Mark Ballas has returned to Broadway after a celebrated season on Dancing With the Stars — even if it didn’t turn out as many had hoped.
Ballas, 39, the son of head Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas, is a three-time Mirrorball Trophy winner; his most recent victory came with partner Charli D’Amelio in 2022, ending a 13-year draught that saw him take multiple breaks from the competition series. After his last win, he announced his retirement from the show, citing the toll it took on his body. But he returned for season 34 in 2025 with a vengeance, partnering with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt to deliver some of the most talked-about routines of the season.
Ballas is now starring on Broadway in Chicago, playing Billy Flynn opposite Leavitt as Roxie Hart in a creative partnership that has captivated audiences.
When Ballas and Leavitt were eliminated during the DWTS semifinals, fans were outraged. Reflecting on it about five months later, Ballas told The Independent he felt differently.
“I always say, nothing surprised me on that show,” Ballas shared. “I’m like, yeah, you get eliminated early. It happens. You make it far when you think you’re gonna get eliminated. Nothing surprises me.
“So once we went out, yeah, it was a bummer; we wanted to make that final and I had that ‘My Way’ music made. I made it from scratch with my colleague [DWTS music producer] Jon Kubis and [composer] Stephan Moccio — we made that version for her [Leavitt] with the Mormon Wives theme tune put into it.”
In DWTS first, Ballas and Leavitt performed their final freestyle routine to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” independently, despite not making it to the finals. They released the two-and-a-half-minute dance video in conjunction with Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.
“We had 72 hours to make it, and I didn't know if we could do it, to be honest,” Ballas recalled. “I remember chatting with Whitney. I was like, ‘Dude, 72 hours to put this whole thing together is crazy.’ Because we didn’t have the infrastructure. We weren’t doing it on Dancing With the Stars. They have 15 cameras, a huge machine of a team. We had to build it from scratch.”
Somehow, it came together and — despite backlash from fans claiming the duo “broke etiquette” by going ahead with their freestyle despite having been eliminated — Ballas remains proud of the finished product.
“It had nothing to do in that moment [with] Dancing With the Stars. It was just something I wanted to make,” he said. “I think it’s one of my favorites I’ve ever done.”
Ballas pointed to his Viennese Waltz with D’Amelio in season 31, citing its strong sentimental value.
“It was the last season that Len [Goodman] got to judge, and I really wanted to do a Viennese Waltz that he would love,” Ballas said. “Charli was such a technician. She was just embracing the ballroom styles the further she went in.”
While talking about his Dancing With the Stars choreography, Ballas shared that he’s inspired by legendary performers like Gene Kelly and Bob Fosse — the latter of whom choreographed Chicago. Ballas’s face lit up while sharing some of his favorite moves from Fosse’s signature “pressure cooker” style.
Fosse’s influence was present during Ballas and Leavitt’s Dancing With the Stars partnership, specifically when they danced an Argentine tango to the show’s iconic number, “Cell Block Tango,” and received their only perfect score of the season. It was actually during the construction of that routine that Ballas realized Leavitt could, and probably would, one day wind up in the Broadway production, which also reopened the door for him to join the show.
“I always feel like my stuff has a little theatrical-ness to it on Dancing. I’ve gotten into trouble for it by the judges over the years,” he laughed. “But that’s who I am.”
Chicago marks his third time on Broadway, following turns as Frankie Valli in the final company of Jersey Boys and as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots. In Chicago, he plays big-time lawyer Billy Flynn and sings the showstopper “All I Care About.” While Flynn isn’t exactly the biggest dance role in the long-running musical, Ballas revealed to The Independent that “a little extra something” has been added to ”Razzle Dazzle,” another song his character leads.
Dancing Fosse’s choreography has felt like “going back to my roots,” Ballas said. “I started as a dancer learning other choreography,” he said. “I started with Fosse. I started with jazz and music theatre. So to be able to be part of this is nostalgic. It brings back really good times in my life.”
Looking ahead, Ballas said he’d love to return to Broadway as the title role in Hamilton and would welcome the opportunity to tackle Chicago again, but opposite his wife, singer-songwriter BC Jean.
For now, though, he’ll remain with Chicago through May 3.
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