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Chess (musical)
Encyclopedia
Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson
and Björn Ulvaeus
, formerly of ABBA
, and with lyrics
by Tim Rice
. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War
struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union
, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any specific individuals, the character of the American was loosely based on chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer
, while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi
and Anatoly Karpov
.
As had been done with Jesus Christ Superstar
and Evita, a highly successful concept album
of Chess was released in 1984. The first theatrical production of Chess opened in London's West End
in 1986 and played for three years. A much-altered U.S. version premièred on Broadway
in 1988, but survived only for two months. Chess is frequently revised for new productions, many of which try to merge elements from both the London and Broadway versions; however, no major revival production of the musical has yet been attempted either on West End or Broadway.
Chess came seventh in a BBC Radio 2
listener poll of the U.K.'s "Number One Essential Musicals."
with his usual collaborator, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber
. In the late 1970s, Rice got the idea to instead tell the story through the prism of the long-standing U.S.-Soviet chess rivalry; he had earlier been fascinated by the political machinations of the 1972 "Match of the Century" between Bobby Fischer
and Boris Spassky
.
In 1979, when Rice wanted to start working on the musical, Webber was already busy with the musical Cats
, which would premiere in 1981, and then become one of most successful musicals of all time. Cats was also the first musical to employ such a huge engineering staff in order to pull off its many technical elements, a concept which would be incorporated into Chess in numerous capacities during its development.
Subsequently, American producer Richard Vos suggested to Rice to work with Andersson and Ulvaeus instead, knowing they were looking to develop and produce various projects outside of ABBA. Rice, who was a fan of the group, agreed. He wrote later that he felt no reservations because "there is a sense of theatre in the ABBA style". With Vos also in attendance, Rice met with the two for the first time in Stockholm in December 1981 in order to discuss the concept, and they quickly signed on to the project.
ABBA stopped performing a year later, due to tensions between the two couples as well as their recent divorces.
All through 1983, the three men worked on the music and lyrics. Rice would describe the mood of particular songs he wanted, then Andersson and Ulvaeus would write and record the music and send the tapes to Rice, who would then write lyrics to fit the music, and send the resulting tapes back to Andersson and Ulvaeus ad infinitum.
Some of the songs on the resulting album contained elements of music they had previously written for ABBA. For example, the chorus of "I Know Him So Well" was based on the chorus of "I Am An A," a song from their 1977 tour, while the chorus of "Anthem" used the chord structures from the guitar solo from their 1979 song "Our Last Summer
".
Ulvaeus would also provide dummy lyrics to emphasize the rhythmic patterns of the music, and since Rice found a number of these "embarrassingly good" as they were, incorporated a few in the final version. The most well known example is "One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble". One song, which became "Heaven Help My Heart," was recorded with an entire set of lyrics, sung by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog
, with the title "Every Good Man", though none of the original lyrics from this song were used.
Partly to raise money in order to produce the show in the West End and partly to see how the material would fare with the public, it was decided to release the music as an album before any stage productions were undertaken, a strategy that had proven successful with Rice's two previous musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar
and Evita.
Owing in part to the different countries in which the lyricist and composers resided, recording on the album musical
of Chess began in Stockholm in early November 1983, with Andersson recording the many layered keyboard parts himself along with other basic work at their usual Polar Studios
. Choral and orchestral work was then recorded in London by The Ambrosian Singers along with the London Symphony Orchestra
and the album was sound-engineered and mixed back at Polar by longtime ABBA sound engineer Michael B. Tretow
.
, often referred to as a concept album
or album musical
, was released worldwide in the fall of 1984. Liner notes included with the album featured a basic synopsis of the story in multiple languages along with song lyrics and numerous photos. The music on the album was described by The New York Times
as "a sumptuously recorded...grandiose pastiche that touches half a dozen bases, from Gilbert and Sullivan
to late Rodgers and Hammerstein
, from Italian opera
to trendy synthesizer-based pop, all of it lavishly arranged for the London Symphony Orchestra with splashy electronic embellishments".
A single from the album, "One Night in Bangkok
," with verses performed by Murray Head and choruses performed by Anders Glenmark
became a worldwide smash, reaching No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The duet "I Know Him So Well
" by Elaine Paige
and Barbara Dickson
held the Number One spot on the U.K. singles charts for 4 weeks, winning the Ivor Novello Award in the process as the Best Selling Single ('A' Side).
In addition, the tune was later covered not only by Whitney Houston
and her mother Cissy
as a duet for her sophomore release Whitney
, but also by Barbra Streisand
, who recorded it originally for The Broadway Album
released in 1985. However, the track was deleted from the album due to lack of space and remained unreleased until it was featured on her 1992 album "Highlights from Just for the Record".
On 27 October 1984, a concert version of the Chess album was premiered by the original cast in London's Barbican Centre
and then performed in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Paris with final presentation on 1 November in Berwaldhallen
in Stockholm.
In 1985, music video
s were filmed for the songs "One Night in Bangkok," "Nobody's Side," "The Arbiter," "I Know Him So Well," and "Pity the Child," featuring the performers from the album, and directed by David G. Hillier. These were released together in a VHS
video entitled Chess Moves.
received critical accolades, with Rolling Stone
raving that the "dazzling score covers nearly all the pop bases", Kurt Ganzl
's Blackwell Guide to the Musical Theatre on Record telling readers about the "thrilling exposition of an exciting piece of modern musical theater occurring before the event" and Time declaring that the "rock symphonic synthesis was ripe with sophistication and hummable tunes".
The album became a Top 10 hit in the U.K., West Germany and South Africa, reached number 47 on the US Billboard 200
, number 39 in France, number 35 in Australia, and for seven weeks remained at number 1 on the Swedish album chart due in no small part to the composers' Swedish heritage. The recording also received several prestigious awards, including the Goldene Europa
from Germany, the Edison Award from the Netherlands and the Rockbjörnen
from Sweden.
The protagonists, simply called the "American" and the "Russian" for the original album, were sung by Murray Head
and Tommy Körberg
, respectively. The part of Florence, initially the American's second and subsequently the Russian's lover, was sung by longtime British pop star Elaine Paige
, while the part of Svetlana, the Russian's wife, was sung by Barbara Dickson
.
Act 2
on 14 May 1986 at the Prince Edward Theatre
and closed on 8 April 1989. The original production was originally set to be directed by Michael Bennett
, however after casting the show and commissioning the expansive set and costume designs, he withdrew from the project due to health reasons.
The show was rescued by director Trevor Nunn
, who with considerable technical difficulty, eventually shepherded the show on to its scheduled opening. The three principal singers from the concept album, Elaine Paige
, Tommy Körberg
and Murray Head
reprised their roles on stage, however due to prior committments, Barbara Dickson
was unable to appear. Siobhán McCarthy
played the part of Svetlana as a result.
According to set designer Robin Wagner
, as interviewed for the book Set Design, by author Lynn Pecktal, the original Bennett version was to be a "multimedia" show, with an elaborate tilting floor, banks of television monitors, and other technological touches. Realizing he could never bring Bennett’s vision to fruition, Nunn applied his realistic style to the show instead, although the basics of the mammoth set design were still present in the final production. These included three videowalls, the main of which featured commentary from chess master William Hartston
, and appearances from various BBC newsreaders rounding out the package.
The London version expanded the storyline of the concept album, adding considerable new recitative
, and attracted several West End
stars, such as Anthony Head
, Grania Renihan, Ria Jones, David Burt
, and Peter Karrie
, during its three year run, and was a massive physical undertaking, with estimated costs up to $12 million.
Eight months later, the nomination and a win came in for the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical, and the show received three 1986 Laurence Olivier Award nominations for Best Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actor (Tommy Körberg
) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (Elaine Paige
) as well. In a twist of irony, in the categories of Best Musical and Outstanding Performance by an Actor, Chess lost to The Phantom of the Opera
, by Rice's former collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber
.
, created "one of the bigger West End mob-scenes in recent memory". Most of the naysaying notices had comments ranging from "far too long" and "shallow, improbable story masquerading as a serious musical" from The Sunday Times
to The Guardian
's conclusion that, "A musical is only as good as its book, and here one is confronted by an inchoate mess."
Other newspapers posted rave reviews however. The Daily Telegraph
wrote that the show was "gift-wrapped and gorgeous...compels admiration," The Times
noted that "it turns out to be a fine piece of work that shows the dinosaur mega-musical evolving into an intelligent form of life" and Today
called it "gripping, eye-catching.. nearly a major triumph".
In addition, Michael Ratcliffe wrote in Observer
that the "operetta plot which would have delighted a mature Lehar is dramatised in a buoyant, eclectic and stirring theatre-score" and called Körberg "the indisputable star of the show". Sheridan Morley
in International Herald Tribune
complimented the show's "remarkably coherent dramatic shape" and "staging of considerable intelligence and invention".
: the northern Italian town of Merano (the year of this tournament being 1979, according to the notes in the recent live album recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra). As the townsfolk prepare for the occasion ("Merano"), the brash American champion Frederick Trumper arrives with his second and implied lover: Hungarian-born, British-raised Florence Vassy ("What a Scene! What a Joy!"). In their hotel room, Florence explains to Freddie that the press will portray him badly if he continues with his bad boy
behavior ("Commie Newspapers"), just before he heads off to a press conference where he attacks a journalist who questions his relationship with Florence ("Press Conference"). Freddie's Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky and Alexander Molokov, Anatoly's second (and a KGB
agent), watch with curiosity and disdain on TV ("Anatoly and Molokov"), before Anatoly laments the selling out
of his dreams and ambitions to get where he is today ("Where I Want to Be").
The opening ceremony features the U.S. and Soviet delegates each vowing their side will win ("Difficult and Dangerous Times"), the Chess Federation president (who is also the referee
of the tournament: The Arbiter) insisting on holding the proceedings together ("The Arbiter"), and marketers looking to make a profit ("The Merchandisers"). During the increasingly intense match, Freddie suddenly bursts out of the arena, leaving the chessboard on the floor ("Chess #1"), and Florence to pick up the pieces with Anatoly, Molokov, and The Arbiter, whereby she promises to bring Freddie and Anatoly together to sort out their issues ("Quartet – A Model of Decorum and Tranquility"). It turns out that Freddie engineered the outburst to get a higher price from the American media company, Global Television, though Walter de Courcey, the company's agent overseeing the match and a member of Freddie's delegation, criticizes the stunt as ludicrous. When Florence finds out, she and Freddie argue, leading Florence to get angry with Freddie when he maliciously turns the argument toward her father, believed captured by Soviet forces during the 1956 Budapest uprising ("1956 – Budapest is Rising"). She reflects cynically about chess and politics ("Nobody's Side") before heading off to the Merano Mountain Inn for the meeting between the two sides. Freddie does not immediately turn up, leaving Anatoly and Florence awkwardly alone together; however, they eventually embrace as surprising romantic feelings arise before being interrupted by Freddie, who has been working out new financial terms with Global TV ("Mountain Duet").
The chess tournament proceeds, culminating in a series of victories for Anatoly with only one game left to determine the winner of the entire tournament ("Chess #2"). Due to Freddie's atrocious attitude in the aftermath of his defeats, Florence leaves him ("Florence Quits"), whereby Freddie ponders how his unhappy childhood left him the man he is today ("Pity the Child"). He sends The Arbiter a letter of resignation, resulting in Anatoly's becoming the new world champion. Immediately, Anatoly defects
from the Soviet Union and goes to the British embassy, where he attempts to seek asylum in England ("Embassy Lament"). Florence, accompanying Anatoly, reflects on their new-found love ("Heaven Help My Heart"). Walter tips off the press as to this new story and they ambush Anatoly and Florence at Merano Station ("Anatoly and the Press"). When the mob of reporters asks Anatoly why he is deserting his country, he tells them that his land's only borders lie around his heart. ("Anthem")
Walter, now Freddie's boss at Global (and clearly a CIA agent), manipulates Freddie into embarrassing Anatoly on live TV during an uncomfortable and eventually heated interview between the two former opponents. Anatoly finally storms out after being prodded ruthlessly by Freddie and shown footage of Svetlana's arrival ("The Interview"). Molokov, who indeed is responsible for Svetlana's presence in Bangkok, now blackmails her into making Anatoly lose the match. Walter, who has been promised the release of certain American agents if he can ruin Anatoly's game, informs Florence that her father is still alive though imprisoned in Russia, and that he too will be released if she can convince Anatoly to lose. Neither of these ploys work to get Anatoly to throw the game
, however, so Molokov and Walter team up to get Freddie to personally persuade Anatoly and Florence, knowing that Freddie is vengeful toward Anatoly and interested in winning back the love of Florence. The pair, though, refuses to negotiate with Freddie ("The Deal").
