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Chess (musical)

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Chess
Concept Album Cover
MusicBenny Andersson
Björn Ulvaeus
LyricsTim Rice
Björn Ulvaeus
BookRichard Nelson
Productions1984 European concert tour
1986 West End
1988 Broadway
1989 Carnegie Hall concert
1989 Skellefteå concert
1990 US Tour
1990 Sydney
1994 Gothenburg concert
1995 Los Angeles
1997 Melbourne
2001 Denmark tour
2002 Stockholm
2003 Broadway concert
2007 Los Angeles
2008 Johannesburg
2008 Cape Town
2008 London concert

Chess is a musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, formerly of ABBA. 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,[1] while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov.[2]

Following the pattern of 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 US 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 ever been attempted either on West End or Broadway.

Chess came seventh in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the United Kingdom's "Number One Essential Musicals."[3]

History

Tim Rice had long wanted to create a musical about the Cold War; in the 1970s he had discussed writing a musical about the Cuban Missile Crisis with his usual collaborator, Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 1979, Rice had the idea to instead tell the story through the prism of the American-Soviet chess rivalry; he had previously been fascinated by the political machinations of the 1972 "Match of the Century" between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.[4] Lloyd Webber was busy at the time with the musical Cats, so American producer Richard Vos suggested working with Andersson and Ulvaeus instead, knowing they were looking for projects outside of ABBA. Rice, who was a fan of ABBA, agreed; he wrote later that he felt no reservations because "there is a sense of theatre in the ABBA style".[5] Rice met with the two for the first time in December 1981 in Stockholm to discuss the concept (Vos was also in attendance), and they quickly signed on to the project. (ABBA stopped performing a year later, about which Rice has joked, "maybe that's my fault".)[6]

All through 1983 Rice, Andersson and Ulvaeus 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, and Rice would then write lyrics to fit the music. Some of the songs on the album contained elements of music Andersson and Ulvaeus previously had written for ABBA: the chorus of "I Know Him So Well", for instance, was based on the chorus of "I Am An A", a song from ABBA's 1977 tour;[7] while the chorus of "Anthem" used the chords of the guitar solo of "Our Last Summer". Ulvaeus would also provide dummy lyrics to emphasize the rhythmic patterns of the music, and some of them ended up in the final version since Rice found them "embarrassingly good" ("One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble" is the most well-known example).[8]. 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";[7] though none of the original lyrics from this song were used.

It was decided to release the music as an album before any stage show was underway, a strategy that had proven successful with Rice's two previous musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. Recording work on the album musical of Chess began in November 1983. The main recording was done at Polar Studios in Stockholm, with orchestral and choir parts recorded in London by the London Symphony Orchestra. Andersson himself played the keyboards. The protagonists, simply called the "American" and the "Russian" for the album, were sung by Murray Head and Tommy Körberg, respectively; the part of Florence, initially the American's second and subsequently the Russian's mistress, was sung by Elaine Paige while the part of Svetlana, the Russian's wife, was sung by Barbara Dickson. The album was sound-engineered and mixed by Michael B. Tretow, who worked with ABBA on all of their recordings.

The resulting album, a double LP, was released worldwide in the fall of 1984. The album's liner notes included a basic synopsis of the story. The music on the album was described by The New York Times in the contemporary review 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". [9] A single from the album, "One Night in Bangkok," performed by Murray Head (in verses) and Anders Glenmark (in chorus) became a worldwide smash, also reaching No.3 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The duet "I Know Him So Well" by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson held the Number One spot on the UK singles charts for 4 weeks and won the Ivor Novello Award as the Best Selling Single ('A' Side). It was later covered by Whitney Houston and her mother Cissy on Whitney's second album Whitney, and by Barbra Streisand on her 1992 "Highlights from Just for the Record".

On 27 October, 1984, the 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 videos 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.

West End

Chess premièred in the Prince Edward Theatre in London on 14 May 1986 and closed on 8 April 1989. It was originally set to be directed by Michael Bennett, but he withdrew for health reasons. He only did so, however, after casting the show and commissioning the expansive set and costume designs. The show was rescued by director Trevor Nunn, who shepherded the show on to its scheduled opening, though with considerable technical difficulty. The three principal singers from the concept album, Elaine Paige, Tommy Körberg and Murray Head reprised their roles on stage. Barbara Dickson declined to appear, and Siobhán McCarthy played the part of Svetlana.

According to set designer Robin Wagner, interviewed in Lynn Pecktal's book Set Design, the original Bennett version was to be a "multimedia" show, with an elaborate tilting floor, banks of television monitors, and other technological touches. Nunn, realizing he could never bring Bennett’s vision to fruition, instead applied his realistic style to the show, although the basics of the mammoth set design were still present in Nunn's show. This included the three videowalls, the main of which featured commentary from chess master William Hartston, along with appearances from BBC newsreaders.

