Wait in the Wings, a YouTube documentary channel offering deep dives into Broadway history, has released a new film tracking the complicated history of Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, and Bj枚rn Ulvaeus's musical Chess, set to return to Broadway later this season.
The film weaves together stories of the Cold War, the chess world, and the AIDS epidemic that affected the New York Arts community in the mid to late '80s. The documentary features never-before-told stories and interviews with cast members, creative team members, theatre critics, and theatre historians.
Talking heads within the documentary include former New York Post Theatre Critic and author of Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway, Michael Riedel, as well as former Arts and Culture reporter for the New York Times, Jeremy Gerard, who was a leading force in the paper's coverage of HIV/AIDS.
The documentary also features firsthand accounts from Chess alumni featured in both the original U.K. production and the Broadway engagement, such as Siobhan McCarthy, Wayne Fowkes, Wysandria Woosley, Jessica Molaskey, and Craig Wells, as well as the musical鈥檚 Broadway book writer, Richard Nelson. The documentary is topped off with interviews given by Emily Allred and Shannon Bailey, curators at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri.
Originally to be directed by Michael Bennett, Chess was poised to be the theatre world鈥檚 next big musical hit in 1988. However, clashing creative visions and a thawing Cold War led to the musical closing on Broadway after only 68 regular performances and 17 previews. The original Broadway cast starred Judy Kuhn as Florence, David Carroll as Anatoly, Philip Casnoff as Freddie, and Marcia Mitman as Svetlana. It is set to return to Broadway with a new production this fall.
You can stream the 2-hour film for free now via the Wait in the Wings YouTube channel below.
The cult-favorite musical has not officially graced the Broadway stage (save for a few one-night-only concerts) since its premiere in 1988, which ran for just two months. Performances of the upcoming revival will begin in the fall in a Shubert-owned theatre, both to be announced. You can sign up for ticketing alerts at .
The cast will be led by Tony winner Aaron Tveit as Freddie Trumper, Lea Michele as Florence Vassey, and Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly Sergievsky. The performance will see Michele originating a role on the Main Stem for the first time since 2006's Spring Awakening.
With music from ABBA鈥檚 Benny Andersson and Bj枚rn Ulvaeus, and lyrics by Tim Rice, this first-ever Broadway revival will be refreshed with a new book by Emmy winner Danny Strong (Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 & 2), and a creative team featuring director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) and choreographer Lorin Latarro (Waitress). Brian Usifer will serve as music supervisor.
Based on an idea by Rice (and originally featuring a book by Richard Nelson), Chess tells the story of American and Russian chess champions playing a match against each other鈥攁nd competing for the same woman鈥攁t the height of the Cold War.
Chess began as a concept album released in 1984, after Tim Rice had mulled over the idea of a musical about the Cuban Missile Crisis for nearly a decade with his frequent collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber, never quite beginning the project. In the early 1980s, he approached Andersson and Ulvaeus, who had been itching to find creative projects outside of their hit pop music group ABBA. The concept album dominated the charts worldwide, reaching number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and earned global critical acclaim. Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson's duet "I Know Him So Well" even ranked number one on the U.K.'s singles charts for a month, and "One Night in Bangkok" was an international hit.
The album's popularity seemed to promise a successful theatrical adaption, but the original West End production opened in 1986 to mixed reviews. Elaine Paige, Tommy K枚rberg, and Murray Head, who all performed on the concept album, brought their roles to life onstage as part of the original London cast, with Siobh谩n McCarthy taking Barbara Dickson's place. Prolific director Michael Bennett was originally signed on to helm, but pulled out due to his declining health, and Cats director Trevor Nunn took over. Bennett's vision initially was to create a "multimedia" experience for audiences, with the theatre filled to the brim with television monitors, and the stage transformed into a tilted chess floor. The stage show's book expanded the original plot explored in the concept album, with the runtime peaking at three hours and 15 minutes long. London critics were admittedly dazzled by the score and scenic vision for the show, but nearly all expressed the book as being problematic to what would otherwise be a creative revelation.
The Broadway production鈥攚hich starred David Carroll, Judy Kuhn, Philip Casnoff, and Marcia Mitzman鈥攐pened to an even more negative critical reception, with reviewers nevertheless praising the score and the individual performances. Closing after just 17 previews and 68 performances, it seemed Chess' chance for success had passed. But via the concept album and later cast recordings from various stage productions, Chess found a devoted audience in the years since its premiere. In addition to several tours and West End revivals, a 2008 London concert staging featuring Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, and Kerry Ellis was recorded and released both as an album and a concert film.
Rice has been teasing a revival for years, even announcing that a 2018 Kennedy Center staging would come to the Main Stem (this production was also directed by Mayer and featured Strong's revised book). Though the Broadway bow did not materialize that time around, the show was last seen in New York in a 2022 starry benefit concert for the Entertainment Community Fund, also using Strong's revised script and starring Darren Criss, Tony winner Lena Hall, Ramin Karimloo, and Solea Pfeiffer.
Chess will be presented by arrangement with Three Knights, the Shubert Organization and Robert Fox Ltd.