Svetlana and Florence talk one-on-one for the first time about their relationships with Anatoly, Florence ultimately admitting that it would be best for Anatoly to return to his family ("I Know Him So Well"). Anatoly, meanwhile, is sent an anonymous letter telling him to go to Wat Pho
, which he does; to his surprise, Freddie appears, having decided to disconnect from his personal issues with the tournament and to merely facilitate a brilliant match, regardless of his own conflicts with Anatoly. Because of this new change in attitude, Freddie informs Anatoly of a significant flaw in Viigand's play that will help Anatoly win ("Talking Chess"). In the deciding game of the match, with the score at five games all, Anatoly manages to take a superb win against Viigand, and realizes that it may be the only success he can achieve in his life at this time; the victory comes even as Svetlana castigates Anatoly for wallowing in the crowd's empty praise and Florence expresses similar annoyance with him for casting aside his moral ideals ("Endgame"). Later, Florence admits her sentiments about how he should return to the Soviet Union and the pair reflects on their story that seemed so promising ("You and I – Reprise"). Florence is left alone when Walter approaches to inform her that Anatoly has unexpectedly defected back to the U.S.S.R., meaning that her father will certainly be released. He startlingly admits, however, that no one actually knows if her father is still alive. Florence breaks down, telling Walter that he is using people's lives for nothing, before repeating Anatoly's sentiments from the end of the first act, that her only borders lie around her heart ("Finale").
Act 2
† The multiple songs listed here are often merged on recordings into a single track.
‡ Song is alternately titled "U.S. vs U.S.S.R."
to recreate the musical as a straightforward "book show" for New York
's Broadway
audiences. Nunn brought in new, younger principals after he disqualified Paige from the role of Florence by insisting Nelson recreate the character as an American. The story changed drastically, with different settings, characters, and many different plot elements, although the basic plot remained the same. As Benny Andersson put it to Variety
: "The main difference between London and here is that in London there is only about two or three minutes of spoken dialog. Here, in order to clarify some points, it is almost one-third dialog". The changes necessitated the score to be reordered as well, and comparisons of the Broadway cast recording and the original concept album reveal the dramatic extent of the changes. Robin Wagner completely redesigned the set, which featured a ground-breaking design of mobile towers that shifted continuously throughout the show, in an attempt to give it a sense of cinematic fluidity.
The first preview on 11 April 1988 ran 4 hours with an unexpected 90 minute intermission (the stage crew reportedly had problems with the sets); by opening night on 28 April, it was down to 3 hours 15 minutes. But despite a healthy box-office advance, the Broadway production did not manage to sustain a consistently large audience and closed on 25 June, after 17 previews and 68 regular performances.
"And there I was, on closing night, singing and sobbing along," later wrote Time
magazine critic Richard Corliss
.
Overall, the show (capitalized at $6 million) since its opening, according to Variety
, "has been doing moderate business, mainly on the strength of theater party advances," but by mid-June it mostly have been used up. Gerald Schoenfeld
, co-producer of the show, elaborated on the reasons for folding the production: "The musical had been playing to about 80 percent capacity, which is considered good, but about 50 percent of the audience have held special, half-priced tickets. If we filled the house at 100 percent at half price, we'd go broke and I haven't seen any surge of tourist business yet this season. The show needs a $350,000 weekly gross to break even, but only a few weeks since its April 28 opening have reached that.... You have to consider what your grosses are going to be in the future" (USA Today
, June 21, 1988).
The Broadway production picked up several major award nominations. It got five nods from the Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Musical (David Carroll
), Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Judy Kuhn
), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Harry Goz
), Outstanding Music (Andersson and Ulvaeus) and Outstanding Lighting Design (David Hersey
). Carroll and Kuhn also received Tony Award
nominations in Leading Actor in a Musical and Leading Actress in a Musical categories. None of the nominations resulted in the win, but Philip Casnoff
did receive the 1988 Theatre World Award
for Best Debut Performance. Original Broadway Cast recording of the musical was nominated for 1988 Grammy Award
in the category Best Musical Cast Show Album (won by the Stephen Sondheim
's Into the Woods
).
Later on, the musical had developed a cult following based primarily on the score as heard on the original concept album (Frank Rich noted in his book Hot Seat that "the score retains its devoted fans"), while Nelson's book became a frequent target of scorn from critics and fans alike, though it still has its supporters. Many subsequent attempts have been made to fix its perceived problems, but nonetheless, Nelson's book is still used in many American productions, because a contractual stipulation, ostensibly, prevents the London version, which many believe to be the source of the show's popularity and appeal, from being performed within the United States. However, the May-June 2011 production in Charlotte, North Carolina, relied much more heavily on the West End version than the Broadway version, and was very similar to the 2010-2011 UK touring version.
In 2001, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle
Tim Rice admitted that after the "comparative failure of Chess, his all-time favourite, he became disillusioned with theatre." He commented, "It may sound arrogant, but Chess is as good as anything I've ever done. And maybe it costs too much brainpower for the average person to follow it".
of The New York Times
, who wrote that "the evening has the theatrical consistency of quicksand" and described it as "a suite of temper tantrums, [where] the characters ... yell at one another to rock music". Howard Kissel of New York Daily News
complained that "the show is shrilly overamplified" and "neither of the love stories is emotionally involving," while Newsweek
magazine called the show a "Broadway's monster" and opined that "Chess" assaults the audience with a relentless barrage of scenes and numbers that are muscle-bound with self-importance".
A few reviewers, however, praised it very highly. William A. Henry III
wrote an exceptionally sympathetic review in Time
: "Clear narrative drive, Nunn's cinematic staging, three superb leading performances by actors willing to be complex and unlikeable and one of the best rock scores ever produced in the theater. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show, one that pushes the boundaries of the form" (Time, May 9, 1988). His sentiments were echoed by William K. Gale in Providence Journal: "A show with a solid, even wonderfully old-fashioned story that still has a bitter-sweet, rough-edged view of the world ... exciting, dynamic theater ... a match of wit and passion."
Richard Christiansen of Chicago Tribune
suggested that "Chess falters despite new strategy," yet concluded his review: "Audiences forgive a lot of failings when they find a show that touches them with its music, and Chess, clumsy and overblown as it sometimes is in its three hours-plus running time, gives them that heart". Welton Jones
wrote in The San Diego Union-Tribune
that Chess "has one of the richest, most exciting scores heard on Broadway in years ... Sadly, the music has been encumbered with an overwritten book and an uninspired staging ... Truly, this is a score to be treasured, held ransom by a questionable book and production".
All critics agreed, though, on the three leading performances by Judy Kuhn
, David Carroll
and Philip Casnoff
. They were showered with praise — "splendid and gallant" (Newsweek
), "powerful singers" (The New York Times
), "remarkably fine" (New York Post
) — especially Kuhn, whose performance Variety
called a "show's chief pleasure".
Benny Andersson commented on the negative Broadway reviews: "I really don't know why they don't like it ... I do know that most of the audiences so far stand up and cheer for everyone at the end. They appear to get emotionally involved with the show, and they really like it" (Variety
, May 4, 1988).
e in the U.S. who escaped Hungary during the 1956 uprisings) in an argument with The Arbiter and the Russians. Florence later scolds Freddie, but he insists that she should unwaveringly support him ("You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?").
Freddie, supposed to attend a meeting with Florence and Antoly to smooth things over, is sidetracked by the nightlife ("One Night in Bangkok") and shows up late, stumbling upon the scene of Anatoly and Florence who—having waited a while for Freddie's arrival—quickly developed feelings for one another and are now holding hands ("Terrace Duet"). When Freddie accuses Florence of conspiring against him, she decides to leave him ("Florence Quits" / "Nobody's Side"). As the match continues, Freddie, distracted by his developing personal problems, flounders, finishing the first act with 1 win and 5 losses; one more loss will cost him the match. Anatoly surprises everyone by suddenly defecting from the Soviet Union. Answering reporters' questions about his loyalties, he declares that national borders do not matter to him as much as the borders around his heart, i.e. his new-found love for Florence ("Anthem").
to witness the conclusion of the match ("The Arbiter" / "Hungarian Folk Song"). Florence is elated to be back in her hometown of Budapest, but dismayed that she remembers none of it ("Heaven Help My Heart"). The scheming Molokov offers to help her find her missing father and starts "investigating" the fate of Florence's father. The plot quickly spins into political intrigue involving the Russians' attempts to get Anatoly back ("No Contest"); even Svetlana, Anatoly's estranged wife, has been flown into Budapest to pressure him to return to the Soviet Union. These threats strain Anatoly's relationship with Florence ("You and I"), and she shares her woes with Svetlana ("I Know Him So Well"). The boot is on the other foot, and the stress of personal problems now impedes Anatoly's ability to play chess, so that Freddie starts winning games until they are tied 5–5. Molokov brings Florence to see a man claiming to be her father ("Lullaby"), and implies that harm will come to the man if Florence remains with Anatoly.
During the final game Anatoly realizes that despite all the harm he has brought with his defection, he cannot hurt his true love, Florence, by depriving her of her father. He chooses to recant his defection and makes a tactical error during the game. Freddie immediately takes advantage of the blunder and proceeds to win the game and the match, becoming the new world champion ("Endgame"). Anatoly returns to Russia a broken man.
Florence is waiting for her father so they can leave for America when she is approached by a stranger who introduces himself as Walter. He confesses to her that the old man is not her father and her father is most likely dead. It seems that the Soviets struck a deal with Walter, a secret CIA agent, that if they managed to get Anatoly back, they would release a captured American spy. Their initial attempts at getting Anatoly back by using Svetlana and other family members had failed, and they had finally succeeded by using Florence. As the curtain closes, Florence has left Freddie, been lost by Anatoly, and lost the father she never had, and she realizes, like Anatoly, that love is all that matters ("Anthem – Reprise").
Act 2
† Song appears on album, but was deleted from production and is not found in the script licenced for production.
‡ Song featured in the Broadway production, but was unrecorded for the cast album.
by the original cast in a sold-out benefit performance. In September of that year, Judy Kuhn joined forces with two main principals from the West End production (Körberg and Head) in Skellefteå
, Sweden, where they performed in two concert presentations of the musical during finals of the 1989 chess World Cup tournament.
Chess was now a mixed success, combining the popularity of a smash hit album and the problems of a critically derided script — in other words, fertile ground for those seeking to "get it right," even though historical conditions and the fall of the Soviet Union severely compromised the timeliness of the story. The first major attempt at a revival was the American tour, which ran from January to July 1990. This tour, which starred Carolee Carmello
, John Herrera, and Stephen Bogardus
, was staged by Des McAnuff
, who was brought in at the eleventh hour when Trevor Nunn declined to be involved. Robert Coe, the playwright who worked with McAnuff on revising the show, restored most of the original song order from the West End version and deleted the new songs written for the Broadway version, but had only four weeks to complete a complex rewrite. (The performing editions in the United States retain Nelson’s book.) The seven-month-long tour was not a major success, but it did garner some positive reviews. A tour in the United Kingdom, starring Rebecca Storm
and mostly based on the London production, was a smash. Also in 1990 was the production at the Marriott Theatre
in Lincolnshire
, Illinois, near Chicago. Directed by David H. Bell and starring Susie McMonagle, David Studwell and Kim Strauss
, it featured another reworking of the Nelson script. Bell's version has been performed in Sacramento
and Atlanta as well.
Chess was, even in 1990, trying to keep itself modern; the ending of the Cold War
was noted in all new versions of the show. Once the Soviet Union
fell, the modernization attempts died out, and the clock was set back: Tim Rice's 1990 rewrite that played a brief run off Broadway went all the way back to 1972. The Chess mania that had begun in the U.K. more or less died down to a string of occasional productions of the Broadway and West End versions for the next decade.
directed a total rewrite done primarily by Rice. It starred Jodie Gillies, David McLeod, and Robbie Krupski, with the action shifted to an international hotel in Bangkok during the chess championships, and was a critical and popular success. A later Australian production opened at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in 1997, with Barbara Dickson
taking the lead role of Florence (not Svetlana, as she had sung on the original studio cast album). Co-stars included Derek Metzger and Daryl Braithwaite.
In July 1990, this completely new version of Chess premièred in Sydney, Australia, performed at the MLC Centre
's Theatre Royal
. This version was spearheaded by Tim Rice, who brought in parts from each of the previous versions, as well as what had been his original conception for the Broadway version. The production was directed by Jim Sharman
. No cast recording was made of this version.
The Sydney version further streamlined the plot, having both acts take place at a single chess match in a single city (Bangkok). This version takes place in the late 1980s. Florence's nationality was changed from Hungarian to Czech, which changed the year that the Soviets overran her country from 1956 to 1968 (with an accompanying change in the lyrics of "Nobody's Side" from "Budapest is falling" to "Prague and Mr. Dubček
"). As in the London version, in this version Anatoly defects from the Soviet Union, wins the match, then decides to return to the Soviet Union at the end, leading to the possibility that Florence's father, if he is still alive, will be released from prison.
Many of the numbers were lengthened considerably from London, with an extended "One Night in Bangkok" near the top of the show. "Heaven Help My Heart" ended the first act, with "Anthem" and "Someone Else's Story" (sung by Svetlana with new lyrics) in the second. "The Soviet Machine" and "The Deal" were also extended considerably.
Act 2
, Sweden in 1994. The songs and lyrics are largely identical to the original album, with the addition of "Someone Else's Story" from the Broadway version and "The Soviet Machine" from the West End version. Notable principal cast members included Anders Glenmark
as Freddie, Karin Glenmark
as Florence and Tommy Körberg
as Anatoly.
.
