People in the news Angelica Ross

The fictional character Roxie Hart has many awful attributes — she’s adulterous, narcissistic, scheming, manipulating and murderous. Next week she’ll also be something unexpected: Inspirational.

“Pose” star Angelica Ross on Monday will step onstage in Hart’s high heels, becoming the first openly transgender woman to play a leading part on Broadway.

“I think about the trans women who are looking at me right now and are now thinking that this is possible,” Ross tells The Associated Press. “I am really excited to embrace the audience as they embrace me.”

Ross’ journey to the Ambassador Theatre seems almost fated, starting as a youngster who loved musical theater in Racine, Wisconsin. “I’ve been in musical theater since probably first grade,” she says.

Early roles as Sleepy in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — “I was a ham,” she admits — led to playing Tyrone in “Fame” and Billy in “Anything Goes.” She saw Broadway shows like “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” “The Color Purple” and

“On Your Feet!”

Set in the 1920s, “Chicago” is a scathing satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals. It has Bob Fosse-inspired choreography, skimpy outfits and killer songs such as “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango.”

It tells the story of Hart, a housewife and dancer who murders her on-theside lover after he threatens to leave her. To avoid conviction, she hires Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to help her dupe the public, media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by creating shocking headlines.

“Roxie’s quick on her feet getting herself out of trouble. She knows her womanly ways,” says Ross. “I feel like so many women, including trans women, have had to navigate a male-dominated environment and have had trouble with other people having the vision to see their talent.”