CHESS seems to be one of those pieces, like FOLLIES, that, no matter how you repeatedly futz with it over the years, people seem to think that the original version was better. It's another of those shows that seems never to have been played twice in exactly the same way.
With CHESS, I suppose that we can lay much of this at the feet of Michael Bennett. I often wonder what would have happened with CHESS had Bennett not dropped out of directing the original production in London partway through the process when he became ill. Certainly, the original production in London and then Broadway would have entirely reflected his vision for the material and there wouldn't have been the first massive rewrite for Broadway. |