Chess was once again revived in the U.K. for a nationwide tour in 1996. The cast included Jacqui Scott, and Tim Rice was involved in some re-ordering of the piece. Notably having the show's finale as the song "Nobody's Side".
. A two-CD album of the tour was released, entitled Chess: Complete Cast Album, becoming the first recording to feature the complete songs of the West End version of the musical (with the addition of the Broadway version's "Someone Else's Story," given to Svetlana in Act 2). The tour also followed the West End version of the musical in plot as well as score (minus small portions of underscoring); however, this was pulled from circulation, to be replaced with a much shorter, trimmed-down version closer to the original concept album. Zubin Varla
played Freddie, Stig Rossen played Anatoly, Emma Kershaw played Florence, and Michael Cormick played The Arbiter.
In late 2001, rumours began to circulate about a new production in Stockholm. Written entirely in Swedish, with lyrics and book by Björn Ulvaeus, Lars Rudolffson, and Jan Mark
, it attempted to streamline the story back to its original form and eliminate the aspects of political potboiler
that had come to define the show. Featuring new musical numbers (Svetlana's "Han är en man, han är ett barn" ("He is a man, he is a child") and Molokov's "Glöm mig om du kan" ("Forget me if you can" from the demo song "When The Waves Roll Out to Sea") and focusing on material from the concept album, the Stockholm version was a drastic rewrite. Notable cast members included Helen Sjöholm
as Florence, Tommy Körberg
as Anatolij and Anders Ekborg
as Freddie. It was filmed for Swedish television, and has been released on a Swedish-language DVD.
The Stockholm production was nominated for eight national Swedish Theatre Awards Guldmasken
and won six of them, including Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Helen Sjöholm), Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Tommy Körberg), and Best Stage Design (Robin Wagner). The Original Swedish Cast CD "Chess På Svenska" peaked at number 2 on the Swedish album chart.
and musical directed by conductor Seth Rudetsky
. Notable cast members included Josh Groban
as Anatoly, Julia Murney
as Florence, Adam Pascal
as Freddie, Raúl Esparza
as The Arbiter, Sutton Foster
as Svetlana and Norm Lewis
as Molokov.
(as Svetlana), Kevin Earley
(as Anatoly), Ty Taylor
(as Freddie), Cindy Robinson
(as Florence), Thomas Griffith
(as Molokov), Tom Schmidt (as Walter) and Matthew Morrison
(as The Arbiter), with the ensemble, choir and 27 piece orchestra on stage. The concert was directed by Brian Michael Purcell, choreographed by A. C. Ciulla, with musical direction by Dan Redfeld. A portion of the proceeds went to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
produced a concert version of Chess together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
, involving two performances at the Royal Albert Hall
. This version, comprising almost no dialogue or set, but otherwise following the West End version in plot and music, was recorded for release as a 2-CD cast album and DVD. It was also broadcast on American PBS channels in June 2009. Tim Rice stated in the concert's programme that this version of Chess is the "official version," after years of different plot and song combinations. Though the plot and score is entirely based on that of the West End production, this version also adds in two Broadways songs: "Prologue" and "Someone Else's Story."
The audio recording contains most of the material from the concert except a few lines of dialogue (present on the DVD); it also mislabels and misorders a few songs, such as "Florence and Molokov" for "The American and Florence." The DVD also includes an opening speech given by Tim Rice introducing the cast, which is omitted from the CD.
Act 2
. The cast includes Géza Egyházi as Anatoly, Éva Sári as Florence, János Szemenyei as Freddie and Tímea Kecskés as Svetlana. This concert production closely follows the script of the Royal Albert Hall production of 2008 (though the songs "Hymn of Chess," "The Merchandisers," "The Arbiter (Reprise)," and "Talking Chess" were cut). After two performances on August 7 and 8, the production moved into an indoors theatre, the Magyar Színház, in October. It was produced by PS Produkció and directed by Cornelius Baltus. The Hungarian lyrics were written by Ágnes Romhányi, the choreographer was Karen Bruce
, and the stage and costume design were created by Kentaur.
) on August 8, 2010 and ran until October 3, 2010. The musical followed the story of the original Broadway version of the show, though it streamlined the book and reordered some of the songs. This production was produced by The Signature Theater Group and directed by Eric Schaeffer. The cast included Jeremy Kushnier
as Freddie, Euan Morton
as Anatoly, and Jill Paice
as Florence.
had a 10 month run around the U.K. and Ireland. It was an actor-musician production, with 25 out of the 30 cast members playing instruments. The cast included Daniel Koek as the Russian, James Fox
as the American, Shona White as Florence Vassey, Poppy Tierney as Svetlana, Steve Varnom as Molokov, James Graeme
as Walter and David Erik as The Arbiter.
Changes to the songs include the removal of "Merano" and "Walter and Florence".
The tour started with previews on 27 August in Newcastle, then continues on to Northampton, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Salford, Cardiff, Bradford, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Plymouth, Dublin, Glasgow and ended at Politeama Rossetti
, in Trieste, Italy. The creative team included Tony Award winning orchestrator Sarah Travis
and set designer Christopher Woods.
On 8 February 2011, Mirvish Productions
announced a Toronto run of the U.K. touring production arriving in September 2011. The Toronto run follows the end of the U.K. tour.
) in Bielefeld, Germany
for their 2011/2012 season. The production was directed by Kay Kuntze and choreographed by Götz Hellriegel. It opened on September 25, 2011 and is planned to run until April 21, 2012. The creative team included musical director William Ward Murta and set and costume designer Duncan Hayler. The cast included Alex Melcher as Frederick Trumper, Veit Schäfermeier as Anatoly Sergievsky, Roberta Valentini as Florence Vassy, Karin Seyfried as Svetlana Sergievsky, Jens Janke as The Arbiter, Frank Bahrenberg as Alexander Molokov and Michael Pflumm as Walter de Courcey.
Benny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
, formerly of ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, and with lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
by Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any specific individuals, the character of the American was loosely based on chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...
and Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
.
As had been done with Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and Evita, a highly successful concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
of Chess was released in 1984. The first theatrical production of Chess opened in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in 1986 and played for three years. A much-altered U.S. version premièred on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1988, but survived only for two months. Chess is frequently revised for new productions, many of which try to merge elements from both the London and Broadway versions; however, no major revival production of the musical has yet been attempted either on West End or Broadway.
Chess came seventh in a BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
listener poll of the U.K.'s "Number One Essential Musicals."
Development
Lyricist Tim Rice had long wanted to create a musical about the Cold War. During the 1970s, he had discussed writing a musical about the Cuban Missile CrisisCuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
with his usual collaborator, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
. In the late 1970s, Rice got the idea to instead tell the story through the prism of the long-standing U.S.-Soviet chess rivalry; he had earlier been fascinated by the political machinations of the 1972 "Match of the Century" between Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
and Boris Spassky
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...
.
In 1979, when Rice wanted to start working on the musical, Webber was already busy with the musical Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, which would premiere in 1981, and then become one of most successful musicals of all time. Cats was also the first musical to employ such a huge engineering staff in order to pull off its many technical elements, a concept which would be incorporated into Chess in numerous capacities during its development.
Subsequently, American producer Richard Vos suggested to Rice to work with Andersson and Ulvaeus instead, knowing they were looking to develop and produce various projects outside of ABBA. Rice, who was a fan of the group, agreed. He wrote later that he felt no reservations because "there is a sense of theatre in the ABBA style". With Vos also in attendance, Rice met with the two for the first time in Stockholm in December 1981 in order to discuss the concept, and they quickly signed on to the project.
ABBA stopped performing a year later, due to tensions between the two couples as well as their recent divorces.
All through 1983, the three men worked on the music and lyrics. Rice would describe the mood of particular songs he wanted, then Andersson and Ulvaeus would write and record the music and send the tapes to Rice, who would then write lyrics to fit the music, and send the resulting tapes back to Andersson and Ulvaeus ad infinitum.
Some of the songs on the resulting album contained elements of music they had previously written for ABBA. For example, the chorus of "I Know Him So Well" was based on the chorus of "I Am An A," a song from their 1977 tour, while the chorus of "Anthem" used the chord structures from the guitar solo from their 1979 song "Our Last Summer
Our Last Summer
"Our Last Summer" is a song by ABBA from the group's seventh studio album, Super Trouper. It was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.Recording for this track began on 4 June 1980 in Polar Music Studios...
".
Ulvaeus would also provide dummy lyrics to emphasize the rhythmic patterns of the music, and since Rice found a number of these "embarrassingly good" as they were, incorporated a few in the final version. The most well known example is "One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble". One song, which became "Heaven Help My Heart," was recorded with an entire set of lyrics, sung by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
, with the title "Every Good Man", though none of the original lyrics from this song were used.
Partly to raise money in order to produce the show in the West End and partly to see how the material would fare with the public, it was decided to release the music as an album before any stage productions were undertaken, a strategy that had proven successful with Rice's two previous musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and Evita.
Owing in part to the different countries in which the lyricist and composers resided, recording on the album musical
Album musical
An album musical is a type of recording that sounds like an original cast album but is created specifically for the recording medium and is complete entertainment product in itself, rather than just promoting or reflecting an existing or planned musical theatre production or revue...
of Chess began in Stockholm in early November 1983, with Andersson recording the many layered keyboard parts himself along with other basic work at their usual Polar Studios
Polar Studios
Polar Studios is one of the most famous recording studios in Scandinavia. Originally located in a former movie theater from 1934 at Sankt Eriksgatan 58-60 on Kungsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden, Polar Studios was founded by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA in 1977 and had its grand opening on...
. Choral and orchestral work was then recorded in London by The Ambrosian Singers along with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
and the album was sound-engineered and mixed back at Polar by longtime ABBA sound engineer Michael B. Tretow
Michael B. Tretow
Bo Michael Tretow is a swedish record producer and audio engineer, Musician and composer, best known for his work with Swedish pop group ABBA , and with the musical Chess. Tretow experimented with different recording techniques, and played an essential part in creating the famous "ABBA-sound"...
.
History
The double LPDouble album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
, often referred to as a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
or album musical
Album musical
An album musical is a type of recording that sounds like an original cast album but is created specifically for the recording medium and is complete entertainment product in itself, rather than just promoting or reflecting an existing or planned musical theatre production or revue...
, was released worldwide in the fall of 1984. Liner notes included with the album featured a basic synopsis of the story in multiple languages along with song lyrics and numerous photos. The music on the album was described by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as "a sumptuously recorded...grandiose pastiche that touches half a dozen bases, from Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
to late Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
, from Italian opera
Italian opera
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...
to trendy synthesizer-based pop, all of it lavishly arranged for the London Symphony Orchestra with splashy electronic embellishments".
A single from the album, "One Night in Bangkok
One Night in Bangkok
"One Night in Bangkok" is the title of a song originally sung by the British actor and Pop-dance singer Murray Head on the 1984 concept album for the musical Chess...
," with verses performed by Murray Head and choruses performed by Anders Glenmark
Anders Glenmark
Anders Glenmark is a Swedish pop and rock singer, as well as one of Sweden's most successful music producers and song writers. He is the brother of singer Karin Glenmark and nephew of band leader Bruno Glenmark. Among the artists he's written and produced for are Eva Dahlgren, Orup, Ted Gärdestad...
became a worldwide smash, reaching No.3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The duet "I Know Him So Well
I Know Him So Well
"I Know Him So Well" is a song from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. In this duet, two women – Svetlana, the Russian chess champion's estranged wife, and Florence, his mistress – express their bittersweet feelings for him and at seeing...
" by Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
and Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
held the Number One spot on the U.K. singles charts for 4 weeks, winning the Ivor Novello Award in the process as the Best Selling Single ('A' Side).
In addition, the tune was later covered not only by Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
and her mother Cissy
Cissy Houston
Emily "Cissy" Houston is a Grammy Award–winning American soul and gospel singer. She led a very successful career as a backup singer for such artists as Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Wishbone Ash and Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist...
as a duet for her sophomore release Whitney
Whitney (album)
Whitney is the second studio album by American pop/R&B singer Whitney Houston, released in the United States on June 2, 1987 by Arista Records as the follow-up to her best selling debut album, Whitney Houston. The album met the expectations of many people and was sensationally popular after its...
, but also by Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, who recorded it originally for The Broadway Album
The Broadway Album
The Broadway Album is the twenty-fourth studio album by director, composer, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 4, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Barbra Streisand's career. Streisand had spent ten years...
released in 1985. However, the track was deleted from the album due to lack of space and remained unreleased until it was featured on her 1992 album "Highlights from Just for the Record".
On 27 October 1984, a concert version of the Chess album was premiered by the original cast in London's Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
and then performed in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Paris with final presentation on 1 November in Berwaldhallen
Berwaldhallen
Berwaldhallen is a concert hall in the Östermalm district of Stockholm, Sweden. Construction on the building began in 1976 based on a design by architects Erik Ahnborg and Sune Lindström...
in Stockholm.
In 1985, music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s were filmed for the songs "One Night in Bangkok," "Nobody's Side," "The Arbiter," "I Know Him So Well," and "Pity the Child," featuring the performers from the album, and directed by David G. Hillier. These were released together in a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video entitled Chess Moves.
