Potential CHESS Replacements
Potential CHESS Replacements
#1Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 6:01pm
Obviously I know the show has just started previews and we have yet to see if it has enough legs to run where replacements would be considered - so this thread is more likely one of just wishful thinking. But based on this production, who might you think would be a sufficient replacement for the three leads?
Mine would be:
Freddie: Orville Peck or Ali Louis Bourzgui (depending on how young they want to cast)
Florence: Lena Hall or Amber Gray
Anatoly: Cameron Loyal
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Updated On: 10/23/25 at 06:01 PM
#2Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 6:12pm
Total dream-casting, no expectation of reality.
Florence: Cynthia Erivo, Eva Noblezada, Lauren Patten
Freddie: Colton Ryan, Jordan Fisher
Anatoly: Alex Grayson, John Cardoza
Svetlana: Lorna Courtney, Kathryn Gallagher
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
getatme
Broadway Star Joined: 6/14/11
#3Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 6:18pm
AC126748 said: "Total dream-casting, no expectation of reality.
Florence: Cynthia Erivo, Eva Noblezada, Lauren Patten
Freddie: Colton Ryan, Jordan Fisher
Anatoly: Alex Grayson, John Cardoza
Svetlana: Lorna Courtney, Kathryn Gallagher"
I'd move John Cardoza up to Freddie, but otherwise I'd be interested in all of these.
Sara Bareilles as Florence.
#5Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 6:44pm
Melissa25 said: "I second forSara Bareilles as Florence. "
I’m intrigued by this, but other than “Brave”, I can’t think of any songs of hers that indicate she has some rock in her voice. I always think of her as a very easy listening type. I’m happy to be proven wrong though.
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#6Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 6:57pm
Another dream Florence for me would be Philippa Soo.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#7Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 7:19pm
100% on board with Lena Hall as Florence + would go bankrupt hearing Rebecca Jones sing the role, too.
Other fun dream casting:
Anatoly: Leslie Odom Jr.
Freddie: Drew Sarich, Tony Vincent, Lena Hall here too (honestly, she'd rip 'Pity the Child')
Arbiter: Daniel Breaker, Wayne Brady, Christian Borle, Stephen Colbert
#8Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 10:16pm
Colbert would also be perfect for Walter as well
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getatme
Broadway Star Joined: 6/14/11
#9Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/23/25 at 10:32pm
Phillipa seems better suited for Svetlana (and I believe played her in one of the readings)
pmensky
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/11
#10Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/24/25 at 11:40am
Andrew Durand, Phillipa Soo, Stephen Pasquale.
#11Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/24/25 at 1:59pm
Oooh. Andrew Durand is an inspired choice for Freddie.
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rg7759
Broadway Star Joined: 5/6/16
#12Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/24/25 at 4:37pm
Call me crazy, they all seem available and willing, there's no reason why groban menzel and Pascal couldn't still do this
#13Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/24/25 at 6:59pm
rg7759 said: "Call me crazy, they all seem available and willing, there's no reason why groban menzel and Pascal couldn't still do this"
That’s a LOT of salary right there. Not to say Tveit, Michele, and Christopher aren’t getting a good salary, but landing these three would probably be at least $250K per week plus any back end points.
Groban is intermittently touring a new album and is also at the VERY high end of what’s credible for his character’s age. Menzel and Pascal are both in their mid 50s and are far too old. Additionally, Menzel has shown she isn’t the draw she once was after REDWOOD went timber, and her voice has also aged quite a bit to be singing this 8 times per week
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rg7759
Broadway Star Joined: 5/6/16
#15Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/25/25 at 8:36am
Samantha Barks sang the hell out of Florence in the 2022 concert in London... I know she's booked with Greatest Showman now, but I've always loved her, and it would be great to have her back on Broadway again at some point. Hard to believe her only Broadway credit to date is Pretty Woman!
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
SteveSanders
Leading Actor Joined: 3/29/25
#16Potential CHESS Replacements
Posted: 10/25/25 at 8:54am
In one of the most ironic and unexpected casting choices ever made in the history of Broadway, it's gonna be ...
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Beanie
Just trying to get ahead of the curve for April Fool's.
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