Drew Nellessen, a graduate of Valparaiso High School and Millikin University in Illinois, has been a key figure in the Broadway musical "Chicago the Musical" for over 18 years. He has been cast as a newspaper reporter, court bailiff, and a jury member in the show's national tour stops through the Windy City in 2014 and 2009. The musical, set in Chicago in the Jazz Age and inspired by true crime of passion news events, is based on the 1926 play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins and originally opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre in New York and ran for 936 performances before closing in 1977. In 2025, the musical celebrated a 50th anniversary, and on Dec. 29, 2025, Nelless announced he was leaving “Chicago” for a new career chapter with his final performance at the Ambassador Theatre.