Reception
The original concept albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
received critical accolades, with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
raving that the "dazzling score covers nearly all the pop bases", Kurt Ganzl
Kurt Gänzl
Kurt Gänzl is an award-winning writer, musicologist, casting director and singer best known for his books about musical theatre....
's Blackwell Guide to the Musical Theatre on Record telling readers about the "thrilling exposition of an exciting piece of modern musical theater occurring before the event" and Time declaring that the "rock symphonic synthesis was ripe with sophistication and hummable tunes".
The album became a Top 10 hit in the U.K., West Germany and South Africa, reached number 47 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, number 39 in France, number 35 in Australia, and for seven weeks remained at number 1 on the Swedish album chart due in no small part to the composers' Swedish heritage. The recording also received several prestigious awards, including the Goldene Europa
Goldene Europa
The Goldene Europa award is the oldest German Television award for artists and entertainers. It was awarded from 1968 to 2003. In the years 1989 and 2001, there were no ceremonies...
from Germany, the Edison Award from the Netherlands and the Rockbjörnen
Rockbjörnen
Rockbjörnen is a Swedish popular music award established by the Stockholm evening newspaper Aftonbladet in 1979. The award, which is awarded annually, is divided into several categories and is mostly concentrated around the genres Pop and Rock. The first award was however given to the Swedish...
from Sweden.
Principal cast
- The American – Murray HeadMurray HeadMurray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
- The Russian – Tommy KörbergTommy KörbergBert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
- Florence – Elaine PaigeElaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
- Molokov – Denis QuilleyDenis QuilleyDenis Clifford Quilley OBE was an English theatre, television and film actor who was long associated with the Royal National Theatre....
- The Arbiter – Björn SkifsBjörn SkifsBjörn Nils Olof Skifs is a Swedish singer, songwriter, actor, and screenwriter.Björn Skifs formed his first musical group Slam Creepers’ in 1963. Slam Creepers’ split in 1969 and Skifs went on to form a new band, Blåblus, in 1972. As Blue Swede, the band had a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100 in 1974...
- Svetlana – Barbara DicksonBarbara DicksonBarbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
The protagonists, simply called the "American" and the "Russian" for the original album, were sung by Murray Head
Murray Head
Murray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
and Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
, respectively. The part of Florence, initially the American's second and subsequently the Russian's lover, was sung by longtime British pop star Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, while the part of Svetlana, the Russian's wife, was sung by Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
.
Songs
Act 1- "Merano" (6:59) – Chorus of Townspeople, The American
- "The Russian and Molokov" / "Where I Want to Be" (6:19) – The Russian and Molokov / The Russian
- "Opening Ceremony" (9:18) – The Arbiter with Ensemble of Townspeople, Russian Heavies and Merchandisers
- "Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)" (2:17) – Molokov, Florence, The American and The Russian
- "The American and Florence" / "Nobody's Side" (5:25) – Florence and The American / Florence
- "Chess" (5:44) – Instrumental
- "Mountain Duet" (4:42) – Florence and The Russian
- "Florence Quits" (2:52) – Florence and The American
- "Embassy Lament" (1:30) - Chorus of Embassy Clerks
- "Anthem" (3:03) – The Russian
Act 2
- "Bangkok" / "One Night in BangkokOne Night in Bangkok"One Night in Bangkok" is the title of a song originally sung by the British actor and Pop-dance singer Murray Head on the 1984 concept album for the musical Chess...
" (5:00) – The American and Ensemble - "Heaven Help My Heart" (3:29) – Florence
- "Argument" (1:50) – Florence and The Russian
- I Know Him So WellI Know Him So Well"I Know Him So Well" is a song from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. In this duet, two women – Svetlana, the Russian chess champion's estranged wife, and Florence, his mistress – express their bittersweet feelings for him and at seeing...
" (4:16) – Florence and Svetlana - "The Deal (No Deal)" (3:55) - The American, The Russian, Molokov and Florence
- "Pity the Child" (5:29) – The American
- "Endgame" (10:46) – The Russian, The American, Florence, Svetlana and Ensemble
- "Epilogue: You and I" / "The Story of Chess" / "You and I (Reprise)" (10:24) – Florence, The Russian, and Svetlana
History
Chess premièred in the West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
on 14 May 1986 at the Prince Edward Theatre
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
and closed on 8 April 1989. The original production was originally set to be directed by Michael Bennett
Michael Bennett
Michael Bennett was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven....
, however after casting the show and commissioning the expansive set and costume designs, he withdrew from the project due to health reasons.
The show was rescued by director Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
, who with considerable technical difficulty, eventually shepherded the show on to its scheduled opening. The three principal singers from the concept album, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
and Murray Head
Murray Head
Murray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
reprised their roles on stage, however due to prior committments, Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
was unable to appear. Siobhán McCarthy
Siobhán McCarthy
Siobhán Mary Ann McCarthy is a television and stage actress. She is married to theatrical sound designer Andrew Bruce, and resides in London with her husband and two children, Kieran and Juliet....
played the part of Svetlana as a result.
According to set designer Robin Wagner
Robin Wagner (designer)
Robin Wagner is an American scenic designer.Born Robin Samuel Anton Wagner in San Francisco, he attended art school and started his career in theatres in that city with designs for Don Pasquale, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Tea and Sympathy, and Waiting for Godot, among others...
, as interviewed for the book Set Design, by author Lynn Pecktal, the original Bennett version was to be a "multimedia" show, with an elaborate tilting floor, banks of television monitors, and other technological touches. Realizing he could never bring Bennett’s vision to fruition, Nunn applied his realistic style to the show instead, although the basics of the mammoth set design were still present in the final production. These included three videowalls, the main of which featured commentary from chess master William Hartston
William Hartston
William Roland Hartston is an English chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 with a highest Elo rating of 2515...
, and appearances from various BBC newsreaders rounding out the package.
The London version expanded the storyline of the concept album, adding considerable new recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
, and attracted several West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stars, such as Anthony Head
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is an English actor and musician. He rose to fame in the UK following his role in television advertisements for Nescafé Gold Blend , and is known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Uther Pendragon in...
, Grania Renihan, Ria Jones, David Burt
David Burt
David Burt is a British actor, known primarily for his many and wide-ranging West End performances.Burt recently starred as the flamboyant Count Fosco opposite Yvette Robinson in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White at the Palace Theatre and was featured as Captain Andy Hawks in Show Boat at...
, and Peter Karrie
Peter Karrie
Peter Karrie , is a Welsh singer, best known for his portrayal of the lead role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera. He played the part in London, Toronto, Vancouver, Singapore, Hong Kong and on the UK Tour in Bradford, and Manchester...
, during its three year run, and was a massive physical undertaking, with estimated costs up to $12 million.
Eight months later, the nomination and a win came in for the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical, and the show received three 1986 Laurence Olivier Award nominations for Best Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actor (Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
) as well. In a twist of irony, in the categories of Best Musical and Outstanding Performance by an Actor, Chess lost to The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, by Rice's former collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
.
Critical reception
The premiere of the musical provoked an overall mixed to favourable verdict from the critics and, according to VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, created "one of the bigger West End mob-scenes in recent memory". Most of the naysaying notices had comments ranging from "far too long" and "shallow, improbable story masquerading as a serious musical" from The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's conclusion that, "A musical is only as good as its book, and here one is confronted by an inchoate mess."
Other newspapers posted rave reviews however. The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
wrote that the show was "gift-wrapped and gorgeous...compels admiration," The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
noted that "it turns out to be a fine piece of work that shows the dinosaur mega-musical evolving into an intelligent form of life" and Today
Today (UK newspaper)
Today was a national newspaper in the United Kingdom, which was published between 1986 and 1995.-History:Today, with the American newspaper USA Today as inspiration, launched on Tuesday, 4 March 1986, with the front page headline, "Second Spy Inside GCHQ". At 18 pence, it was a middle-market...
called it "gripping, eye-catching.. nearly a major triumph".
In addition, Michael Ratcliffe wrote in Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
that the "operetta plot which would have delighted a mature Lehar is dramatised in a buoyant, eclectic and stirring theatre-score" and called Körberg "the indisputable star of the show". Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley was an English author, biographer, critic, director, actor and broadcaster. He was the eldest son of actor Robert Morley and grandson of actress Dame Gladys Cooper, and wrote biographies of both...
in International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
complimented the show's "remarkably coherent dramatic shape" and "staging of considerable intelligence and invention".
Act 1
The president of the International Chess Federation explains the history of the game of chess ("Story of Chess"), before announcing the location of the upcoming world chess championshipWorld Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
: the northern Italian town of Merano (the year of this tournament being 1979, according to the notes in the recent live album recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra). As the townsfolk prepare for the occasion ("Merano"), the brash American champion Frederick Trumper arrives with his second and implied lover: Hungarian-born, British-raised Florence Vassy ("What a Scene! What a Joy!"). In their hotel room, Florence explains to Freddie that the press will portray him badly if he continues with his bad boy
Bad boy (archetype)
The bad boy, cad or bounder is a cultural archetype of a male who behaves badly, especially towards women.Being a promiscuous rogue may be as successful a reproductive strategy as the strategy of being a reliable provider. Evolutionary psychologist Professor Bill von Hippel claims that women are...
behavior ("Commie Newspapers"), just before he heads off to a press conference where he attacks a journalist who questions his relationship with Florence ("Press Conference"). Freddie's Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky and Alexander Molokov, Anatoly's second (and a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent), watch with curiosity and disdain on TV ("Anatoly and Molokov"), before Anatoly laments the selling out
Selling out
"Selling out" is the compromising of integrity, morality, or principles in exchange for money or "success" . It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience...
of his dreams and ambitions to get where he is today ("Where I Want to Be").
The opening ceremony features the U.S. and Soviet delegates each vowing their side will win ("Difficult and Dangerous Times"), the Chess Federation president (who is also the referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...
of the tournament: The Arbiter) insisting on holding the proceedings together ("The Arbiter"), and marketers looking to make a profit ("The Merchandisers"). During the increasingly intense match, Freddie suddenly bursts out of the arena, leaving the chessboard on the floor ("Chess #1"), and Florence to pick up the pieces with Anatoly, Molokov, and The Arbiter, whereby she promises to bring Freddie and Anatoly together to sort out their issues ("Quartet – A Model of Decorum and Tranquility"). It turns out that Freddie engineered the outburst to get a higher price from the American media company, Global Television, though Walter de Courcey, the company's agent overseeing the match and a member of Freddie's delegation, criticizes the stunt as ludicrous. When Florence finds out, she and Freddie argue, leading Florence to get angry with Freddie when he maliciously turns the argument toward her father, believed captured by Soviet forces during the 1956 Budapest uprising ("1956 – Budapest is Rising"). She reflects cynically about chess and politics ("Nobody's Side") before heading off to the Merano Mountain Inn for the meeting between the two sides. Freddie does not immediately turn up, leaving Anatoly and Florence awkwardly alone together; however, they eventually embrace as surprising romantic feelings arise before being interrupted by Freddie, who has been working out new financial terms with Global TV ("Mountain Duet").
The chess tournament proceeds, culminating in a series of victories for Anatoly with only one game left to determine the winner of the entire tournament ("Chess #2"). Due to Freddie's atrocious attitude in the aftermath of his defeats, Florence leaves him ("Florence Quits"), whereby Freddie ponders how his unhappy childhood left him the man he is today ("Pity the Child"). He sends The Arbiter a letter of resignation, resulting in Anatoly's becoming the new world champion. Immediately, Anatoly defects
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
from the Soviet Union and goes to the British embassy, where he attempts to seek asylum in England ("Embassy Lament"). Florence, accompanying Anatoly, reflects on their new-found love ("Heaven Help My Heart"). Walter tips off the press as to this new story and they ambush Anatoly and Florence at Merano Station ("Anatoly and the Press"). When the mob of reporters asks Anatoly why he is deserting his country, he tells them that his land's only borders lie around his heart. ("Anthem")
Act 2
A year later, Anatoly is set to defend his championship in Bangkok, Thailand ("Golden Bangkok"). Freddie is already there, chatting up locals and experiencing the Bangkok nightlife ("One Night in Bangkok") because he is now Global TV's chess pundit and their special presenter for this year's championship. Florence and Anatoly are now openly lovers, and worry about Freddie's sudden reappearance as well as the impending arrival of Anatoly's estranged wife, Svetlana, from Russia ("One More Opponent" / "You and I"), which Anatoly suspects is part of Molokov's plan to shame him into returning to the Soviet Union. Molokov, meanwhile, has trained a new protégé, Leonid Viigand, to challenge Anatoly, while spying on the opposing pair and plotting Anatoly's downfall ("The Soviet Machine").Walter, now Freddie's boss at Global (and clearly a CIA agent), manipulates Freddie into embarrassing Anatoly on live TV during an uncomfortable and eventually heated interview between the two former opponents. Anatoly finally storms out after being prodded ruthlessly by Freddie and shown footage of Svetlana's arrival ("The Interview"). Molokov, who indeed is responsible for Svetlana's presence in Bangkok, now blackmails her into making Anatoly lose the match. Walter, who has been promised the release of certain American agents if he can ruin Anatoly's game, informs Florence that her father is still alive though imprisoned in Russia, and that he too will be released if she can convince Anatoly to lose. Neither of these ploys work to get Anatoly to throw the game
Match fixing
In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...