The London version was a massive physical production, with estimated costs up to $12 million. It expanded the storyline of the concept album, adding considerable new recitative, and attracted several West End stars, such as Anthony Head, Grania Renihan, David Burt, and Peter Karrie, during its three year run.

The production won the 1986 London Critics' Theatre Award for Best Musical, and received three 1986 Laurence Olivier Award nominations: Best Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actor (Tommy Körberg) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (Elaine Paige). Notably, in two of these categories (Best Musical and Outstanding Performance by an Actor) Chess lost to The Phantom of the Opera, by Rice's former collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Critical reception

The premiere of the musical provoked an overall mixed to favourable verdict from the critics and, according to Variety Magazine, "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" (The Sunday Times) to The Guardian's conclusion, "A musical is only as good as its book, and here one is confronted by an inchoate mess."

Other newspapers posted raving reviews. The Daily Telegraph wrote that the show "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 intelligent form of life" and Today called it "gripping, eye-catching.. nearly a major triumph". Michael Ratcliffe wrote in Observer that "operetta plot which would have delighted 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 show's "remarkably coherent dramatic shape ... staging of considerable intelligence and invention".

Broadway

After London, the creative team decided that the show had to be reimagined from the top down. Trevor Nunn brought in playwright Richard Nelson to recreate the musical as a straightforward "book show". 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.

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".[10]

Critical reception

Many critics panned the show, most notably Frank Rich 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 "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).

1989 to the present

A few months after the show closed on Broadway, in January 1989, the concert version was performed in Carnegie Hall 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 London 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 separate 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. Tim Rice was involved in a 1990 production in Sydney, Australia, where Jim Sharman 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.

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 modernisation 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 UK more or less died down to a string of occasional productions of the Broadway and London versions for the next decade.

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 Award.

On 12 and 13 May 2008, there were two concert performances at the Royal Albert Hall of a reworked Chess, with further changes to the song list and almost no dialogue; Tim Rice described this in the concert program as the new "official version". Josh Groban, Adam Pascal and Idina Menzel starred in the lead roles of Anatoly, Freddie and Florence respectively. Kerry Ellis also performed as Svetlana. The recording of this concert cast was released on June 16, 2009, as a DVD and 2-CD cast album in the United States and PBS showed the concert on television on June 17 and 18.

There are still touring and regional stagings in various parts of the world, such as the 2006 performance at the outdoor Minack Theatre in Cornwall, and a 4-month tour in early 2008 by the Rolling Stock Theatre Company.

On September 3, 2009 Benny Andersson told London's The Stage newspaper that plans are under way for a major revival of Chess on Broadway, although it has not been officially confirmed.

Musical production details

The concept album

The double album received critical accolades — "dazzling score that covers nearly all the pop bases" (Rolling Stone), "rock symphonic synthesis ripe with sophistication and hummable tunes" (Time), "thrilling exposition of an exciting piece of modern musical theater before the event (Kurt Ganzl's Blackwell Guide to the Musical Theatre on Record) — and was a major commercial success worldwide. It became a Top 10 hit in the UK, 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. The recording also received several prestigious awards, including Germany's Goldene Europa, Dutch Edison Award and the Swedish Rockbjörnen.

Principal cast

The characters "The American" and "The Russian" were given no other names. This was changed when the score was expanded and adapted for the stage.

Songs

London

Plot synopsis

Act I

The head of the International Federation explains the history of the game of chess, as we move to the northern Italian town of Merano, where this year's championships are taking place. As the townsfolk prepare for the occasion, the brash American champion Frederick Trumper arrives with his second, Hungarian-born, British-raised Florence Vassy. In their hotel room, Florence explains to Freddie that the press will portray him badly if he continues with his bad boy attitude, just before he heads off to a press conference where he attacks a journalist who questions his relationship with Florence. His Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky, and Alexander Molokov, his second (actually a KGB agent), watch with curiosity and disdain on TV, before Anatoly laments as to how his life ended up here.

The opening ceremony features an arbiter insisting on holding the proceedings together, US and Soviet diplomats vowing their side will win, and marketers looking to make a buck. During the chess match, Freddie believes that the Russians are tampering with the game and storms off, leaving the chessboard on the floor, and Florence to pick up the pieces with Anatoly, Molokov, and the Arbiter, whereby she agrees to bring Freddie and Anatoly together to sort out their issues. It turns out that Freddie engineered the stunt to get a higher price from the TV company; when Florence finds out, they argue, leading Florence to get angry with Freddie when he brings her father, believed captured by the Russians during the 1956 Budapest uprising, into the argument. She reflects that "nobody's on nobody's side," before heading off to the Merano Mountain Inn for the meeting between the two sides. Freddie doesn't turn up, leaving Anatoly and Florence to eventually embrace, before being interrupted by Freddie, who has been engineering new financial terms.

