Here’s What Really Happened With Luann de Lesseps’ ‘Chicago’ Gig

Luann de Lesseps told Andy Cohen on the Real Housewives of New York City reunion that she was set to appear in the musical Chicago on Broadway. But just a day later, the cabaret star’s rep and a representative for the musical both said that she wasn’t joining the cast after all. So what happened to de Lesseps’ big Broadway debut?

The countess has wanted to appear in Chicago for over a decade, and it seemed like her dream was going to come true. Friends and her co-stars on the show were shocked when de Lesseps announced on the air that she was going to play a role in the Broadway hit. According to letter obtained by Page Six, de Lesseps was in talks to play Mama Morton on the show so long as she completed a training session with the musical’s creative team.

The letter detailed an offer “to play the role of ‘Mama Morton’ in the Broadway production of the musical CHICAGO subject to a successful vocal work session with the production’s creative team.”

The letter, dated May 15 and from the show’s general manager B.J. Holt, also listed the start dates for her first rehearsal and first performance, along with salary.

While she completed the vocal work session and even did a few rehearsals, internal emails show that when the reunion filmed on May 17, the things were still in the negotiation phase, but “the deal was firmly and very much alive.”

But as The Inquisitr reported on July 26, it didn’t look like the countess’s Broadway debut was happening after all.

“Luann de Lesseps is not confirmed to join the cast of Chicago at this time,” an official statement said.

It seems as though the production team “ultimately decided to go in a different direction.”

It sounds like de Lesseps had a meeting with the production team for the show on July 6 and found out that it was going to take a lot of rehearsals and coaching – and a much bigger time commitment than she had planned on if she wanted to be in the show. Despite the fact that she would be playing a smaller role in the show, it was just too much for her between her cabaret show and her filming for The Real Housewives of New York.

So while de Lesseps was planning to appear in the long-running Broadway musical when the reunion was filming, by the time it aired, the plan had fallen apart.