Slated to succeed Lea Michele in the role of Florence Vassy in the revival of Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson’s classic spectacle at the Imperial Theatre, JoJo was blindsided by the premature closing of the Chess musical on Broadway.
Scheduled to begin her Great White Way performance in June through September, on Tuesday (5.26) the show’s producers announced that the musical would come to an end on June 21 after only 241 performances.
Taking to the official Chess Instagram page, a fan expressed interest int the musician getting to appear in some of the final dates. “I’m manifesting that JoJo joins as the alternate for these last few weeks or something. She deserves some shows!!” a moderator behind the @BroadwayWorks account wrote.
In response, the singer/thespian (born Joanna Levesque) confirmed that the play had been cancelled, writing “Was suppose (sic) to start first day of rehearsals TODAY. So bummed. All my love to the company,” though she didn’t address when she was informed of the news.
Featuring Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, the latest production of Chess received five 2026 Tony Award nominations but missed out on the Best Revival of a Musical category.
Confirming the play’s premature closure, in a joint statement the producers thanked the cast and crew for their hard work:
“We are immensely proud of the extraordinary work this cast and creative team have done in reimagining Chess for a new generation of theatergoers while honoring the passionate fans who have championed this musical for nearly four decades.” “Bringing Chess back to Broadway for the first time in nearly 40 years has been an enormous privilege, and we are extremely proud of everything this production accomplished during its historic Broadway run.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: J Vettorino from USA