Reece Weaver begins CHICAGO run with Broadway debut and DCC nod

Reece Weaver made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in CHICAGO at the Ambassador Theatre on Monday 7 September 2026, beginning a six-week limited engagement. The performance completed the handover announced in August and moved the story beyond an anticipated casting: the former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader has now appeared in the Broadway revival.

People reported the following morning that Weaver used the description America’s Sweetheart immediately after Roxie Hart during the monologue in the number Roxie. The phrasing connected the role with AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS, the Netflix series following the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Neither the production nor the available reporting has confirmed whether that wording is used throughout her engagement or was confined to her first performance.

On debut night, People documented Kelly Villares and Charly Barby backstage at the Ambassador Theatre. Both had been Weaver’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders teammates and appeared with her in the Netflix franchise. Their presence provided an offstage counterpart to the DCC-linked wording in the monologue.

The same report described a separately posted support video featuring Villares, Barby and Ava Lahey, all wearing DCC uniforms. Lahey was documented in that video, but not backstage. The available reporting does not establish that she attended the performance.

The debut followed a rapid professional turn. Weaver joined the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as part of the 2023 rookie class and completed three seasons before retiring. According to People, she was approached about CHICAGO while promoting AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS in June. The Shubert Organization formally announced her casting on 11 August, less than four weeks before her first performance. That order places the approach, announcement and Broadway bow within about three months, but it does not establish that she retired in order to accept the role. Her DCC departure preceded the reported approach.

Her dance background extends beyond the Cowboys organisation. Weaver earned a degree in dance from the University of Alabama, where she was also a member of the university’s Dance Team. Her Broadway debut therefore followed university dance training and three seasons of stadium-scale performance rather than arriving without an established movement background.

People, summarising a New York Times interview with Weaver, reported that she was adapting stadium-scale movement for more contained stage work and developing lower vocal projection for Broadway. The account makes physical and vocal adjustments central to the transition. Experience with movement designed for a large stadium did not remove the need to recalibrate scale inside the Ambassador Theatre, while the vocal preparation added another technical dimension to the change.

Those preparation details are the extent of the available performance evidence. No independent critical review of Weaver’s debut was located, and no verified ticket-sales or box-office data indicates what effect her casting may have had. Any judgement about performance quality, audience-wide response or commercial impact would go beyond the available reporting.

Weaver succeeded Ivy, whose limited engagement as Roxie ended on Sunday 6 September. Weaver began the following day, making the change an immediate handover between two fixed-term engagements. Broadway.com’s curtain-up report listed the principal company at Weaver’s debut as Lissa deGuzman as Velma Kelly, Max von Essen as Billy Flynn, NaTasha Yvette Williams as Matron Mama Morton, Red Concepción as Amos Hart and J. Workman as Mary Sunshine.

The revival is directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking. CHICAGO has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Ebb. The 1996 revival won six Tony Awards in 1997, including Best Revival of a Musical. Weaver has joined that continuing production rather than a newly mounted version of the show.

The production identifies CHICAGO as Broadway’s longest-running American musical, a category more precise than calling it Broadway’s longest-running show or musical without qualification. The revival is approaching its 30th Broadway anniversary later in 2026. Weaver’s booking also continues its established history of placing guest performers in limited engagements as Roxie Hart. Her six-week stint is a finite company handover, not an open-ended change, and the available production material gives no broader rationale for the casting.

AussieTheatre’s 20 August coverage of Ivy’s CHICAGO engagement identified Weaver as the next scheduled Roxie from 7 September. At that stage, the handover remained prospective. Weaver’s completed debut, the onstage wording and the documented support from her former teammates all occurred later, providing the new basis for this update.

No direct Australian participation or local engagement connected with Weaver’s run has been verified. For Australian Broadway followers, Netflix viewers and prospective New York travellers, the practical relevance lies in the production’s fixed New York window rather than a local connection. All engagement dates are New York local dates, and no scheduled absences or performance exceptions have been established. IBDB records the appearance as Weaver’s Broadway debut and lists her Roxie Hart dates as 7 September to 18 October 2026. The next confirmed milestone is the scheduled final performance at the Ambassador Theatre on 18 October.