Alyssa Milano to make Broadway debut in 'Chicago' this fall

Alyssa Milano hopes to charm audiences when she makes her Broadway debut this fall in the musical “Chicago,” adding her celebrity to a show that skewers celebrity culture.

“The beauty of theater is that you get to try new things every night,” she said. “That’s what I used to love about doing theater. And that’s what I hope that I can find again in doing ‘Chicago.’ ”

Milano, former star of “Who's the Boss?" and "Charmed,” steps into the role of Roxie Hart at the Ambassador Theatre beginning Sept. 16 for an eight-week engagement through Nov. 10.

For Milano, hitting the stage is a return to her roots. She was in a national touring company of “Annie” at age 8 and she went on to star in Wendy Wasserstein's “Tender Offer” at the Off-Broadway Ensemble Studio Theater and “All Night Long” at Second Stage. She was in the first American musical adaptation of "Jane Eyre" and produced and starred in a Los Angeles production of “Butterflies Are Free.”

Milano says doing a stint on Broadway never felt right until now. Her children — ages 9 and 12 — are settled in school and extracurricular activities, and her husband is in a good place in his career.

“It just felt like when this offer came up that everything fell into place,” she says. “My 9-year-old daughter looked at me and said, ‘Mom, you would be an idiot not to do this.’ ”

In recent years, she was in the movies “Brazen” and “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later” and the Netflix series “Insatiable.” Milano also lent her stardom and voice to the #MeToo movement, launched clothing, jewelry and eyewear lines and has been a host of Lifetime’s “Project Runway All-Stars.”

Set in the 1920s, “Chicago” is a scathing satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals. It has Bob Fosse-inspired choreography, skimpy outfits and killer songs such as “All That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango.”