Chess in February question (Understudies)

I'm going to be in NY February 21 to the 25, and am looking at tickets for Chess while I am there.  During a few of the dates I am looking at, it says Lea Michele will not be performing.  On one of the other dates, it says that Aaron Tveit will not be performing.

For those who have seen it, who would be the safer bet to miss and go with the understudy?  

If I had to choose, I would book a performance without Tveit; IMO, he's the weakest link. I'd like to know if someone else could salvage "One Night In Bangkok".

Updated On: 11/29/25 at 10:44 AM

If I had to pick one of them to be out, I would go with Aaron Tveit. He is certainly giving a very solid performance, but I thought Nicholas Christopher and Lea Michele's performances were far superior.

It’s weird because had this come up a month ago, I would’ve said skip Tveit but I feel like he’s grown quite a bit while Lea has remained a bit static

I've seen Aaron and Lea on Broadway many times. They never disappoint, so I'd never miss them. But I'm also excited to see Nicholas and hear his ''Anthem.'' It's so subjective. Sara Holdren, a theater director and Pulitzer finalist-critic at New York magazine, raved about ''Chess.'' And her favorite highlight was Tveit in ''One Night in Bangkok''; she calls it the musical's best song: ''It's such a ridiculous rush that it pretty much justifies the whole project. ... I left my heart—and my wallet and my keys and my sobriety—in this Bangkok, and I’m okay with that. Who knew chess could get you so high?''

Updated On: 11/29/25 at 03:48 PM

Personally, I would see it with Tveit in. I have only seen him in Moulin Rouge and outside of his wonderful voice, I was not a fan of his performance. I found it to be very stiff. Saw him in Chess 5 weeks ago and he was fantastic. He let that swagger loose that I saw small flashes of in Moulin Rouge. 

Lea was fine but, for me, was out-shined by her co-stars the evening I saw it.  JMO

I think Lea is the weakest of the three and will probably not get nominated for a Tony. I’d be shocked if she does. I find her acting to be dull in this production, sadly. 

I thought she was really good.  The person they all should be grateful can't be nominated is Micaela Diamond because I think she blew them both (Levy & Michele) out of the water with what she was doing at the Public.  But I'd give Michele the edge over Levy just because it was a more showy performance. I loved her Nobody's Side.