Lucy Lawless Xena The Warrior Princess, Who Will Be Mama in All-Star Production of Chicago, Is No Stranger to Prison; Short Listed for `The Expendables 3'

Lucy Lawless, “Xena: the Warrior Princess” icon, will be living up to the lawless name as she stars as “Mama” Morton in the prison musical “Chicago,” with Brooke Shields directing, “True Blood’s” Stephen Moyer and Drew Carrey will star.

Lucy Lawless is no stranger to prison. Earlier this year, Lucy Lawless avoided jail time when she was arrested for taking over a docked Shell drill ship in New Zealand for several days to protest Arctic drilling. The Warrior Princess paid a fine and was sentenced to community service.

The "Spartacus” star is on the short list of strong heroines who are being considered for the upcoming all-star-action movie “The Expendables” with Sylvestor Stallone. But Lucy Lawless will be toning up in a limited run in the hit musical Chicago.

Lawless, who can most recently be seen in the Jane Campion miniseries “Top of the Lake,” signed on play “Mama” Morton in a limited run of the prison musical “Chicago.” The hit musical will play for three nights at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. “Mama” Morton was played by Queen Latifah in the film “Chicago.”

For Lucy Lawless, this is a dream role.

Lawless told Fairfax New Zealand News “I could not believe that they had cast Lucy from New Zealand in this iconic musical, a classical American artform, on a hallowed stage like the Hollywood Bowl and they let me [be involved]. I didn’t dare hope it would happen, and it bloody did. I am beyond excited. Rob Fisher is the original music director and the whole LA Philharmonic will be there, and some incredible stars … an all-star cast … and me.”

“Chicago” will play on July 26, 27, and 28. Lawless will play Mama Morton, the woman who runs the jailhouse. Lucy Lawless’s fansite reports that she has also signed on to play Velma in a production of the hit musical in November at New Zealand’s Auckland Theater Company which will run November 1-24. Lawless, who also had recurring roles in “Battlestar Galactica” and “The X-Files,” is not new to the stage. She starred as Rizzo in a Broadway revival of the musical “Grease.”

There have also been rumors linking her to the upcoming “Expendables 3.″ The new testosterone-fuled action pic is going to inject some estrogen ass-kickers. The producers are looking a such female action stars as Cynthia Rothrock, from “Undefeatable,” Brigitte Nielsen who played “Red Sonja,” Jennifer Garner from “Alias,” Summer Glau from “Firefly and Lena Headey from “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” Zoe Saldana from “Colombiana” and Zhang Ziyi, who starred in the martial arts classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” as well as Laweless to join Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, would be back, plus Jackie Chan, Nicolas Cage and Wesley Snipes.