‘Chess’ Flopped in the ’80s: Lea Michele, Aaron Tviet & Nicholas Christopher Talk Trying the Cult Classic Musical Again for a New Generation

When it comes to analyzable legacies, determination are fewer musicals with a much confounding past than Chess. With its expansive pop-rock people created by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of popular supergroup ABBA and lyrics by theatre fable Tim Rice, the show’s soundtrack has remained a staple for philharmonic theatre fans astir the globe.

“That’s beauteous overmuch a occurrence for a amusement that closed successful 2 months connected Broadway,” Nicholas Christopher tells Billboard. “It’s got to beryllium the lone 1 that’s similar that.”

Since its short-lived stint connected Broadway successful 1988, Chess has agelong been considered a fantastic acceptable of songs structured astir a convoluted, hard-to-follow plot. The amusement revolves astir a Cold War epoch chess tournament, wherever 2 grandmasters — 1 American and 1 Soviet — vie successful a precocious stakes match, portion tensions boil implicit successful their relationships with 1 woman. The archetypal publication for the amusement besides involves elaborate geopolitical maneuvering, questions of nationalist individuality and overmuch more.

But the caller Broadway revival of the amusement — which begins previews connected Wednesday (Oct. 15) — aims to yet make a mentation of the amusement worthy of its legendary score. It surely helps that the caller accumulation features 3 Broadway stars taking connected its trio of pb roles. Christopher, who roseate to prominence successful the theatre country done performances successful Hamilton and Sweeney Todd, plays the brooding Soviet grandmaster Anatoly Sergievsky; Aaron Tveit, the theatre seasoned who earned a Tony Award for his show successful Moulin Rouge!, plays the brash American grandmaster Freddie Trumper; and Lea Michele, the Emmy-nominated prima of Glee who made a critically-lauded instrumentality to Broadway successful the 2022 revival of Funny Girl, portrays the strong-willed Florence Vassy.

With a caller publication re-worked by Danny Strong and a suite of beloved theatre songs, the caller formed and unit of the amusement are assured successful the amusement they’ll contiguous to audiences starting connected Wednesday night. In an exclusive video shared with Billboard, Rice and Andersson spoke during the show’s sitzprobe — the archetypal rehearsal betwixt the onstage performers and the orchestra — and expressed their assurance successful the caller production.

“It’s a large band, a large company, everyone’s happy,” Andersson says successful the clip. “I deliberation possibly it helps that they cognize that they person thing to get their teeth into, due to the fact that a batch of this [music] is not easy. Even if you’re a skilled musician, you person to enactment hard, and I deliberation they similar that. I anticipation they do!”

The show’s euphony supervisor Brian Usifer agrees with Andersson’s assertion, pointing retired that the assortment amongst Chess‘ songs are what keeps bringing audiences backmost — the aforesaid soundtrack tin incorporate a classical Broadway ballad similar “Someone Else’s Story” alongside a opus that became a planetary popular deed similar “One Night successful Bangkok” (the way peaked astatine No. 3 connected the Billboard Hot 100 successful 1985) without either benignant feeling astatine likelihood with the other.

“The people is thrilling, complex, and unapologetically ambitious,” helium tells Billboard. “I’ve tried to highlight some the spot and powerfulness successful its philharmonic storytelling, and the quality and vulnerability successful its textures by focusing connected supporting the unthinkable and unsocial voices of our main actors. The result, I hope, is simply a people that feels classical portion speaking powerfully to the present.”

Below, Billboard chats w...