Report From New York: Re-Re-Re-Revamped Chess For Existing Fans Of The Score

By Bill Hirschman

 (Once again, Florida Theater On Stage is reviewing current shows playing this winter on and off-Broadway, many of which will be touring locally or mounted by a local company. Today, a review of Chess which currently has no closing set. We already have reviewed Ragtime, Liberation; Oh, Mary; Little Bear Ridge Road, and Beau the Musical.)

The new, improved Broadway musical Chess — based on the earlier new,  improved musical Chess based on the earlier new, improved musical Chess based on the earlier musical Chess based on two concerts of the musical Chess based on the concept album Chess — is indeed new and improved.

Whether that’s enough to get you to buy a ticket to the open-ended run at the Imperial Theatre is solely a question of personal affection for the piece.

The tweaked score remains its consistent selling point, powerfully delivered by Nicholas Christopher as the Russian Anatoly Sergievsky, Aaron Tveit as the American Freddie Trumper, and undeniably by Lea Michele at the top of what she aims for in her game as Florence who first manages one grandmaster then falls in love with the other.

The evolving story depicts knife-sharp egos pulsing in conflict with anger, romance, pride, regret and several other nouns. A high point is Michele’s blistering declaration of discovery, “Nobody’s On Nobody’s Side?”

The production itself on overdrive, to steal from Spinal Tap, is 11 on a scale of 10 in visual staging including color-shifting neon tubes and those hurricane sound amplifiers which make the ABBA vets’ score audible on Ellis Island. The soloists were crystal clear, but any number with the ensemble was mangled garble – except it was deafening.

The three leads are vital even though the characters are frequently depressed. But a special nod is due Bryce Pinkham (of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) in a newly-emphasized character of the sly svelte narrator known as The Arbiter sardonically driving the story and filling in with dry editorial comments.

The real problem remains: In the tradition of overhauls, Tim Rice’s book revamped by Danny Strong (remember the nerdy villain in Buffy the Vampire Slayer?) is a bit better but it remains a muddy plodding quagmire with no one you care for let alone root for. Presented as a look back in history, there are some recent updated dropped-in tongue in cheek jokes including one about Trump.

Veteran director of musicals Michael Mayer and choreographer Lorin Latarro do a just passable job imitating the recently passed Sunset Boulevard moving around 20 ensemble members in lines and patterns in a brightly lit minimalist set with much (but not all) of the orchestra arrayed on stage around in a rising, elevated horseshoe. Mostly, the ensemble in grey business suits parade around under an array of ever-changing colored neon tubes.

If you’ve been living in a AI-free zone, Chess recreates the politics of the Cold War using world championship chess matches as its metaphor. There’s tension about deportations, family stuck behind the Iron Curtain and the two deeply troubled hunks competing for a relationship with Florence. Everyone is neurotic and driven and attacking each other at the vulnerable points they know about each other.

The thrust echoes for those who remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and is a refresher for young people taking History 101. Salt II: look it up.

Rice’s initial idea for a concept album did not interest his Evita colleague Andrew Lloyd Webber.  So he connected with three of ABBA’s members and released the album in 1984. The album succeeded with singles such as “I Know Him So Well” and “One Night in Bangkok” which later begot music videos.

So a stage version was created to play in London’s West End in 1986. That version ran 3 ½ hours. Critics liked the score, but thought the book was a problem.

Next, squabbles among the creative team led to a critically scorched revision that closed on Broadway in 1988 after only 68 regular performances and 17 previews. Since then it has been back in the shop over and over, in part for two stand-alone concerts, one that was recorded with Idina Menzel on disc and film.

Look, some Broadway repeated revamps do finally work such as the 20^th overhaul of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along; others like Sondheim’s Road Show never seem to fly no matter the changes and the title alterations.

Bottom line: If you’ve loved the music, you’ll be ecstatic at the tsunami of sound that ceaselessly envelops you. If you are looking for well-crafted overall theater, your reaction likely will be less enthusiastic.