IVY to make Broadway history as first Korean actor in 'Chicago,' playing Roxie Hart Aug 17–Sep 6

IVY will step onto the Broadway stage as Roxie Hart in Chicago from August 17 to September 6 at the Ambassador Theatre in New York — making her the first Korean actor to perform on Broadway, and the first to play Roxie Hart in English in that production.

The casting was four years in the making. Park Myung-sung, artistic director of Shin C Company, said at a press briefing on the 23rd that Broadway producer Barry Weissler first approached him about casting a Korean actor four years ago. IVY then went through three auditions over the course of a year before securing the role.

She knows the character well. IVY first played Roxie Hart in a domestic Korean production in 2012, winning the Newcomer Award at the Korea Musical Awards for it. She has since performed the role on Korean stages approximately 600 times.

Her path to Broadway started long before Chicago. IVY debuted as a singer in 2005, releasing tracks including 오늘밤 일, A Ha, and 유혹의 소나타 before pivoting to musical theatre. Her stage debut came in 2010 as Bianca in Kiss Me Kate. Since then she has taken on roles in Aida (Amneris, 2016), Red Book, Jekyll and Hyde, Moulin Rouge, and Dracula.

On July 1, IVY posted a short video to her account showing off a new look — tight, short curls she described herself: "The importance of hairstyle. Not a wig, it's all my own hair."

(Six hundred domestic performances of the same role, then Broadway. The resume does the talking.)