Usher is a ‘genial’ act on Broadway

Critics have weighed in kindly on R&B; superstar Usher’s Broadway debut as slick lawyer Billy Flynn in the 1920s-era musical “Chicago.”

It’s a “genial if work-in-progress portrayal,” wrote Associated Press drama critic Michael Kuchwara. The New York Times’ Ben Brantley referred to Usher’s “sustained glow of geniality” and “sweetly sung notes, precisely executed serpentine dance moves and wooden line readings.”

Usher “still has to find his feet as an actor,” Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Post, but the 27-year-old singer has “easy charm and considerable presence.”

Usher is slated to continue in the cast through Oct. 1.

Lynne Heffley