Why I'm Crazy About Chess- The Musical

For those of you who are not looking for a happy group of people to joyfully sing and flail about onstage for two and a half hours in your theatre experience, then I have a show to recommend for you. The show is Chess. I like to think of it as the musical for cynical people and for those who like 80's power ballads (or the group ABBA).

Chess is loosely based on the World Chess Championships that took place during the Cold War. The character of Freddie Trumper, the American chess grandmaster, is loosely based on the only American World Chess Champion, Bobby Fischer. Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in 1972, but then lost the title in 1975 to Anatoly Karpov. The character of Anatoly Sergievsky, the Russian grandmaster, is loosely based on Victor Korchnoi, who won by Fischer's forfeit and then defected, eventually settling in Switzerland.

Chess has been performed in my different countries many different times, and almost every production has altered the plot. But basically, the story of Chess follows Anatoly Sergievsky, the Russian who is about to play Freddie Trumper, the American who currently holds the title of World Chess Champion, and Florence Vassy, Freddie's second and lover who falls in love with Anatoly. Sound complicated? Throw in Anatoly's wife in act two and you've got one heck of a story rife with cynicism. There are sore losers, angry breakups, defections, renouncings, and the Cold War. Oh my!

Chess deals with issues of loyalty, deception, emotional attachments vs. cold logical movements, and of course, doomed relationships. Despite some of its upbeat, exciting songs and some of its classical overtones, Chess has some very dark messages, and is not for the faint of heart- but that's only if you're examining it. The music itself is easily accessible and quite catchy- I personally can't listen to "Nobody's Side" without getting it in my head for a week.

It is my personal belief that Tim Rice, one of my all-time favorite lyricists, was having a really bad year when he wrote Chess. Why, you may ask? Some examples to prove my point:

• "Pity the Child" - song in which Freddie talks about his crappy childhood and how he took refuge in playing chess, explaining his often angry and very jerk-ish behavior to some degree
• "Nobody's Side" - Florence, after fighting with Freddie, sings about how she sees him "in the imperfect tense" and how she is becoming fascinated with Anatoly. She decides that nobody is really loyal to anyone. "No lover's ever faithful, no contract truly signed."
• "Florence Quits" - The angry break-up between Freddie and Florence, where she tells him he's "descending just as far as he can go" and he tells her to "be someone else's parasite."
• "Endgame" - the climactic piece, with Anatoly's final chess match with so much riding on it besides the title. Anatoly argues with Florence and Svetlana (his wife). There are at least 3 different versions of "Endgame," and there are two different outcomes that alter the plot, but each one is depicted darkly, with at least one party being greatly hurt. The line uttered by the Soviet politician Molokov is the telling line from this song- "It's the weak who accept tawdry untruths about freedom, prostituting themselves, chasing a spurious starlight, trinkets in airports sufficient to lead them astray."
• "You and I" - the last song, in which Florence and Anatoly utter the most hopeless, cynical line of the show- "We go on pretending stories like ours have happy endings."

I think I've made my point.

While these are kind of hopeless, existential ideas, there is a good deal of truth in the lyrics, and thus each listening of Chess doesn't send me into a depression. Likewise, you can't accuse Rice of just being angry- he's got a point!

But it's not all angst in this show. With the often upbeat and terribly addictive melodies penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of the group ABBA (but don't let that mislead you- this show sounds nothing like Mamma Mia!), Chess is a fun listening experience, encouraging you to belt out the skepticism at the top of your lungs with doing some eighties-riffic dance moves. Yeah, you remember when "One Night in Bangkok" was a number one hit on the radio in 1984 (unless you're like me and you weren't alive at the time...).

Chess has had a lot of success in the West End, opening in 1986 and running for three years. The production featured favorites like Elaine Paige playing Florence and Murray Head playing Freddie and Barbara Dickson playing Svetlana. The Broadway production which opened in 1988 had many drastic changes to the music and to the plot, and did not receive as much success, but it still was nominated for several Tony's (the highest American theatre award). Judy Kuhn, of Les Miserables and Disney's Pocahontas, played Florence in this production, and as much as I like her, she couldn't compete with Elaine. Chess has also had success in Sweden, with the original Anatoly Tommy Körberg reprising his role (and he's a good Anatoly, too; just listen to the original recording of "Anthem"). Most notably in recent years, Chess was revived as the Actors' Benefit Fund special concert on Broadway in 2003, featuring Adam Pascal (who I love) as Freddie, Julia Murney (who is a great actress and who is super fun in real life) as Florence, JOSH GROBAN as Anatoly (EEEE! I LOVE HIM), and Sutton Foster as Svetlana (I absolutely adore her as well); and then in May of 2008 it was performed and recorded in London's Royal Albert Hall, again featuring Josh Groban and Adam Pascal (EEE) and replacing Julia with Idina Menzel (meh) and Sutton with Kerry Ellis (I probably like Sutton more, but I like Kerry). This will be availible on DVD late in this year in England and probably early 2009 for America.

Chess has a kind of cult following- it isn't considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, but it has a large fan base, especially in the UK. It's certainly one of my favorite musicals, and I think it is seeing a resurgance in popularity. Why is that?

• Great performances- some great actors and wonderful singers have played these roles over the years. I just love listening to them, especially Elaine Paige, Adam Pascal, and Josh Groban.
• Great writing- while I enjoy so many of Tim Rice's musicals (The Lion King, Aida, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar), this is what I consider his opus. It is at once inspiring, witty, brutally satiric, and cathartic.
• Great music- It doesn't sound like the pop-tastic Mamma Mia! or other ABBA music in my opinion. It has classical overtones running throughout the musical, yet it has many songs in the style of the 80's- power ballads and dance music that might be dated, but it's so fun that you don't care.
• Wonderful stand-alone songs- "One Night in Bangkok" and "I Know Him So Well" were both successful mainstream hits when released in the 80's, and you see "Anthem" and "Pity the Child" often performed at recitals and on solo albums.
• Great concept- a chess game being a metaphor for life and politics is genius (and so true!).

Bottom line- Chess is a lot of fun, and it has a lot to offer for someone who wants a deeper experience from the music. I highly recommend it for anyone.