, however, so Molokov and Walter team up to get Freddie to personally persuade Anatoly and Florence, knowing that Freddie is vengeful toward Anatoly and interested in winning back the love of Florence. The pair, though, refuses to negotiate with Freddie ("The Deal").
Svetlana and Florence talk one-on-one for the first time about their relationships with Anatoly, Florence ultimately admitting that it would be best for Anatoly to return to his family ("I Know Him So Well"). Anatoly, meanwhile, is sent an anonymous letter telling him to go to Wat Pho
Wat Pho
Wat Pho , is a Buddhist temple in Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok, Thailand. It is located in the Rattanakosin district directly adjacent to the Grand Palace. Known also as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, its official name is Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan...
, which he does; to his surprise, Freddie appears, having decided to disconnect from his personal issues with the tournament and to merely facilitate a brilliant match, regardless of his own conflicts with Anatoly. Because of this new change in attitude, Freddie informs Anatoly of a significant flaw in Viigand's play that will help Anatoly win ("Talking Chess"). In the deciding game of the match, with the score at five games all, Anatoly manages to take a superb win against Viigand, and realizes that it may be the only success he can achieve in his life at this time; the victory comes even as Svetlana castigates Anatoly for wallowing in the crowd's empty praise and Florence expresses similar annoyance with him for casting aside his moral ideals ("Endgame"). Later, Florence admits her sentiments about how he should return to the Soviet Union and the pair reflects on their story that seemed so promising ("You and I – Reprise"). Florence is left alone when Walter approaches to inform her that Anatoly has unexpectedly defected back to the U.S.S.R., meaning that her father will certainly be released. He startlingly admits, however, that no one actually knows if her father is still alive. Florence breaks down, telling Walter that he is using people's lives for nothing, before repeating Anatoly's sentiments from the end of the first act, that her only borders lie around her heart ("Finale").
Songs
Act 1- “Prologue” — Instrumental
- “The Story of Chess” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “Merano” †
- “Merano" — Mayor and Ensemble
- “What a Scene! What a Joy!" — Freddie and Florence
- “Merano (Reprise)” — Ensemble
- “Commie Newspapers” — Freddie and Florence
- “Press Conference” — Freddie, Florence, and Reporters
- “Anatoly and Molokov” / “Where I Want to Be” † — Molokov, Anatoly, and Ensemble
- “Difficult and Dangerous Times” ‡ — Molokov, Walter, and Ensemble
- “The Arbiter” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “Hymn to Chess” — Ensemble
- “The Merchandisers” — Ensemble
- “Chess #1” — Instrumental
- “The Arbiter (Reprise)” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)” — Molokov, Florence, The Arbiter, and Anatoly
- “Florence and Molokov” — Molokov and Florence
- “1956 – Budapest is Rising” — Ensemble, Freddie and Florence
- “Nobody's Side” — Florence and Ensemble
- “Mountain Duet” — Florence, Anatoly, and Freddie
- “Chess #2” — Instrumental
- “Florence Quits” — Freddie and Florence
- “Pity the Child” — Freddie and Ensemble
- “Embassy Lament” — English Civil Servants
- “Heaven Help My Heart” — Florence
- “Anatoly and the Press” — Anatoly and Reporters
- “Anthem” — Anatoly and Ensemble
Act 2
- “Golden Bangkok” / “One Night in Bangkok” † — Instrumental / Freddie and Ensemble
- “One More Opponent” / “You and I” † — Anatoly and Florence
- “The Soviet Machine” — Molokov and Ensemble
- “The Interview” — Walter, Freddie, and Anatoly
- “The Deal” — The Arbiter, Molokov, Svetlana, Walter, Florence, Freddie, Anatoly, and Ensemble
- “I Know Him So Well” — Florence and Svetlana
- “Talking Chess” — Anatoly and Freddie
- “Endgame” — Ensemble, Molokov, Freddie, Florence, Anatoly and Svetlana
- “You and I (Reprise)” — Florence and Anatoly
- “Finale” — Walter and Florence
† The multiple songs listed here are often merged on recordings into a single track.
‡ Song is alternately titled "U.S. vs U.S.S.R."
Original cast
- Frederick Trumper – Murray HeadMurray HeadMurray Seafield Saint-George Head is a British actor and singer, most recognised for his international hit songs "Superstar" and "One Night in Bangkok" and his album Say It Ain't So...
- Florence Vassy – Elaine PaigeElaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
- Anatoly Sergievsky – Tommy KörbergTommy KörbergBert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
- Alexander Molokov – John Turner
- Walter de Courcey – Kevin Colson
- The Arbiter – Tom Jobe
- Svetlana Sergievsky – Siobhán McCarthySiobhán McCarthySiobhán Mary Ann McCarthy is a television and stage actress. She is married to theatrical sound designer Andrew Bruce, and resides in London with her husband and two children, Kieran and Juliet....
- Mayor of Merano – Richard Mitchell
- T.V. Presenter – Peter Karrie
- Civil Servants – Richard Lyndon, Paul Wilson
History
After London, the creative team decided that the show had to be reimagined from the top down. Trevor Nunn brought in playwright Richard NelsonRichard Nelson (playwright)
Richard Nelson is an American playwright and librettist. He wrote the books for the musicals James Joyce's The Dead and the Broadway version of Chess.-Personal life:Nelson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
to recreate the musical as a straightforward "book show" for New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
audiences. Nunn brought in new, younger principals after he disqualified Paige from the role of Florence by insisting Nelson recreate the character as an American. The story changed drastically, with different settings, characters, and many different plot elements, although the basic plot remained the same. As Benny Andersson put it to Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
: "The main difference between London and here is that in London there is only about two or three minutes of spoken dialog. Here, in order to clarify some points, it is almost one-third dialog". The changes necessitated the score to be reordered as well, and comparisons of the Broadway cast recording and the original concept album reveal the dramatic extent of the changes. Robin Wagner completely redesigned the set, which featured a ground-breaking design of mobile towers that shifted continuously throughout the show, in an attempt to give it a sense of cinematic fluidity.
The first preview on 11 April 1988 ran 4 hours with an unexpected 90 minute intermission (the stage crew reportedly had problems with the sets); by opening night on 28 April, it was down to 3 hours 15 minutes. But despite a healthy box-office advance, the Broadway production did not manage to sustain a consistently large audience and closed on 25 June, after 17 previews and 68 regular performances.
"And there I was, on closing night, singing and sobbing along," later wrote Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine critic Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
.
Overall, the show (capitalized at $6 million) since its opening, according to Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, "has been doing moderate business, mainly on the strength of theater party advances," but by mid-June it mostly have been used up. Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld
Gerald Schoenfeld was chairman of the Shubert Organization from 1972 until his death....
, co-producer of the show, elaborated on the reasons for folding the production: "The musical had been playing to about 80 percent capacity, which is considered good, but about 50 percent of the audience have held special, half-priced tickets. If we filled the house at 100 percent at half price, we'd go broke and I haven't seen any surge of tourist business yet this season. The show needs a $350,000 weekly gross to break even, but only a few weeks since its April 28 opening have reached that.... You have to consider what your grosses are going to be in the future" (USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, June 21, 1988).
The Broadway production picked up several major award nominations. It got five nods from the Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Actor in a Musical (David Carroll
David Carroll (actor)
David Carroll , sometimes billed as David James Carroll, was an American actor whose last, and best remembered, role was that of Baron Felix von Gaigern in Grand Hotel: The Musical....
), Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Judy Kuhn
Judy Kuhn
-Life and career:Kuhn was born in New York City and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.She entered Oberlin College in 1976. Although she was very interested in singing and theater, she began Oberlin in the College, not the Conservatory. After taking...
), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Harry Goz
Harry Goz
Harry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...
), Outstanding Music (Andersson and Ulvaeus) and Outstanding Lighting Design (David Hersey
David Hersey
David Hersey is a lighting designer who has designed the lighting for over 250 plays, musicals, operas, and ballets. His work has been seen in most corners of the globe and his many awards include the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for Evita, Cats, and Les Misérables, the Drama Desk Award for...
). Carroll and Kuhn also received Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations in Leading Actor in a Musical and Leading Actress in a Musical categories. None of the nominations resulted in the win, but Philip Casnoff
Philip Casnoff
Philip Casnoff is a Golden Globe Award nominated, Theater World Award winning, American actor, known for his roles in TV series and on Broadway.- Theatre :...
did receive the 1988 Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
for Best Debut Performance. Original Broadway Cast recording of the musical was nominated for 1988 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in the category Best Musical Cast Show Album (won by the Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
).
Later on, the musical had developed a cult following based primarily on the score as heard on the original concept album (Frank Rich noted in his book Hot Seat that "the score retains its devoted fans"), while Nelson's book became a frequent target of scorn from critics and fans alike, though it still has its supporters. Many subsequent attempts have been made to fix its perceived problems, but nonetheless, Nelson's book is still used in many American productions, because a contractual stipulation, ostensibly, prevents the London version, which many believe to be the source of the show's popularity and appeal, from being performed within the United States. However, the May-June 2011 production in Charlotte, North Carolina, relied much more heavily on the West End version than the Broadway version, and was very similar to the 2010-2011 UK touring version.
In 2001, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
Tim Rice admitted that after the "comparative failure of Chess, his all-time favourite, he became disillusioned with theatre." He commented, "It may sound arrogant, but Chess is as good as anything I've ever done. And maybe it costs too much brainpower for the average person to follow it".
Critical reception
Many critics panned the show, most notably Frank RichFrank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, who wrote that "the evening has the theatrical consistency of quicksand" and described it as "a suite of temper tantrums, [where] the characters ... yell at one another to rock music". Howard Kissel of New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
complained that "the show is shrilly overamplified" and "neither of the love stories is emotionally involving," while Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine called the show a "Broadway's monster" and opined that "Chess" assaults the audience with a relentless barrage of scenes and numbers that are muscle-bound with self-importance".
A few reviewers, however, praised it very highly. William A. Henry III
William A. Henry III
William A. Henry III was an award-winning American cultural critic and author.-Career:Henry lived in North Plainfield, New Jersey as a young man. Henry graduated from Yale in 1971 and began his career in journalism in Boston, writing for the Boston Globe. His coverage of school desegregation in...
wrote an exceptionally sympathetic review in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
: "Clear narrative drive, Nunn's cinematic staging, three superb leading performances by actors willing to be complex and unlikeable and one of the best rock scores ever produced in the theater. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show, one that pushes the boundaries of the form" (Time, May 9, 1988). His sentiments were echoed by William K. Gale in Providence Journal: "A show with a solid, even wonderfully old-fashioned story that still has a bitter-sweet, rough-edged view of the world ... exciting, dynamic theater ... a match of wit and passion."
Richard Christiansen of Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
suggested that "Chess falters despite new strategy," yet concluded his review: "Audiences forgive a lot of failings when they find a show that touches them with its music, and Chess, clumsy and overblown as it sometimes is in its three hours-plus running time, gives them that heart". Welton Jones
Welton Jones
Welton Jones was for 35 years a theater critic and critic-at-large for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He retired in 2001.Jones is on the board of directors of the Save Our Heritage Organisation , which is a non-profit devoted to preservation in San Diego.-References:...
wrote in The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
that Chess "has one of the richest, most exciting scores heard on Broadway in years ... Sadly, the music has been encumbered with an overwritten book and an uninspired staging ... Truly, this is a score to be treasured, held ransom by a questionable book and production".
All critics agreed, though, on the three leading performances by Judy Kuhn
Judy Kuhn
-Life and career:Kuhn was born in New York City and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.She entered Oberlin College in 1976. Although she was very interested in singing and theater, she began Oberlin in the College, not the Conservatory. After taking...
, David Carroll
David Carroll (actor)
David Carroll , sometimes billed as David James Carroll, was an American actor whose last, and best remembered, role was that of Baron Felix von Gaigern in Grand Hotel: The Musical....
and Philip Casnoff
Philip Casnoff
Philip Casnoff is a Golden Globe Award nominated, Theater World Award winning, American actor, known for his roles in TV series and on Broadway.- Theatre :...
. They were showered with praise — "splendid and gallant" (Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
), "powerful singers" (The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
), "remarkably fine" (New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
) — especially Kuhn, whose performance Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called a "show's chief pleasure".
Benny Andersson commented on the negative Broadway reviews: "I really don't know why they don't like it ... I do know that most of the audiences so far stand up and cheer for everyone at the end. They appear to get emotionally involved with the show, and they really like it" (Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, May 4, 1988).
Plot
The American version has different settings and a completely different Act 2 from the West End, London version. In particular, the entire show is about one chess match, not two. Act 1 involves the first part of the match, which is held in Bangkok, Thailand, while Act 2 handles the conclusion, and is set in Budapest, Hungary. Also, the incumbent champion is switched in the American version (that is, Anatoly Sergievsky rather than Freddie Trumper) as is the winner of the final Sergievsky-Trumper match (i.e. Trumper rather than Sergievsky).Act 1
In 1956, a Hungarian revolutionary, Gregor Vassy, calmly explains to his daughter Florence the history of chess, before the two are separated in the midst of a violent rebellion in Budapest ("Prologue" / "The Story of Chess"). Decades later at a press conference, a brash American chess player, Freddie Trumper, relishes the crowd's affection in Bangkok ("Press Conference"), while the current world champion, a young Russian named Anatoly Sergievsky, and his second, Molokov (a KGB agent), watch with curiosity and disdain ("Where I Want to Be"). During the match ("Chess"), Freddie accuses Anatoly of receiving outside help via the flavor of yogurt he is eating, and Freddie storms out, leaving his second, Florence (now an émigréÉmigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
e in the U.S. who escaped Hungary during the 1956 uprisings) in an argument with The Arbiter and the Russians. Florence later scolds Freddie, but he insists that she should unwaveringly support him ("You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?").
