Ariana Madix Reveals How Pasha Pashkov Prepared Her for Post-DWTS Gig

Ariana Madix started a new gig just after wrapping “Dancing With the Stars” season 32. The “Vanderpump Rules”  star will play Roxie Hart in “Chicago” starting January 29, 2024 – and she said DWTS and her pro partner, Pasha Pashkov,  helped prepare her for the Broadway role.

“It was a grind in the best way but I loved that rehearsal process,” Madix told Extra of the ABC celebrity ballroom competition in which she landed in third place. “And I love this rehearsal process. So I think that ‘Dancing with the Stars’ was like the best boot camp in a way to be ready for something like this.”

Speaking with Broadway.com, Madix said she learned how to carry herself while rehearsing with Pashkov last fall. “I’ve learned so much from ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and from my partner, Pasha, in terms of ways to hold and carry my body, like really specific, you know little details with performance,” she said of how DWTS will help her on Broadway. “But also just down to really believing in the fact that I am prepared and I’m ready.”

“And [Pasha] always says that when it’s time to perform, I give 50 percent more that I didn’t have in rehearsal, even when I thought I was going full out. So right now, I’m just leaning into that and knowing that while I’m preparing, when it’s time, I’ll be ready.”

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Ariana Madix Said it Was Always Her Dream to Star on Broadway

Madix prepared for Broadway her whole life. In a  January 2024 interview on the “Kelly Clarkson Show,” Madix talked about living in New York before joining “Vanderpump Rules.” “I went to school for theater and I lived in New York for a while trying to pursue it and I just it wasn’t getting anywhere,” she said. “So I moved to L.A. to try to, you know, make a name for myself with hopes of coming back one day and doing it and full circle 20 years later .”

Madix added that unlike DWTS,  for “Chicago,” she won’t have to keep relearning new dance each week. “’Dancing with the Stars’ is like every 5 days you’re doing something completely different,” she said.

Madix also admitted that she previously thought her lifelong dream of starring on Broadway would never come to fruition. “I’m 38, and so a lot of things that I dreamed of when I was younger, I kind of, assumed that time had passed,” she told Extra. “I definitely thought that this was something that wasn’t going to happen.”

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Ariana Madix’s Vanderpump Rules Co-Stars Will See Her on Broadway

Madix made her debut in ”Chicago” just one day before the 11^th season of “Vanderpump Rules” airs on Bravo. She said the timing works out for her West Coast co-stars to visit her in New York. “They are so excited and all of them have talked about how they are going to come,” Madix told E! News of her VPR cast mates. “What’s great is our show is gonna be airing while I’m performing, so they’re all going to be coming out for ‘Watch What Happens Live.’ It works out perfectly.”

Madix isn’t the first DWTS alum to play Roxie Hart on Broadway.  Season 2 contestant Lisa Rinna also appeared as Roxie in  a “Chicago” production at the Ambassador Theatre, according to Playbill.

In 2020, DWTS season 24 contestant and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne starred in “Chicago The Musical,” but her run was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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