The new director of the Broadway-bound musical Jekyll & Hyde reportedly has drastically scaled-back the gothic romance musical, according to a report in Variety.

The Variety report described Robin Phillips' revamped J&H as "a more intimate chamber piece."

The musical won a devoted national following during a multi-city tour in 1995 and 1996, directed by Houston's Gregory Boyd, but was unable to make its planned March 1996 opening on Broadway because no theatre of suitable size was available.

Under British director Phillips, composer Frank Wildhorn and lyricist-librettist Leslie Bricusse reportedly have done extensive rewrites.

Though the $6 million musical has now scheduled an opening in March 1997, the booking jam for large musical-size houses appears to be even more severe this season. The Variety report speculated that the retailored musical was "just right for a smallish theater like, say, the Shubert's Plymouth. A deal should be announced in the next couple of weeks."