French walks out of hit musical

Former EastEnders star Michael French abruptly left West End musical Chicago yesterday after a reported clash over new co-star Brooke Shields.

Shields made her debut last night as murderess Roxie Hart.

French, who played EastEnders heart-throb David Wicks, was due to appear opposite her in the role of seedy lawyer Billy Flynn.

But he left the production at the last minute and Shields' opening night went ahead with an understudy taking his place.

A show insider told the Daily Mail there had been disagreements between French and fellow cast members.

Matters came to a head when the 42-year-old actor was reportedly overheard making catty comments about Shields.

"He was complaining all through rehearsals about Brooke and he was vocal and absolutely rude," the insider said.

"Brooke's as nice as they come and she heard everything French was saying."
A spokesman for the show at London's Adelphi Theatre said the actor had left "by mutual consent".

But French's agent insisted he had resigned.

"He wanted to pursue other things," the agent said. "He has been in the show for a while and felt it was time to do something else. There was no clash with Brooke Shields."

Explaining why the actor left so abruptly, she said: "If you want to resign, you can resign whenever you want."

French quit EastEnders in 1996 and has since appeared in Holby City and BBC drama Born And Bred. He joined the cast of Chicago last December.

His agent said he was considering several TV projects. Understudy Simon Breen will now stand in for him.

Shields, 39, recently admitted she had never seen the Broadway production of Chicago or the Hollywood version starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger.

"I've only got nine days to learn the whole show," she confessed. "That's borderline criminal, but I have to go back to the States for promotional work."