Freddie, supposed to attend a meeting with Florence and Antoly to smooth things over, is sidetracked by the nightlife ("One Night in Bangkok") and shows up late, stumbling upon the scene of Anatoly and Florence who—having waited a while for Freddie's arrival—quickly developed feelings for one another and are now holding hands ("Terrace Duet"). When Freddie accuses Florence of conspiring against him, she decides to leave him ("Florence Quits" / "Nobody's Side"). As the match continues, Freddie, distracted by his developing personal problems, flounders, finishing the first act with 1 win and 5 losses; one more loss will cost him the match. Anatoly surprises everyone by suddenly defecting from the Soviet Union. Answering reporters' questions about his loyalties, he declares that national borders do not matter to him as much as the borders around his heart, i.e. his new-found love for Florence ("Anthem").
Act 2
Eight weeks later, everyone is in BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
to witness the conclusion of the match ("The Arbiter" / "Hungarian Folk Song"). Florence is elated to be back in her hometown of Budapest, but dismayed that she remembers none of it ("Heaven Help My Heart"). The scheming Molokov offers to help her find her missing father and starts "investigating" the fate of Florence's father. The plot quickly spins into political intrigue involving the Russians' attempts to get Anatoly back ("No Contest"); even Svetlana, Anatoly's estranged wife, has been flown into Budapest to pressure him to return to the Soviet Union. These threats strain Anatoly's relationship with Florence ("You and I"), and she shares her woes with Svetlana ("I Know Him So Well"). The boot is on the other foot, and the stress of personal problems now impedes Anatoly's ability to play chess, so that Freddie starts winning games until they are tied 5–5. Molokov brings Florence to see a man claiming to be her father ("Lullaby"), and implies that harm will come to the man if Florence remains with Anatoly.
During the final game Anatoly realizes that despite all the harm he has brought with his defection, he cannot hurt his true love, Florence, by depriving her of her father. He chooses to recant his defection and makes a tactical error during the game. Freddie immediately takes advantage of the blunder and proceeds to win the game and the match, becoming the new world champion ("Endgame"). Anatoly returns to Russia a broken man.
Florence is waiting for her father so they can leave for America when she is approached by a stranger who introduces himself as Walter. He confesses to her that the old man is not her father and her father is most likely dead. It seems that the Soviets struck a deal with Walter, a secret CIA agent, that if they managed to get Anatoly back, they would release a captured American spy. Their initial attempts at getting Anatoly back by using Svetlana and other family members had failed, and they had finally succeeded by using Florence. As the curtain closes, Florence has left Freddie, been lost by Anatoly, and lost the father she never had, and she realizes, like Anatoly, that love is all that matters ("Anthem – Reprise").
Songs
Act 1- "Prologue"
- "The Story of Chess"
- "Press Conference" ‡
- "Where I Want to Be"
- "How Many Women"
- "Merchandisers" ‡
- "U.S. vs U.S.S.R." ‡
- "Chess Hymn" †
- "Chess" ‡
- "Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)"
- "You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?"
- "Someone Else's Story"
- "One Night in Bangkok"
- "Terrace Duet"
- "Florence Quits" ‡
- "Nobody's Side"
- "Anthem"
Act 2
- "The Arbiter" ‡
- "Hungarian Folk Song"
- "Heaven Help My Heart"
- "No Contest"
- "You and I"
- "A Whole New Board Game" ‡
- "Let's Work Together" ‡
- "I Know Him So Well"
- "Pity the Child"
- "Lullaby"
- "Endgame"
- "You and I (Reprise)"
- "Anthem (Reprise)"‡
† Song appears on album, but was deleted from production and is not found in the script licenced for production.
‡ Song featured in the Broadway production, but was unrecorded for the cast album.
Original cast
- Freddie – Philip CasnoffPhilip CasnoffPhilip Casnoff is a Golden Globe Award nominated, Theater World Award winning, American actor, known for his roles in TV series and on Broadway.- Theatre :...
- Florence – Judy KuhnJudy Kuhn-Life and career:Kuhn was born in New York City and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.She entered Oberlin College in 1976. Although she was very interested in singing and theater, she began Oberlin in the College, not the Conservatory. After taking...
- Anatoly – David CarrollDavid Carroll (actor)David Carroll , sometimes billed as David James Carroll, was an American actor whose last, and best remembered, role was that of Baron Felix von Gaigern in Grand Hotel: The Musical....
- Molokov – Harry GozHarry GozHarry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...
- Walter – Dennis Parlato
- Arbiter – Paul Harman
- Svetlana – Marcia Mitzman
- Gregor Vassy – Neal Ben-Ari
- Young Florence – Gina Gallagher
- Nikolai – Kurt Jones
- Joe, Harold (Embassy officials) – Richard Muenz, Eric Johnson
- Ben – Kip Niven
Miscellaneous performances (1989–1990)
A few months after the show closed on Broadway, in January 1989, the concert version was performed in Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
by the original cast in a sold-out benefit performance. In September of that year, Judy Kuhn joined forces with two main principals from the West End production (Körberg and Head) in Skellefteå
Skellefteå
-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....
, Sweden, where they performed in two concert presentations of the musical during finals of the 1989 chess World Cup tournament.
Chess was now a mixed success, combining the popularity of a smash hit album and the problems of a critically derided script — in other words, fertile ground for those seeking to "get it right," even though historical conditions and the fall of the Soviet Union severely compromised the timeliness of the story. The first major attempt at a revival was the American tour, which ran from January to July 1990. This tour, which starred Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello is an American actress best known for her performances in Broadway musicals.She made her Broadway debut in a small role in City of Angels...
, John Herrera, and Stephen Bogardus
Stephen Bogardus
-Biography:Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Bogardus graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1972 and Princeton University in 1976, where he was a member of the Princeton Nassoons and the Princeton Triangle Club.-Career:...
, was staged by Des McAnuff
Des McAnuff
Desmond McAnuff is the Canadian-American artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.-Biography:...
, who was brought in at the eleventh hour when Trevor Nunn declined to be involved. Robert Coe, the playwright who worked with McAnuff on revising the show, restored most of the original song order from the West End version and deleted the new songs written for the Broadway version, but had only four weeks to complete a complex rewrite. (The performing editions in the United States retain Nelson’s book.) The seven-month-long tour was not a major success, but it did garner some positive reviews. A tour in the United Kingdom, starring Rebecca Storm
Rebecca Storm
Rebecca Storm is a British singer and musical theatre actress, born in Shipley in West Yorkshire, England. She is most notable for her various performances in stage musicals and for her 1985 hit single "The Show", which was the theme to the ITV television series Connie.-Personal life:Storm lives...
and mostly based on the London production, was a smash. Also in 1990 was the production at the Marriott Theatre
Marriott Theatre
The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, USA is a respected Chicago area regional theatre. Attached to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, the theatre produces an average of five musicals each year, presented in the round, as well as productions aimed at younger audiences...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, Illinois, near Chicago. Directed by David H. Bell and starring Susie McMonagle, David Studwell and Kim Strauss
Kim Strauss
Kim Strauss is an American singer, songwriter, actor, voiceover artist, and Amazon.com Bestselling author with his children's book Kalan the Mighty Warrior: Book One - Braxus the Owl: Guardian of the Forest.-History:...
, it featured another reworking of the Nelson script. Bell's version has been performed in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
and Atlanta as well.
Chess was, even in 1990, trying to keep itself modern; the ending of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was noted in all new versions of the show. Once the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
fell, the modernization attempts died out, and the clock was set back: Tim Rice's 1990 rewrite that played a brief run off Broadway went all the way back to 1972. The Chess mania that had begun in the U.K. more or less died down to a string of occasional productions of the Broadway and West End versions for the next decade.
Sydney, Australia (1990)
Tim Rice was involved in a 1990 production in Sydney, Australia, where Jim SharmanJim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
directed a total rewrite done primarily by Rice. It starred Jodie Gillies, David McLeod, and Robbie Krupski, with the action shifted to an international hotel in Bangkok during the chess championships, and was a critical and popular success. A later Australian production opened at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in 1997, with Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson
Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...
taking the lead role of Florence (not Svetlana, as she had sung on the original studio cast album). Co-stars included Derek Metzger and Daryl Braithwaite.
In July 1990, this completely new version of Chess premièred in Sydney, Australia, performed at the MLC Centre
MLC Centre
The MLC Centre is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. This office building is 228 metres high and has 60 storeys. Occupants include the Sydney Consulate of the United States of America. The podium of the building includes a shopping centre with several exclusive fashion labels and a 1,186 seat...
's Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Sydney
The Theatre Royal in Sydney is Australia's oldest theatrical institution. Sydney's original Theatre Royal was built in 1827 behind the Royal Hotel, but burned to the ground in 1840. The name was dormant for 35 years until 1875 when a new Theatre Royal was built in the location where the current...
. This version was spearheaded by Tim Rice, who brought in parts from each of the previous versions, as well as what had been his original conception for the Broadway version. The production was directed by Jim Sharman
Jim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
. No cast recording was made of this version.
The Sydney version further streamlined the plot, having both acts take place at a single chess match in a single city (Bangkok). This version takes place in the late 1980s. Florence's nationality was changed from Hungarian to Czech, which changed the year that the Soviets overran her country from 1956 to 1968 (with an accompanying change in the lyrics of "Nobody's Side" from "Budapest is falling" to "Prague and Mr. Dubček
Alexander Dubcek
Alexander Dubček , also known as Dikita, was a Slovak politician and briefly leader of Czechoslovakia , famous for his attempt to reform the communist regime during the Prague Spring...
"). As in the London version, in this version Anatoly defects from the Soviet Union, wins the match, then decides to return to the Soviet Union at the end, leading to the possibility that Florence's father, if he is still alive, will be released from prison.
Many of the numbers were lengthened considerably from London, with an extended "One Night in Bangkok" near the top of the show. "Heaven Help My Heart" ended the first act, with "Anthem" and "Someone Else's Story" (sung by Svetlana with new lyrics) in the second. "The Soviet Machine" and "The Deal" were also extended considerably.
Cast
- Freddie – David McLeod
- Florence – Jodie Gillies
- Anatoly – Robbie Krupski
- Molokov – John WoodJohn Wood (Australian actor)John Wood is a Gold Logie Award-winning Australian actor, best known for his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the Seven Network's long running police drama Blue Heelers.-TV career:...
- Walter – David WhitneyDavid WhitneyDavid Whitney was an American art curator, collector, gallerist and critic. He led a very private life and was not well known outside the art world, even though he participated naked in the 1965 Claes Oldenburg happening Washes...
- The Arbiter – Laurence Clifford
- Svetlana – Maria MercedesMaria Mercedes (actor)Maria Mercedes is an Australian actress who has many credits in television, movies, and theatre.Mercedes has had starring roles in the television comedy/variety series Greeks on the Roof as Poppy, the mother of Effie, and in the comedy series Kick as Dora Mavros...
Songs
Act 1- “The Story of Chess” — Ensemble
- “Introductions” — All
- “One Night in Bangkok” — Freddie and Anatoly
- “Tournament Song” — Ensemble
- “The Arbiter’s Song” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “U.S. vs. U.S.S.R.” — Molokov, Anatoly, and Ensemble
- “The Merchandisers' Song” — Ensemble
- “Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)” — Molokov, Florence, The Arbiter and Anatoly
- “Tournament Song (Reprise)” — Ensemble
- “Argument” / “Nobody's Side” — Florence and Freddie / Florence and Ensemble
- “Where I Want to Be” — Anatoly
- “Cocktail Chorus” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “Terrace Duet” — Florence and Anatoly
- “No Contest” — Freddie and Anatoly
- “Florence Quits” — Florence and Freddie
- “Heaven Help My Heart” / “One Night in Bangkok (Reprise)” — Florence, Anatoly and Freddie / Ensemble
Act 2
- “Prelude” — Ensemble
- “Embassy Lament” — Civil Servants
- “You and I” — Anatoly and Svetlana
- “Anthem” — Anatoly and Ensemble
- “Someone Else's Story” / “You and I (Reprise)” — Svetlana / Anatoly and Florence
- “Attempted Reconciliation” — Florence and Freddie
- “Pity the Child” — Freddie
- “The Soviet Machine” — Molokov and Ensemble
- “The Deal #1” — The Arbiter, Molokov, Walter, Svetlana, Florence
- “Let’s Work Together”— Walter and Anatoly
- “The Deal #2” — Molokov, Florence, Walter, Freddie, Anatoly and The Arbiter
- “I Know Him So Well” — Florence and Svetlana
- “Endgame / Departure” — Ensemble, Molokov, Freddie, Florence, Anatoly and Svetlana
- “You and I: Finale” — Florence, Anatoly and Ensemble
Chess in Concert: Gothenburg, Sweden (1994)
This is an audio recording of a concert performance (not a full stage production) at Eriksbergshallen in GothenburgGothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden in 1994. The songs and lyrics are largely identical to the original album, with the addition of "Someone Else's Story" from the Broadway version and "The Soviet Machine" from the West End version. Notable principal cast members included Anders Glenmark
Anders Glenmark
Anders Glenmark is a Swedish pop and rock singer, as well as one of Sweden's most successful music producers and song writers. He is the brother of singer Karin Glenmark and nephew of band leader Bruno Glenmark. Among the artists he's written and produced for are Eva Dahlgren, Orup, Ted Gärdestad...
as Freddie, Karin Glenmark
Karin Glenmark
Karin Glenmark, born 8 April 1952, is a Swedish pop and rock singer. She is the niece to Bruno Glenmark and sister to Anders Glenmark. Together with Anders, she is a part of the siblings duo Gemini, and together with uncle Bruno and his wife Ann-Louise Hanson, they formed the group Glenmarks.She...
as Florence and Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
as Anatoly.
