JoJo blindsided by early closure of Broadway's Chess

JoJo has seemingly been blindsided by the early closure of the musical Chess on Broadway.

The Too Little, Too Late hitmaker was scheduled to succeed Lea Michele in the role of Florence Vassy in the revival of Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson's classic spectacle at the Imperial Theatre.

JoJo's run was to begin in June and run through until 13 September.

But on Tuesday, producers announced that the show would close on 21 June after 241 performances.

A short time later, a fan expressed their hope via the official Chess Instagram page that JoJo would get to appear in some of the final dates.

"I'm manifesting that JoJo joins as the alternate for these last few weeks or something. She deserves some shows!!" a moderator behind the @BroadwayWorks account wrote.

But in response, JoJo - real name Joanna Levesque - confirmed that the gig had been cancelled. The 35-year-old didn't divulge exactly when she was informed of the news.

"Was suppose (sic) to start first day of rehearsals TODAY. So bummed. All my love to the company," she shared.

The latest production of Chess, also featuring Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, received five nominations for the 2026 Tony Awards but missed out on the Best Revival of a Musical category.

In a joint statement confirming the early closure, the producers thanked the cast and crew for their hard work.

"We are immensely proud of the extraordinary work this cast and creative team have done in reimagining Chess for a new generation of theatregoers while honouring the passionate fans who have championed this musical for nearly four decades," they commented. "Bringing Chess back to Broadway for the first time in nearly 40 years has been an enormous privilege, and we are extremely proud of everything this production accomplished during its historic Broadway run."