Book by Richard Nelson. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson Musical / 9m, 2f, 1f child, plus ensemble / Scenery: Var. sets.
The collaborators on Chess are giants of rock music and rock musicals and they have created a complex rock opera that played to full Broadway houses and standing ovations. Here the ancient game becomes a metaphor for romantic rivalries, competitive gamesmanship, super power politics and international intrigues. The pawns in this drama form a love triangle: the loutish American chess star, the earnest Russian champion and a Hungarian American female assistant who arrives at the international chess match in Bangkok with the American but falls for the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest the players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score that includes "One Night in Bangkok" and "Heaven Help My Heart."
"One of the best rock scores ever produced. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show."- Time