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I mean, it was ultimately, it was the reason why when I, that I moved here years and years ago
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it was the reason why I learned how to bartend as a survival job
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It was the reason why I moved to L because I needed to have a solid resume to be considered viable for anything on Broadway And then the bartending is what brought me to the world that I have been in
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for the last 10 years. And then ultimately is what brought me back here. Have you been over to the
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theater yet, the ambassador? Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. We've been rehearsing on stage. And that's really
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really cool to just think of, you know, the seats are all empty when we're rehearsing and I think
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like there's going to be faces in these seats. So I was going to ask you, what are you looking forward
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to the most of January 29th, that first performance on stage with an incredible audience? And you'll be
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bringing many people who've never been to a Broadway show before because of how they know you
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Yeah. We were all introduced to the theater. Yeah. What that means to you. It's really, really cool to think that some people might be coming to Broadway for the first time
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And I hope that it's not their last. I hope that they see
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see the show, they see Chicago, and then they say, I want to see more. I want to be more into
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this world because there's so many amazing shows and I love theater and I think that that's
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what I'm really, really looking forward to is that energy because we rehearse and we prepare
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and we get to that point, but then we get that energy from the people who are there
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it's a whole new ballgame and it just brings everything to life and I can't wait for that
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Get ready for the 29th. It's going to be magical for you. Oh, my gosh. Thank you
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Yes
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