Re-vamped!
After 17 years, Denise is back in Chicago – and this time she’s Velma, not Roxie
IT IS 17 years since she first appeared in Chicago, winning rave reviews for her portrayal of murderess Roxie Hart.
Now, as this exclusive picture shows, Denise van Outen is gonna rouge her knees and roll her stockings down to return to the hit West End musical – this time as the even more deadly Velma Kelly.
The TV presenter, 44, who played Roxie in London and on Broadway in 2001 and 2002, said yesterday: ‘I’m really excited about it. I remained very good friends with the producers of the show, because when I did the show on Broadway I actually lived in their apartment.
‘It’s one of those things, it was such a big piece of my life. I was the first celebrity to do Chicago, so it was quite a big gamble for them.
‘And because it kind of worked out and went well and I was well received in New York by the Press and the critics, I’ve always had that real love for the show.’
Miss van Outen, who found fame as presenter of The Big Breakfast in the 1990s, will play Velma from September 24, with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke as Roxie and former boy band star Duncan James as lawyer Billy Flynn.
She added: ‘It’s a brilliant show and the producers... we’ve always stayed in contact and we’ve had the conversations previously, but it never felt like the right time [to return] because I’ve obviously gone off and done other things. But I think now I’m at an age where, partly, for me it’s to reminisce a little bit because I went to see it recently and I just got those goosebumps again.
‘I just wanted to go back and have a blast and work on something that I love. And also it’s been announced that Duncan James is doing the show and we’re really good friends and I’m just really, really excited to work with him again.’ Miss van Outen – who has a daughter Betsy, eight, with ex-husband Lee Mead – has also appeared in the West End production of Legally Blonde.
She is due to play Velma until midNovember and hopes that this time her mother will come to see her. ‘She’s never seen me do anything on stage. It would just be nice for her to see it,’ she said.