After the next chess game, Florence leaves Freddie, whereby he laments on how his unhappy childhood left him the man he is today. Florence goes with Anatoly to the British embassy, where he attempts to seek exile in the west, and she reflects on whether it is best to love a stranger. Walter de Courcey, however, has his own plans, and has tipped off the media, who ambush the pair at Merano station. Anatoly tells the awaiting audience that his land's only borders lie around his heart.

Act 2

A year later, the Russian is set to defend his championship in Bangkok, Thailand. Freddie is already there, chatting up locals about the nightlife before taking his place as television presenter for the championship. Florence and the Russian are now lovers, and worry about the situation, especially the impending arrival of his wife, Svetlana, from Russia. Molokov, meanwhile, has trained a new protege, Viigand, to challenge the Russian, meanwhile spying on the opposing pair.

Walter manipulates Freddie into rattling the Russian on live TV, showing him footage of his wife's arrival. She and Florence both reflect on their relationships with him. Molokov blackmails Svetlana into making Anatoly lose the match, whilst de Courcey informs Florence that her father is still alive in Russia, and will be released if Anatoly loses. Neither of these ploys work, so Molokov and de Courcey attempt to get Freddie to convince the pair to throw the match.

But Freddie is more interested in winning back the love of Florence. Secretly, Freddie arranges to meet Anatoly in a temple, where he informs Sergievsky of a flaw in his challenger's game. In the deciding game of the match, the Russian manages an exceptional victory, and realizes that it may be the only success he can achieve — Svetlana castigates him for wallowing in the crowd's empty praise, whilst Florence is similarly annoyed with him for casting aside his moral ideals. Later, he and Florence reflect on their story that seemed so promising, and how they "go on pretending / stories like ours / have happy endings." Florence is left alone, when de Courcey informs her that Anatoly has defected back to the USSR, meaning that her father will be released, that is, if he is actually alive.... Florence breaks down, telling Walter that he is using people's lives for nothing, before repeating Anatoly's sentiments from the end of Act One, that her only borders lie around her heart.

Songs

Original cast

  • Frederick Trumper — Murray Head
  • Florence Vassy — Elaine Paige
  • Anatoly Sergievsky — Tommy Körberg
  • Alexander Molokov — John Turner
  • Walter de Courcey — Kevin Colson
  • The Arbiter — Tom Jobe
  • Svetlana Sergievsky — Siobhán McCarthy
  • Mayor of Merano — Richard Mitchell
  • TV presenter — Peter Karrie
  • Civil servants — Richard Lyndon, Paul Wilson

Broadway

Plot synopsis

The American version has different settings and a completely different Act 2. In particular, the entire show is about one chess match, not two. Act 1 handles the first part of the match, which is held in Bangkok, while Act 2 handles the conclusion, and is set in Budapest.

Act 1

The world chess championship is being held in Bangkok. At a press conference, the brash American challenger, Freddie Trumper, relishes the crowd's affection, while the current Russian champion, Anatoly Sergievsky, and Molokov, his second, watch with curiosity and disdain. During the match, Freddie accuses Anatoly of receiving outside help via the flavor of yogurt he is eating, and Freddie storms out, leaving his second, Florence, in an argument with the Arbiter and the Russians. She later scolds him, but he insists that she, a child émigrée who escaped Hungary during the 1956 uprisings, should support him.

A meeting to smooth things over goes badly and ends with the Russian and Florence together, where they quickly develop feelings for one another. Freddie was supposed to attend, but got sidetracked by the nightlife, and arrived late to see Anatoly and Florence holding hands. When he later accuses her of conspiring against him, she reflects that "nobody's on nobody's side", and decides to leave him. As the match continues, Freddie flounders, finishing Act 1 with 1 win and 5 losses; one more loss will cost him the match. Anatoly surprises everyone by defecting at the end of Act 1. Answering reporters' questions about his loyalties, his "Anthem" declares that "my land's only borders lie around my heart."

Act 2

Eight weeks later, everyone is in Budapest to witness the conclusion of the match. Florence is elated to be back in her hometown of Budapest, but dismayed that she remembers none of it, not even what happened to her father, since he had to leave her in 1956. Molokov offers to help and starts "investigating" Florence's father's fate. The plot quickly spins into political intrigue involving the Russians’s attempts to get Anatoly back; even Svetlana, Anatoly's estranged wife, has been flown into Budapest to pressure him indirectly. These threats strain Anatoly's relationship with Florence, and she shares her woes with Svetlana. The stress 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, 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. Freddie immediately takes advantage of the blunder and proceeds to win the game and the match, becoming the new world champion. Anatoly returns to Moscow a broken man.

