Florence doesn’t quit. Multi-platinum singer, songwriter and actress Joanna “JoJo” Levesque (‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’) will replace Lea Michele as Florence Vassy in the Broadway production of “Chess,” starring alongside Tony winner Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher from June 23–September 13 at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre.
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Levesque became the youngest solo artist to top the Billboard Mainstream Top 40, and won a 2020 Grammy for “Say So” with PJ Morton. Her theater credits include starring as Satine in “Moulin Rouge!” on Broadway (for which she filmed a Broadway.com vlog, ‘Sparkling Diamond Stories’) and “Working Girl” the musical at La Jolla Playhouse. She has sold over 8 million albums worldwide, amassed more than a billion streams and became a New York Times bestselling author in 2024 with her memoir, “Over the Influence.”
As previously announced, Michele will play her final performance in “Chess” on June 21. Levesque will join featured cast members Hannah Cruz as Svetlana, Bryce Pinkham as The Arbiter, Bradley Dean as Molokov and Sean Allan Krill as Walter, along with “Chess” ensemble members Kyla Bartholomeusz, Daniel Beeman, Shavey Brown, Emma Degerstedt, Casey Garvin, Adam Halpin, David Paul Kidder, Sarah Michele Lindsey, Michael Milkanin, Aleksandr Ivan Pevec, Aliah James, Sydney Jones, Sean MacLaughlin, Sarah Meahl, Ramone Nelson, Fredric Rodriguez Odgaard, Michael Olaribigbe, Katerina Papacostas, Samantha Pollino, Adam Roberts, Regine Sophia and Katie Webber.
Featuring a new book by Danny Strong, with original music and lyrics by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner Tim Rice, based on an idea by Rice, this new production is directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer and choreographed by Lorin Latarro with original orchestrations by Anders Eljas, orchestrations by Eljas and Brian Usifer and music supervision by Usifer.
This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.
