Television star Mario Lopez is the newest member to the Broadway Wall of Fame at Tony’s di Napoli restaurant in New York City’s famous Theater District. Mr. Lopez has recently taken the lead in one of Broadway’s most famous shows of all-time, A Chorus Line, playing the part of director Zach.

The event was hosted by the lovely Valerie Smaldone and, as always, Bruce Dimpflmaier and the gang at Tony’s di Napoli set up a delicious dinner for the event.

Valerie Smaldone, Mario Lopez and Bruce Dimpflmaier

Mario Lopez was accompanied to the party for his portrait unveiling by his fellow cast members. It’s great to see the rare opportunity where performers get to relax and enjoy some of the success of all of their hard work and dedication, and this was one of those occasions.

Mario Lopez is best known for his role on the popular early 90s television sitcom Saved by the Bell where he played the Zack Morris adversary in A.C. Slater. He then spent several years appearing on many different programs including Pacific Blue and a run on American Gladiators before jumping into the spotlight as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars in ’06 and has maintained his popularity since.

During his acceptance speech Lopez promoted his upcoming projects. Most notably he will be taking over as host on the news show Extra beginning in mid-September.

The Cast of A Chorus Line

A Chorus Line originated on off-Broadway in 1975 and quickly made it to Broadway where the show won 9 Tony Awards and delivered 6,137 performances before closing in 1990. At the time it was the longest running production ever on Broadway and to this day remains the longest running Broadway musical whose first performance originated in the United States. The show was revived in 2006 and after another successful run will close at the end of summer.

www.AChorusLine.com