Press Releases

London gets Jimmy Osmond in 'Grease' and 'Chicago'

ROBERT KAHN; JOHN ANDERSON
Newsday.com
January 11, 2009

After 'Grease,' 'Chicago' is the word.

Exclusive! Famous Mormon Scion Goes Renegade in London's West End!

Jimmy Osmond, the youngest of nine Osmond siblings, will leave his role as "Teen Angel" in the U.K. company of "Grease" to step into the spit-shined shoes of scurrilous Billy Flynn in a pending Brit tour of "Chicago."

Osmond had yet to make his West End debut in "Grease" (it will still occur, Jan. 19) when word broke that he would razzle dazzle England in a new tour of "Chicago," beginning in early March. That means it will be a split-personality spring for Jimmy, 45, who will trade one meek beauty school dropout for two pushy and demanding murderesses.

The Brits always have had a place in their heart for Donny and Marie's kid brother: Jimmy remains the youngest performer to have had a No. 1 hit on the U.K. singles charts, with "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" (released in 1972 ... when he was 9). He made his U.K. stage debut in "Boogie Nights" in Blackpool in 2004.