Florence is waiting for her father so they can leave for America when she is approached by 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 that like Anatoly, her “only borders lie around her heart.”

Songs

† 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 Casnoff
  • Florence — Judy Kuhn
  • Anatoly — David Carroll
  • Molokov — Harry Goz
  • 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

Others to 2007

Sydney, 1991

In July 1991, a 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.

Principal cast
  • Freddie — David McLeod
  • Florence — Jodie Gillies
  • Anatoly — Robbie Krupski
  • Molokov — John Wood
  • Walter — David Whitney
  • Arbiter — Laurence Clifford
  • Svetlana — Maria Mercedes

Chess in Concert album, 1994

This is a recording of a concert performance (not a full stage production) in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1994. The songs and lyrics are largely identical to the studio album, with the addition of "Someone Else's Story" from the Broadway version and "The Soviet Machine," from the London version. Notable principal cast members included Anders Glenmark as Freddie, Karin Glenmark as Florence and Tommy Körberg as Anatoly.

Danish tour, 2001

In late 2001, a Danish tour was created, directed by Craig Revel Horwood. A two-CD album of the tour of Chess was released. The tour followed the London version of the musical, with the addition of "Someone Else's Story," given to Svetlana in Act Two. The first release of the album had the complete London 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 Frederick, Stig Rossen played Anatoly, Emma Kershaw played Florence and Michael Cormick was the Arbiter.

Stockholm, 2002

File:ChessDVD.jpg
Chess På Svenska - DVD Cover

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 ("Han är en man, han är ett barn" and "Glöm mig om du kan") 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.

Actors's Fund of America concert, 2003

Presented on September 22, 2003 in the New Amsterdam Theater, Broadway. The show was a mixture of both the Broadway and London versions, and was produced without set or costume changes, and with the orchestra onstage. The show, recorded for posterity, was directed by Peter Flynn, choreographed by Christopher Gattelli 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 Arbiter, Sutton Foster as Svetlana and Norm Lewis as Molokov.

Multimedia concert, Los Angeles, 2007

Presented September 17, 2007 at the Ford Amphitheatre, Los Angeles. Mixture of London and Broadway versions. Cast included Susan Egan (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). Enesmble, choir and 27 piece orchestra on stage. Directed by Brian Michael Purcell, choreographed by A. C. Ciulla, musical direction by Dan Redfeld. A portion of the proceeds going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Royal Albert Hall, 2008

On the 12 and 13 May 2008, Warner Bros. Records produced a concert version of Chess together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which was recorded for release on CD and DVD as well as broadcast on American PBS channels in June 2009.[11] Tim Rice stated in the Concert's Programme that this version of Chess is the "official version", after years of different plot/song combinations. The principal cast was as follows: Josh Groban as Anatoly, Idina Menzel as Florence, Adam Pascal as Freddie, Clarke Peters as Walter, Marti Pellow as Arbiter, Kerry Ellis as Svetlana and David Bedella as Molokov. Cantabile played the Civil Servants in Embassy Lament. The plot is based largely on that of the London plot with elements of the Broadway script as well (e.g. the inclusion of Prologue and Someone Else's Story). Walter's role is reduced in this concert; it is not explicitly implied that he's a CIA agent, an idea which the London version stressed.

The CD 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.

Song list

References

  1. ^ Harold C. Schonberg (1998-05-08). "Does Anyone Make a Bad Move In 'Chess'?". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-27. "Bernie Jacobs, the grand Rhadamanthus of the Shubert Organization, one of the presenters of the musical, says that Bobby originally was the model for the American player but that in the course of events his image got a little diluted."
  2. ^ "Keene on Chess: Viktor Korchnoi", Ray Keene, Chessvile
  3. ^ "BBC - Radio 2 - Elaine Paige".
  4. ^ CHESS seeks to shed its checkered past, Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 24 April 1988
  5. ^ How to spend £4 million in one night, Tim Rice, The Sunday Times, 11 May 1986
  6. ^ 'Chess' took a complicated road to the stage, Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News, June 17, 2009
  7. ^ a b "Bright Lights Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA", Carl Magnus Palm, p. 471
  8. ^ William Hartston (with Tim Rice), Chess The Making of The Musical, Pavillion Books, 1986
  9. ^ May 9, 1985
  10. ^ The full story is in the San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2001 edition.
  11. ^ Royal Albert Hall — Chess in Concert from the Chess in Concert official website. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
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