Kevin Kelly wrote in ONE SINGULAR SENSATION:
"During a similar hiatus before the marriage she [Donna McKechnie] had flown to Londond, where he [Michael Bennett] was in the midst of a fierce squabble with British Equity over the West End CHORUS LINE.
"The squabble had them headlined in the Fleet Street tabloids. It also deepened Michael Bennett's paranoia, blackened his Malta tours.
At issue was the casting of elfin (the 41 -one year old) Elizabeth Seal, whom Bennett found unacceptable as Cassie. Elizabeth Sael had been a hit in London in 1958 as the only female in the cast of IRMA la DOUCE, a hit she duplicated on Broadway two years later. But she was not up to Bennett's standard. She didn't ahve the grace or stamina for the 'Music and the Mirror' number. She was nothing like Donna McKechnie, his 'favorite instrument.'
"Michael Bennet fired Elizabeth Seal, who suddenly emerged as both the darling of the London theater scene and an endangered species. Bennett hired a Lithuanian dancer named Petra Siniawaski."
I guess there was a big Equity flap when Donna came over to train Petra.....this may have been covered better in other books on Bennett or ACL.
