Dancing with the Stars Duo Mark Ballas and Whitney Leavitt Bring Their Chemistry to Broadway's Chicago
Leavitt breaks box office records as Roxie Hart while Ballas returns to Broadway as Billy Flynn
What to Know
- Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas reunite in Broadway's Chicago after their Dancing with the Stars partnership, with Leavitt starring as Roxie Hart and Ballas as Billy Flynn at the Ambassador Theatre
- Leavitt is making her Broadway debut and breaking box office records, while Ballas returns to Broadway in a full-circle moment after early auditions for Chicago
- The duo’s onstage chemistry builds on their DWTS success, with Ballas coaching Leavitt and the pair teasing potential creative additions and viral moments during their run
Reunited and it feels so good! After competing together on Dancing with the Stars, Mark Ballas and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt have reteamed to take on Broadway’s Chicago. Leavitt has been performing in the production since February, breaking box office records as the merry murderess on everyone’s lips, Roxie Hart. Earlier this month, Ballas came on board as Roxie’s silver-tongued lawyer, Billy Flynn. The dynamic duo sat down with The Broadway Show host Tamsen Fadal to chat about their journey from ballroom partners to Broadway co-stars at the Ambassador Theatre.
Ballas served as Leavitt’s coach and choreographer on DWTS, so this casting feels especially apt. “It's just very us. It's hilarious,” laughs Ballas when asked about the onstage dynamic. “It is. Even the fights that they have,” echoes Leavitt. Speaking further on her connection to Roxie, Leavitt says, “I feel like she's very much a character that knows what she wants and she doesn't have any shame in stating what she wants. She wants the spotlight, she wants to be a star, and I can relate with that. I don't think we should have shame around having those aspirations.” Adds Leavitt, “She's a bit [of a] sass too. I can relate with her on that.”
As for Ballas’ relationship to Billy Flynn, he admits, “I wouldn't say I really relate to a lawyer, because that's so out of my wheelhouse. I think the showman side of it is definitely something I relate to.” The performer put in a fair amount of elbow grease in preparation for Chicago and studied the production fastidiously. “I'm the type of person that when I'm learning something new, I'm all in. So I went to watch the show every night. I probably saw it like 14 times.” When he first went to see Leavitt, he kept it on the down-low, because he knew his presence could make her nervous. "When [he] came backstage, I was like, 'What the f**k are you doing here?'" recalls Leavitt.
Though Leavitt has captured the world’s attention as a MomTok content creator and breakout player on Hulu’s Mormon Wives reality series, Ballas hadn’t heard of the Utah-based influencer before they worked together on DWTS. “He’s like, ‘A Mormon wife? What does that mean?'” says Leavitt. “[It was] a completely blank slate for me. I was just excited to be back on the show. And we hit it off straight away,” adds Ballas, who took notice of Leavitt’s theatrical nature early on. “I was like, ‘Oh, we're theatrical and we're a performer and we have energy.’ That's something as a coach and a teacher, you can't really teach. You can develop it, but when you naturally have that thing, as a coach, that's so fun to play with.”
Though Chicago marks Leavitt’s Broadway debut, Ballas began his career on the Great White Way, performing in Jersey Boys as Frankie Valli and later joining the cast of Kinky Boots as Charlie after he had established himself as a DWTS mainstay. Waxing on his return to Broadway, Ballas says, “It's actually a full-circle moment for me. I went to musical theater college in the U.K. Theater has always been in my world. When I graduated, I was 19 and one of the first shows I tried out for was Chicago, for the male ensemble. I got right down to the end and ended up not booking the gig,” he reveals. “I was out there in the streets, doing these auditions, and it was learning to pay your dues and learning how to take rejection and learning to get back up and try again. Now 20 years later, I'm coming back to Chicago as Billy Flynn.”
A social media savvy duo, Leavitt and Ballas have been known to make a playful TikTok or two during their time together. They were also enterprising as a DWTS pairing, campaigning to do an Argentine Tango to Chicago’s “Cell Block Tango” and winding up with the highest points of the night. So will there be any new Leavitt-Ballas antics at the Cook County Jail? “We've talked about throwing in some stuff. We have to see if we're allowed to, but we have ideas. We always have ideas,” teases Ballas. “Too many,” agrees Leavitt.
Watch the full interview below.
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