Miscellaneous performances (1995–1996)
In 1995, the Los Angeles production of Chess at Hollywood's Hudson Theater starring Marcia Mitzman (who played Svetlana in the original Broadway production) as Florence and Sean Smith as Anatoly received critical praise. For their performances both Mitzman and Smith won an Ovation Award and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle AwardLos Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards is an annual awards program presented by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle . Established in 1969, the awards recognize excellence in theatre in the Greater Los Angeles Area....
.
Chess was once again revived in the U.K. for a nationwide tour in 1996. The cast included Jacqui Scott, and Tim Rice was involved in some re-ordering of the piece. Notably having the show's finale as the song "Nobody's Side".
Danish tour and Complete Cast Album (2001)
In late 2001, an English-language Danish tour was created starring a largely British cast, directed by Craig Revel HorwoodCraig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
. A two-CD album of the tour was released, entitled Chess: Complete Cast Album, becoming the first recording to feature the complete songs of the West End version of the musical (with the addition of the Broadway version's "Someone Else's Story," given to Svetlana in Act 2). The tour also followed the West End version of the musical in plot as well as score (minus small portions of underscoring); however, this was pulled from circulation, to be replaced with a much shorter, trimmed-down version closer to the original concept album. Zubin Varla
Zubin Varla
Zubin Varla is a British actor and singer. He played the role of Judas in the 1996 West End revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, alongside Steve Balsamo , Joanna Ampil , and David Burt...
played Freddie, Stig Rossen played Anatoly, Emma Kershaw played Florence, and Michael Cormick played The Arbiter.
Stockholm, Sweden (2002)
Jan Mark
Jan Mark was a British author, best known as a writer for children. She was christened Janet Marjorie Brisland in Welwyn Garden City in 1943 and was raised and educated in Kent. She was a secondary school teacher between 1965 and 1971, and became a full-time writer in 1974. She wrote over fifty...
, it attempted to streamline the story back to its original form and eliminate the aspects of political potboiler
Potboiler
Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses . Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers...
that had come to define the show. Featuring new musical numbers (Svetlana's "Han är en man, han är ett barn" ("He is a man, he is a child") and Molokov's "Glöm mig om du kan" ("Forget me if you can" from the demo song "When The Waves Roll Out to Sea") and focusing on material from the concept album, the Stockholm version was a drastic rewrite. Notable cast members included Helen Sjöholm
Helen Sjöholm
Marie Helen Sjöholm is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Swedish conductor Kjell Lönnå...
as Florence, Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
as Anatolij and Anders Ekborg
Anders Ekborg
Anders Ekborg is a Swedish actor and singer who has performed the roles of Karl Oskar in Kristina från Duvemåla and Freddie Trumper in Chess, two musicals that were written by former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus...
as Freddie. It was filmed for Swedish television, and has been released on a Swedish-language DVD.
The Stockholm production was nominated for eight national Swedish Theatre Awards Guldmasken
Guldmasken
Guldmasken , or Guldmasken Awards, is the Swedish equivalent of the Tony Awards, established in 1987.The theatre award is annually handed out for private theatre productions in Swedish theatres.-Categories:...
and won six of them, including Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Helen Sjöholm), Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Tommy Körberg), and Best Stage Design (Robin Wagner). The Original Swedish Cast CD "Chess På Svenska" peaked at number 2 on the Swedish album chart.
Cast
- Florence Vaszi – Helen SjöholmHelen SjöholmMarie Helen Sjöholm is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Swedish conductor Kjell Lönnå...
- Anatolij Sergievskij – Tommy KörbergTommy KörbergBert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
- Freddie Trumper – Anders EkborgAnders EkborgAnders Ekborg is a Swedish actor and singer who has performed the roles of Karl Oskar in Kristina från Duvemåla and Freddie Trumper in Chess, two musicals that were written by former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus...
- Svetlana Sergievskaja – Josefin NilssonJosefin NilssonJosefin Nilsson is a Swedish singer and actress.Her debut album titled Shapes was released on 23 March 1993. The music and lyrics were written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus...
- Domaren (The Arbiter) – Rolf Skoglund
- Molokov – Per Myrberg
Actors Fund of America Benefit Concert, U.S. (2003)
Presented on September 22, 2003 in the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway. It was produced without set or costume changes, and with the orchestra onstage. The show was a combination of both the Broadway and London versions, mostly following the London version with regard to music but the Broadway version in terms of the plot, though the Broadway subplot with Florence's father is absent; also, Act 1 takes place in Merano and Act 2 takes place in Bangkok, like in the London version. The show, which was recorded, was directed by Peter Flynn, choreographed by Christopher GattelliChristopher Gattelli
Christopher Gattelli is a choreographer, performer, and director for the theatre. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography for South Pacific and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Choreography for Altar Boyz. He won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreograper for...
and musical directed by conductor Seth Rudetsky
Seth Rudetsky
Seth Rudetsky is an American musician, actor, writer, and radio host. He currently is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's...
. Notable cast members included Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
as Anatoly, Julia Murney
Julia Murney
Julia Kathleen Murney is an American actress, singer and theatre performer, primarily featured in theatre and television commercial voice-overs. Until 2005, she was commonly known as the Broadway actress who had technically never appeared on Broadway...
as Florence, Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal is an American actor and singer known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway 1996, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009...
as Freddie, Raúl Esparza
Raúl Esparza
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American stage actor, singer, and voice artist noted for his award winning performances in Broadway shows...
as The Arbiter, Sutton Foster
Sutton Foster
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer and dancer. Foster has received two Tony Awards, in 2002 for her role of Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie and in 2011 for her role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes...
as Svetlana and Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway as well as in regional theatre.-Life:Lewis was born in Tallahassee, Florida and grew up in Eatonville, Florida...
as Molokov.
Multimedia concert, Los Angeles, U.S. (2007)
Presented September 17, 2007 at the Ford Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, California. Mixture of London and Broadway versions. The cast included Susan EganSusan Egan
Susan Egan is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage.-Early life and career:Egan was born in Seal Beach, California. She attended Orange County High School of the Arts and UCLA. In the meantime she started her career touring with the performance group The Young...
(as Svetlana), Kevin Earley
Kevin Earley
Kevin Earley is an American stage, film, and television actor.Kevin Earley was trained at the Webster Conservatory in St. Louis, Missouri where he earned his B.F.A...
(as Anatoly), Ty Taylor
Ty Taylor
Ty Taylor is an American musician best known for being the guitarist and vocalist of R&B group Dakota Moon and was also a contestant on the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS. He is currently the lead singer and guitarist for Los Angeles based Soul/Rock band, Vintage Trouble...
(as Freddie), Cindy Robinson
Cindy Robinson
Cindy Robinson is an American stage actress and voice actress. Cindy has performed on Broadway as Hannah Bentley and covering Julie Jordan in Carousel; Wendy and covering Peter Pan in Peter Pan; Snow White, while covering Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella in Into the Woods.She is...
(as Florence), Thomas Griffith
Thomas Griffith
Thomas, Tom or Tommy Griffith may refer to:*Thomas B. Griffith , American judge*Tom Griffith, American television presenter*Tommy Griffith , American baseball player-See also:*Thomas Griffiths...
(as Molokov), Tom Schmidt (as Walter) and Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
(as The Arbiter), with the ensemble, choir and 27 piece orchestra on stage. The concert was directed by Brian Michael Purcell, choreographed by A. C. Ciulla, with musical direction by Dan Redfeld. A portion of the proceeds went to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Chess in Concert: Royal Albert Hall, U.K. (2008)
On the 12 and 13 May 2008, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
produced a concert version of Chess together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, involving two performances at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. This version, comprising almost no dialogue or set, but otherwise following the West End version in plot and music, was recorded for release as a 2-CD cast album and DVD. It was also broadcast on American PBS channels in June 2009. Tim Rice stated in the concert's programme that this version of Chess is the "official version," after years of different plot and song combinations. Though the plot and score is entirely based on that of the West End production, this version also adds in two Broadways songs: "Prologue" and "Someone Else's Story."
The audio recording contains most of the material from the concert except a few lines of dialogue (present on the DVD); it also mislabels and misorders a few songs, such as "Florence and Molokov" for "The American and Florence." The DVD also includes an opening speech given by Tim Rice introducing the cast, which is omitted from the CD.
Cast
- Frederick Trumper – Adam PascalAdam PascalAdam Pascal is an American actor and singer known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original cast of Jonathan Larson's musical Rent on Broadway 1996, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the Broadway Tour of Rent in 2009...
- Florence Vassy – Idina MenzelIdina MenzelIdina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is widely known for originating the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked.-Early life:...
- Anatoly Sergievsky – Josh GrobanJosh GrobanJoshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
- Svetlana Sergievsky – Kerry EllisKerry EllisKerry Jane Ellis is an English stage actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music...
- The Arbiter – Marti PellowMarti PellowMarti Pellow has been the lead singer of the Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet since their formation in 1982. He has also recorded solo material.-Early life:...
- Alexander Molokov – David BedellaDavid BedellaDavid Bedella is an American TV and musical stage actor, perhaps best known for his Olivier award winning role in the controversial Jerry Springer - The Opera...
- Walter de Courcey – Clarke PetersClarke PetersClarke Peters is an American actor, singer, writer and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon on the HBO drama The Wire.-Early life:...
- Civil Servants (in "Embassy Lament") – CantabileCantabile (group)Cantabile - The London Quartet is a British a cappella vocal quartet.-Biography:They were formed as a student group whilst studying at Cambridge University in 1977...
Song List
Act 1- “Prologue” — Instrumental
- “The Story of Chess” — The Arbiter and Ensemble
- “Merano” / “What a Scene! What a Joy!” / “Merano (Reprise)” — Mayor, Ensemble, Chorus, Freddie, and Florence
- “Commie Newspapers” — Freddie and Florence
- “Press Conference” — Freddie, Florence, and Reporters
- “Molokov and Anatoly” — Molokov and Anatoly
- “Where I Want to Be” — Anatoly and Ensemble
- “Difficult and Dangerous Times” — Florence, Molokov, Walter, and Ensemble
- “The Arbiter” — The Arbiter and Chorus
- “Hymn to Chess” — Ensemble and Chorus
- “The Merchandisers” — Ensemble and Chorus
- “Global TV Fanfare” — Instrumental
- “Chess Game #1” — Instrumental
- “The Arbiter (Reprise)” — The Arbiter and Chorus
- “Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)” — Molokov, Florence, The Arbiter, and Anatoly
- “Florence and Molokov” (mistakenly named) — Florence and Freddie
- “1956 – Budapest is Rising” — Ensemble, Freddie and Florence
- “Nobody's Side” — Florence and Ensemble
- “Mountain Duet” — Florence, Anatoly, and Freddie
- “Chess Game #2” — Instrumental
- “Florence Quits” — Freddie and Florence
- “Pity the Child #1” — Freddie
- “Embassy Lament” — Civil Servants
- “Heaven Help My Heart” — Florence
- “Anatoly and the Press” — Anatoly and Reporters
- “Anthem” — Anatoly, Ensemble, and Chorus
Act 2
- “Golden Bangkok” — Instrumental
- “One Night in Bangkok” — Freddie and Ensemble
- “One More Opponent” — Anatoly and Florence
- “You and I” — Anatoly and Florence
- “The Soviet Machine” — Molokov and Ensemble
- “The Interview” — Walter, Freddie, and Anatoly
- “Someone Else's Story” — Svetlana
- “The Deal” — The Arbiter, Molokov, Svetlana, Walter, Florence, Freddie, Anatoly, and Ensemble
- “Pity the Child #2” — Freddie
- I Know Him So Well” — Florence and Svetlana
- “Talking Chess” — Anatoly and Freddie
- “Endgame #1” — Chorus
- “Endgame #2” — Molokov, Freddie, Florence, and Ensemble
- “Endgame #3” — Anatoly, Svetlana, Florence, and Ensemble
- “You and I (Reprise)” — Florence and Anatoly
- “Walter and Florence” — Walter and Florence
- “Anthem (Reprise)” — Florence, Anatoly, and Company
Budapest, Hungary (2010)
The third Hungarian production of Chess opened on 7 and 8 August 2010, in the open-air theatre of Margaret Island, Budapest, by the crew of the famous Hungarian premiere of Dance of the VampiresDance of the Vampires
Dance of the Vampires is a musical remake of a 1967 Roman Polanski film of the same name . Polanski also directed the original German production of this musical...
