Chaz Bono as Billy Flynn or Wicked's Wizard? Five Roles to Bring the Dancing With the Stars Contestant to Broadway

The September 19 premiere of Dancing With the Stars included the debut of a new set that looks vaguely like an opera house, new pros (including Peta Murgatroyd of Broadway’s Burn the Floor) and the most random collection of “stars” imaginable, from a Kardashian to Nancy Grace. ABC wisely held the show’s ratings trump card until the last 10 minutes: Chaz Bono, the transgender child of Sonny & Cher. In real life, the former Chastity Sun Bono was something of a Broadway baby, attending NYC’s High School of Performing Arts with Tony-nominated BFF Orfeh and recording a pop album in the early ’90s. But can he dance? America got a pleasant surprise as Bono and pro partner Lacey Schwimmer performed a breezy cha-cha to “Dancing in the Streets.” And we started thinking: What Broadway roles might be a good fit for Chaz?!

Billy Flynn in Chicago
Bono’s premiere costume on DWTS (tuxedo pants and vest with a purple tie) made us picture Chaz in the role of dapper defense attorney Billy Flynn. He’d add new layers to the ventriloquist number with Roxie and share an easy chemistry with the chorus girls in “All I Care About Is Love.” And Chicago adores Dancing With the Stars alums!


The Wizard in Wicked
Who wouldn’t want to see Chaz Bono sing a duet with one of Broadway’s most beloved characters, green witch Elphaba, as they ponder the effect of pretending to be someone you aren’t? As the Wizard puts it in “Wonderful,” “There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities, so we act as though they don’t exist.” Ain’t that the truth?


J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark
Having grown up with a mom unafraid to wear a three-foot-tall feather headdress to the Oscars, Chaz would feel at home in the cartoon world of Broadway’s Spider-Man. We’d pay to see Bono bluster around the stage as a blowhard newspaper editor, a clever turnabout on his real-life relationship with prying tabloids.


Uncle Fester in The Addams Family
This casting may seem obvious given Bono’s current roly-poly physique (which he’s proud of! We love that!), but Fester is also the heart of the show and the Addamses. “It’s a dream that’s coming true when the moon says I love you,” the character sings, with a wistful quality Chaz could embody quite well.


Bob in Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Talk about subtext! Who could resist seeing a real-life transgendered man fall in love onstage with his opposite, a transsexual singer known as Bernadette? Audiences would have plenty to think about as Bono, playing down-to-earth mechanic Bob, sings “A Fine Romance” and leaves that cake out in the rain around a campfire with Tony Sheldon.

In case you missed Chaz Bono’s premiere performance on Dancing With the Stars, click below to watch.