Claire Marshall

There are some roles that arrive with built-in mythology. Velma Kelly is one of them. She comes with a silhouette, a tempo, an attitude, and generations of expectation. But when Claire Marshall talks about stepping into the part for the first time on tour, what comes through is not intimidation so much as intention: respect for the legacy, yes, but also a clear desire to find the woman beneath the icon.

There is a reason "Chicago" never really goes out of style. Its world of headlines, ambition, reinvention, and weaponized charm still feels uncannily familiar. As the musical returns to the Auditorium Theatre, Claire Marshall is making her debut as Velma Kelly and bringing fresh nerve, wit, and precision to one of Broadway's most enduring antiheroines.

As CHICAGO returns to the Broadway in Chicago Auditorium Theatre (May 5-10, 2026), Claire Marshall steps into the famously flinty showgirl for the first time, fully aware that she is joining a long and glittering lineage. For Marshall, the opportunity is both a professional milestone and a personal thrill. CHICAGO, she noted, exists in what she calls the "Chicago verse," that rare tier of musical theater recognition that extends far beyond Broadway fans.

Claire Marshall as Velma and Ellie Roddy as Roxie; credit: Jeremy Daniel

"A lot of people know what this is, which is really exciting for an actor," Marshall told GoPride. "To know that I was going to portray an iconic woman who is played by so many iconic women, it is both such an honor and, of course, a little intimidating at the start." That intimidation, though, quickly turned into something more useful. "I just get to be one of those women now and bring my own spin to Velma."

That spin begins not with imitation, but with understanding how Velma works. Marshall said one of her earliest discoveries was that the character's power is not built through pages of dialogue. It is built through precision, preparation and presence. While Roxie Hart often processes events in real time onstage, Velma arrives as if she has already thought three moves ahead.

"She is very prepared," Marshall said. "She comes in, does it and leaves." For an actor, that creates a particular challenge. Velma's interior life has to register almost instantly. The audience may not see the plotting, but they have to feel it.

Marshall, a self-described physical actor and dancer, found her way into that authority through movement and restraint. She paid close attention to tour choreographer Gregory Butler and to the stylized vocabulary inherited from Ann Reinking's choreography. The key insight was simple and potent: "Stillness is power, and that is a very important part of Velma's physicality in this show."

Claire Marshall as Velma Kelly and Cast of CHICAGO; credit: Jeremy Daniel

It is also one reason CHICAGO continues to feel so sleek and contemporary. Beneath the fishnets, brass and vaudeville framing, Marshall sees a story that remains "shockingly relevant." She points to the show's obsession with image management, public performance and media manipulation, all of which land differently in a culture saturated with spin.

"It's shockingly relevant how a show that was written 50 years ago and takes place 100 years ago still has the themes of being able to manipulate the media to get what you want," she said. In CHICAGO, perception is currency. Truth is negotiable. Spectacle does the work facts often cannot. For Marshall, that is precisely why the musical still cuts.

She hopes audiences enjoy the dazzle without missing the warning underneath it. "I want them to be excited about the camp of it all, the sparkle, the spectacle of this vaudevillian cabaret show," she said. "But I also want them to think, wow, we really do manipulate the media a lot." In other words, CHICAGO still entertains, but it also still indicts.

Claire Marshall as Velma Kelly and Ellie Roddy as Roxie Hart; credit: Jeremy Daniel

Marshall is especially attuned to the tension between charisma and control. Before joining CHICAGO, she toured with The Cher Show, an experience she says taught her lessons no classroom can. Watching performers embody a figure as unmistakable as Cher sharpened her understanding of iconography onstage, especially the way star power often comes from confidence rather than excess.

"She really lets the audience come to her," Marshall said of Cher's stage presence. "She's talking to them, she's not singing at them." That lesson carries directly into her Velma, another woman who knows exactly how to work a room and exactly what it costs to lose control of it.

There is also a dry wit in Velma that Marshall clearly enjoys. "I find myself always looking for a little punchline, a little zinger in life," she said, describing the overlap between her own instincts and the character's. The divergence comes in temperament. Velma's flashes of temper and frustration give Marshall something delicious to play. Onstage, she gets to explore a woman whose composure is always under threat, and whose ambition keeps pushing her forward anyway.

That relentlessness is part of what has long made CHICAGO resonate with queer audiences too. When asked about the show's enduring appeal through the lenses of camp, reinvention and spectacle, Marshall quickly acknowledged its theatrical fluency with performance itself. These women understand they are being watched. They understand how to shift depending on who is in front of them. And they understand that survival may depend on mastering the image others want to see.

"It's really interesting to see how these women understand what they're doing, and they're OK with being viewed a certain way because ultimately it is life or death," the performer says.

Claire Marshall as Velma Kelly; credit: Jeremy Daniel

Marshall is equally quick to praise the company around her. In a production with minimal scenery and a stripped-down visual language, she believes the audience can feel the discipline more clearly. She singled out the ensemble's stamina in particular, noting that their work requires not only technical excellence but constant presence. They are not simply waiting for their next move. They are holding the world of the show together.

By the end of the night, Marshall hopes audiences leave with both pleasure and perspective. A tune in their heads. A few lines to quote on the way home. And maybe a sharper awareness of how easily a culture can be distracted by polish, glamour and a well-timed headline.

If Marshall has her way, audiences will leave CHICAGO with a tune in their heads, a few sharp laughs still lingering and a sharper sense of what the show is really saying. That tension between seduction and critique is part of what has kept CHICAGO alive for decades, and it is part of what makes this return engagement at the Auditorium Theatre feel worth revisiting. CHICAGO plays May 5 through May 10 in Chicago, with tickets on sale now.

For more information on individual and group tickets, visit Broadway In Chicago.