Bebe Neuwirth is to join the previously reported Patina Miller in CBS’ pilot Madam Secretary. According to Deadline, the Tony winner will play Nadine, the chief of staff to a maverick female secretary of state played by Tea Leoni. Jersey Boys' Erich Bergen will also appear in the role of Leoni's assistant.
Neuwirth received Tony awards for her performances in Chicago and Sweet Charity. Her other Broadway credits include The Addams Family, Fosse, A Chorus Line, Little Me, Dancin' and Damn Yankees. Neuwirth's film and TV credits include her two-time Emmy Award-winning performance as Dr. Lilith Sternin in Cheers and Frasier, Wild Palms, Dash and Lily, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Bored to Death, Green Card, Summer of Sam, Celebrity, Liberty Heights, Bugsy, Jumanji, The Faculty, Adopt a Sailor, The Paint Job and Fame.
Bergen, who played the role of Four Seasons mastermind Bob Gaudio in the national tour, Los Angeles and Las Vegas casts of Jersey Boys, will reprise the role in Clint Eastwood's film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical. His theater credits include Billy Crocker in the national tour of Roundabout Theatre Company's Anything Goes, the title role in Hero at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, IL, and Rudi Gernreich in the Los Angeles premiere of The Temperamentals. His film and TV credits include How Sweet It Is, Gossip Girl, Person of Interest, Desperate Housewives and Franklin & Bash.