. The cast includes Géza Egyházi as Anatoly, Éva Sári as Florence, János Szemenyei as Freddie and Tímea Kecskés as Svetlana. This concert production closely follows the script of the Royal Albert Hall production of 2008 (though the songs "Hymn of Chess," "The Merchandisers," "The Arbiter (Reprise)," and "Talking Chess" were cut). After two performances on August 7 and 8, the production moved into an indoors theatre, the Magyar Színház, in October. It was produced by PS Produkció and directed by Cornelius Baltus. The Hungarian lyrics were written by Ágnes Romhányi, the choreographer was Karen Bruce
Karen Bruce
Karen Bruce is an actor, dancer, director and choreographer.Karen is currently working on STRICTLY COME DANCING 2011, having choreographed on the second series of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE for the BBC. Karen won an Olivier Award for her Choreography of Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse...
, and the stage and costume design were created by Kentaur.
Arlington, Virginia, U.S (2010)
The first major American revival of Chess since 1993 opened at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia(a suburb of Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) on August 8, 2010 and ran until October 3, 2010. The musical followed the story of the original Broadway version of the show, though it streamlined the book and reordered some of the songs. This production was produced by The Signature Theater Group and directed by Eric Schaeffer. The cast included Jeremy Kushnier
Jeremy Kushnier
Jeremy Kushnier is a stage actor and songwriter.- Overview :Kushnier is most well known for his role in the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys in the role of Tommy Devito and was one of the "Top 10 Great Chicago Performances of 2007". He starred in the Chicago cast, and then opened the Vegas...
as Freddie, Euan Morton
Euan Morton
Euan Douglas George Morton is an actor and singer. He is known for his role as Boy George in the musical Taboo, receiving nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award for his performance....
as Anatoly, and Jill Paice
Jill Paice
Jill Paice is an American Broadway and theatre actress. Paice attended Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio, graduating in 1998. She then attended Baldwin-Wallace College, graduating with a bachelor of music in 2002...
as Florence.
U.K. tour (2010–2011)
A production directed by Craig Revel HorwoodCraig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
had a 10 month run around the U.K. and Ireland. It was an actor-musician production, with 25 out of the 30 cast members playing instruments. The cast included Daniel Koek as the Russian, James Fox
James Fox (singer)
James Fox, real name . is a pop music singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist. He represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul...
as the American, Shona White as Florence Vassey, Poppy Tierney as Svetlana, Steve Varnom as Molokov, James Graeme
James Graeme
James Graeme is a British actor and singer who trained at the Royal Manchester College of Music.In the West End, Graeme has appeared as the title character in The Phantom of the Opera, created the role of Boone in Whistle Down the Wind, and portrayed Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar...
as Walter and David Erik as The Arbiter.
Changes to the songs include the removal of "Merano" and "Walter and Florence".
The tour started with previews on 27 August in Newcastle, then continues on to Northampton, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Salford, Cardiff, Bradford, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Plymouth, Dublin, Glasgow and ended at Politeama Rossetti
Politeama Rossetti
Politeama Rossetti is an Italian theatre situated in the city of Trieste. With over 60 shows scheduled each season, running from October to June, its stage shows include plays, musicals, ballet, dance and rock concerts....
, in Trieste, Italy. The creative team included Tony Award winning orchestrator Sarah Travis
Sarah Travis
Sarah Travis is a British orchestrator and musical supervisor for theatre and film. She received the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for the 2005 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.-Career:...
and set designer Christopher Woods.
On 8 February 2011, Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions
Mirvish Productions is a Canadian based theatrical production company and promoter.The company was founded in 1987 by David Mirvish, son of Toronto retailing icon and owner of the Royal Alexandra Theatre Ed Mirvish....
announced a Toronto run of the U.K. touring production arriving in September 2011. The Toronto run follows the end of the U.K. tour.
Aberystwyth, U.K. (2011)
A production of Chess, directed and choreographed by Anthony Williams, was produced by the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in the summer of 2011. The creative team for the production included musical director Michael Morwood, set designer Alison Allen, and sound designer Martyn J Hunt. The cast included Tom Solomon as Anatoly Sergievsky, Tim Rogers as Freddie Trumper, Julie Stark as Florence Vassey, Lori Haley Fox as Svetlana, James Dinsmore as Molokov, Stephen McCarthy as Walter and Leighton Rafferty as The Arbiter. It played from 21 July to 27 August, 2011.Bielefeld, Germany (2011-2012)
A German version of Chess (with the songs performed in English) was produced by the Theater Bielefeld (Municipal Theatre BielefeldBielefeld Opera
The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a Dreisparten Haus , offering plays, music , and ballet...
) in Bielefeld, Germany
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
for their 2011/2012 season. The production was directed by Kay Kuntze and choreographed by Götz Hellriegel. It opened on September 25, 2011 and is planned to run until April 21, 2012. The creative team included musical director William Ward Murta and set and costume designer Duncan Hayler. The cast included Alex Melcher as Frederick Trumper, Veit Schäfermeier as Anatoly Sergievsky, Roberta Valentini as Florence Vassy, Karin Seyfried as Svetlana Sergievsky, Jens Janke as The Arbiter, Frank Bahrenberg as Alexander Molokov and Michael Pflumm as Walter de Courcey.
Main characters
| Character | Voice Type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
Description |
| Frederick "Freddie" Trumper | Tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
"The American": The United States' champion—a self-absorbed, fame-and-fortune-seeking, short-tempered, Russophobic bad boy Bad boy (archetype) The bad boy, cad or bounder is a cultural archetype of a male who behaves badly, especially towards women.Being a promiscuous rogue may be as successful a reproductive strategy as the strategy of being a reliable provider. Evolutionary psychologist Professor Bill von Hippel claims that women are... . As the show goes on he matures and realises his position can help Florence and Anatoly. |
| Anatoly Sergievsky | Baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... /Tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
"The Russian": The Soviet Union's champion—a troubled father and husband who despises the propaganda and politics of the tournament, eventually deciding to defect from his homeland, even at the cost of deserting his family. |
| Florence Vassy | Mezzo-Soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... or Belter Belt (music) Belting refers to a specific technique of singing by which a singer produces a loud sound in the upper middle of the pitch range. It is often described as a vocal register although some dispute this since technically the larynx is not oscillating in a unique way... |
Freddie's strong-willed Hungarian-born English second, who was separated in Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... from her presumably captured father during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, having now no further knowledge of his whereabouts. She feels strained by Freddie's brashness and develops a sexually-tinged fascination for Anatoly, eventually becoming his mistress. |
| The Arbiter | Tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
The coldly objective, no-nonsense referee Referee A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport... of the championship tournament. |
| Molokov | Bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... or Bass-Baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende... |
Anatoly's second who is also, in fact, a manipulative KGB KGB The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the... agent. In the West End version his first name is mentioned as Alexander; in the Broadway and Sydney versions, it is Ivan. |
| Walter de Courcey | Bass-Baritone | A media personality of the tournament and a secret CIA agent. His surname is sometimes spelled "de Courcy." |
| Svetlana Sergievsky | Mezzo-Soprano or Belter | Anatoly's estranged wife who is manipulated by Molokov to persuade Anatoly to return to his homeland. Although upset at Anatoly's betrayal, she also understands that Florence has given Anatoly something she cannot herself. In Russian, her surname is stylized as the feminine "Sergievskaya." |
Differences among the major versions
| Version | Notable plot points/variations | Notable song additions/omissions | Commercial recordings | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original concept (1984) | Act 1 is set in Merano, Italy; Act 2 in Bangkok, Thailand. Lacks a fully articulated plot. | Chess (1984), the original concept album or recording; Chess Pieces (1986), the original album's Swedish "best of" compilation Greatest hits A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band... ; Chess: The Concert Tour (1984); and Chess in Concert (1996), the Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... concert cast recording Cast recording A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast... . |
Only version to include the song "Argument" with that title and as between Florence and Anatoly. The characters known as Freddie and Anatoly in all later versions here known only as The American and The Russian, respectively. The character of Walter, present in all later versions, not yet conceived. | |
| West End production (1986–1989) | Each act presents a separate chess tournament with Act 2 occurring a year after Act 1. Act 1 is set in Merano, Italy; Act 2 in Bangkok, Thailand. During Act 1, Freddie is the champion challenged by Anatoly. Anatoly wins in Act 1. During Act 2, Anatoly is the champion challenged by Viigand, the new Soviet grandmaster after Anatoly's defection. Anatoly wins again in Act 2. | Addition of "Commie Newspapers," "Press Conference," "Florence and Molokov," "Der Kleiner Franz," "Chess #2," "Anatoly and the Press," "One More Opponent," "The Soviet Machine," "The Interview," and "Talking Chess," all absent from the original album. Division of the original album's "Opening Ceremony" into several individual songs: "Dangerous and Difficult Times," "The Arbiter," "Hymn to Chess," "The Merchandisers," and "The Arbiter (Reprise)." | Chess: Complete Cast Album (2001), the Danish tour recording; Chess in Concert (2009), a live recording of the Royal Albert Hall Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941.... concerts (both an audio CD and a DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... of the performances); and Highlights from Chess in Concert (2009), the Royal Albert's corresponding "best of" compilation. |
Only major version to include the character Viigand and the songs "Commie Newspapers," "Der Kleiner Franz," "Anatoly and the Press," and "The Interview." Various songs arranged in the plot differently than on the original album. Minor lyrical alterations and song extensions or reductions throughout, compared to the original album. Renaming of the original album's "The Russian and Molokov" to "Anatoly and Molokov" and "The American and Florence" to "1956 – Budapest is Rising." Molokov's first name mentioned as Alexander. |
| Broadway production (1988) | Both acts present the same chess tournament with Act 1 showing the first half of the tournament and Act 2 the last half. Anatoly is the champion challenged by Freddie. Freddie wins in Act 2. The prologue is set in Budapest, Hungary during the 1956 uprising; Act 1 in Bangkok, Thailand; and Act 2 in Budapest again. Includes a sub-plot in which Walter introduces Florence to a man deceitfully claimed to be her long-lost father. | Addition of "Someone Else's Story," "Hungarian Folk Song," "A Whole New Board Game," "Let's Work Together," and "Lullaby." Omission of the West End's "Merano" sequence, "Commie Newspapers," "Embassy Lament," "The Soviet Machine," "The Interview" sequence, and "Talking Chess." The West End songs "1956 – Budapest is Rising," "Mountain Duet," and "The Deal (No Deal)" are somewhat altered musically and lyrically, and renamed "You Want to Lose Your Only Friend?," "Terrace Duet," and "No Contest," respectively. The original album's "Argument," during Act 2 with Florence and Anatoly, is altered and renamed "How Many Women," now during Act 1 with Florence and Freddie. | Chess: Original Broadway Cast Recording (1988); also the direct inspiration for a karaoke Karaoke is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,... CD by Pocket Songs. |
Only major version to include "Hungarian Folk Song," "A Whole New Board Game" and "Lullaby." Major lyrical alterations and different song orderings in the plot than the West End production. "Chess Hymn" appears on the recorded album for this version, but was deleted from production and is not found in the licenced script. Molokov's first name is Ivan. Florence's father is mentioned by name (Gregor Vassy). Omission of the character Viigand. |
| Sydney production (1990–1991) | Both acts present the same chess tournament in one single setting: Bangkok, Thailand. Many new plot points; most of the beginning occurs at a Bangkok hotel and immediately contrasts the romantic couples Freddie and Florence with Anatoly and Svetlana (the latter never appearing so early on in other versions). Otherwise, the major storyline is similar to the original West End production, though with Freddie playing against Anatoly throughout. In Act 2, Anatoly wins. | Addition of "Cocktail Chorus," "Tournament Song," and "Attempted Reconciliation." Omission of "Chess." Many songs lengthened considerably from past versions, including West End's "The Soviet Machine" and "The Deal," as well as "One Night in Bangkok" (sung by both Freddie and Anatoly), placed near the top of the show and reprised briefly as an Act 2 finale after "Heaven Help My Heart." "Anthem" and "Someone Else's Story" (sung by Svetlana with new lyrics) placed in Act 2. Reintroduction of West End's "Embassy Lament" and inclusion of Broadway's "Terrace Duet," "No Contest," and "Let's Work Together." Original album's "The American and Florence" renamed "Argument" (not related in any way to the song "Argument" from the original album). | None | Only major version to include "Cocktail Chorus," "Tournament Song," and "Attempted Reconciliation." Florence's nationality is changed from Hungarian to Czech, which changes the year that the Soviets overran her country from 1956 to 1968, leading to an alteration in the lyrics of the song "1956 – Budapest is Rising." Omission of Viigand. Molokov's first name is Ivan. |
External links
- icethesite — Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus news site, including West End and Broadway reviews of Chess
- Plot summary & casting breakdown
- Chess the Musical 2010
- Chess musical