CHESS is a Tony-nominated musical by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA and EGOT winner Tim Rice. A metaphor for Cold War tensions in the 1980s, the story presents a faceoff in a politically-motivated chess tournament between fictional grandmasters Anatoly Sergievsky of Russia and Freddie Trumper of the United States of America and their tug-of-war for Florence Vassy. CHESS premiered on the West End in 1986, where it received three Olivier Award nominations including Best New Musical, before premiering on Broadway with significant alterations and a new book by Richard Nelson in 1988. The original Broadway production earned Tony nominations for stars David Carroll and Judy Kuhn. In the decades since, CHESS has developed a significant cult following and is set for a starry, highly-anticipated Broadway revival in 2025 starring Tony Award winner Aaron Tveit, stage and screen star Lea Michele and breakout talent Nicholas Christopher (Sweeney Todd, Hamilton). The revival will return to the Imperial Theatre with a new book by Danny Strong. Performances begin October 15, 2025.
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The Broadway star opens up about the new production.
The music is brilliant; the problem with the original was its convoluted, boring story, difficult to follow or care about. The rewrite streamlines the plot, focusing on the the three leads and what their objectives are. Producers were wise to keep focused on the music and the innovations?