The musical Chess has had quite the checkered and tumultuous past. Much like Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, the show began life as a concept album, written by lyricist Tim Rice and composers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA) in 1984, chronicling a cold war chess match between champions of the U.S.A and the Soviet Union, and a young woman tossed in to provide a compelling love triangle.
Songs from the album like “One Night in Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well,” became chart topping hits and a concert version in London followed. In 1985, music videos were filmed as part of a VHS video collection called Chess Moves.
In 1986, celebrated Tony-winning director Michael Bennett (A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls) was tapped to direct the world premiere production in London but had to withdraw, late in the game, for health reasons (he would die in 1987 of AIDS-related lymphoma). Trevor Nunn (Cats, Les Misérables) stepped in to direct, with Elaine Paige, Tommy Körberg and Murray Head (the same trio who sang on the concept album) reprising their roles onstage. The show received mixed notices but was a huge hit with audiences and received three Olivier Award nominations for Best Musical, Actor (Körberg) and Actress (Paige).
For the 1988 Broadway transfer, Nunn and the creatives completely reconceived the entire show, bringing in playwright Richard Nelson and recasting the principles with Judy Kuhn, David Carroll and Philip Casnoff. There were many problems during previews and the show opened to mixed reviews and received only two Tony nominations (for Kuhn and Carroll). New York Times critic Frank Rich’s infamous and wholly unfair takedown sealed the show’s fate.
I was quite young at the time but became obsessed with the show and saw it four times before its untimely closing. I loved the music, adored the three leads, and I especially appreciated the bleakness of the ending—in keeping with the show’s tone.
For decades I have been hoping for a Broadway revival that would somehow fix the messy book and do justice to the powerful score.
In 2003, there was a fab Actor’s Fund staged reading starring Josh Grobin, Julia Murney and Adam Pascal, with Sutton Foster as Svetlana. Many of us hoped they might all move to Broadway, but it wasn’t to be.
Now, 37 years after its initial, ill-fated Broadway run, we are finally given a revival. So, does this Chess improve on the past incarnations? Yes…and no.
Director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) assigned screenwriter Danny Strong (Dopesick) to completely revise the book, adding mega-potential-nuclear-war vibes to the Cold War story but then peppering the book with a meta, comic-relief narrator that basically pokes fun at the entire proceedings—sometimes making it difficult to take moments seriously—even when you really want to, and the songs demand it.
Mayer and team have created riveting, propulsive theater even when the new book takes the show in unnecessarily silly and sometimes wince-inducing directions.
Strong’s book shifts the timeline and sets Act One during the 1979 SALT II treaty negotiations between President Carter and General Secretary Brezhnev.
In Act Two, he sets things amidst the little-known Able Archer 83 military exercises when the world came close to nuclear annihilation (the more well-known time this happened was during 1962’s Cuban missile crisis). This might have been a really engaging change, if the story wasn’t constantly being undercut by the mocking narration.
So…what works best in this reimagined revival, besides the terrific songs? The cast.
Lea Michele is a fierce Florence Vassy. The actress isn’t someone I’ve ever truly loved onstage—until now. She throws herself into the role of Florence completely and the results provide one stirring moment after another. She’s particularly sensational performing the angry rock number, “Nobody’s Side.”
My favorite song, “Someone Else’s Story,” has been moved from the middle of Act One to the prime 11th hour spot in Act Two. And, while it makes little sense now lyrically where it is, Michele knocks it out of the park.
Aaron Tveit dives into the role of damaged, prideful Freddie Trumper ass-first and kills in every scene he’s in. Trumper (that name, which gets made fun of via the narrator) has been reduced to a lesser player in Act Two, but Tveit’s two numbers, “One Night in Bangkok,” and especially, the powerful “Pity the Child,” are total showstoppers that he nails.
The new book misguidedly has Freddie giving up the game and becoming a commentator, a grave misstep since the climax is now robbed of a suspenseful final match. A smart move would have seen Freddie return as a changed man both determined to win and determined to win back Florence. Instead, Strong basically tosses him aside. But Tveit keeps his alive.
Nicholas Christopher’s cynical, angst-ridden Anatoly Sergievsky is the character we’re supposed to root for, but Christopher plays him in such a one-note manner it’s difficult to care about him and there is little chemistry between his Anatoly and Michele’s Florence. Yes, Christoper has a magnificent voice and sings the crap out of “Anthem” and brings the house down with “Endgame,” but giving Anatoly more nuances would have gone a long way.
Hannah Cruz enters the game in Act Two and almost steals the show as Anatoly’s enigmatic wife, Svetlana. Cruz brilliantly plays her part, so we are never certain if she truly loves Anatoly or if she’s wanting to appease the KGB and have a better life. Her one solo, “He is a Man, He is a Child,” is performed magnificently. The song was written for 2002 Stockholm production and is a smart inclusion here.
And the duet Cruz has with Michele, “I Know Him So Well,” which has been recorded by so many major artists, is one of the highlights in a show filled with musical highlights.
Now, we come to the hilarious, entertaining and sly Bryce Pinkham as the Narrator and The Arbiter. In the original musical, there was no narration. Here, as mentioned above, the role of narrator is basically to poke fun at the show, while providing some fascinating—if historically questionable—background on U.S/Soviet relations during the period the musical takes place. And while I don’t love or necessarily understand why this Xanadu-esque ploy has been incorporated into such a serious show, I was absolutely captivated by the charming Pinkham, who managed to slip nicely into The Arbiter when needed.
Bradley Dean’s KGB man and Sean Allan Krill’s CIA official are what they’re expected to be. And Strong’s book relies on them far too much.
The tireless ensemble also works overtime gyrating in fits and starts to Lorin Lattaro’s frenetic choreography.
I really appreciated the chess champion projections during “Endgame.”
I didn’t appreciate the ending which provides a kind of hope that felt tacked on—and was strangely unmoving.
There is still a champion show to be assembled from the wondrous pieces of all the past incarnations of Chess. I am certain of it. I just hope it doesn’t take another 37 years to create.
For now, this Chess proves a glorious sampler.
Chess is playing at The Imperial Theater and runs through May 3, 2026. For TICKETS.
