{"id":297072,"date":"2025-11-17T12:57:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/297072\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T12:57:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:57:06","slug":"lea-michele-nicholas-christopher-are-staggering-in-chess-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/297072\/","title":{"rendered":"Lea Michele, Nicholas Christopher are staggering in ‘Chess’ \u2013 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013 As it turns out, \u201cChess<\/a>\u201d is still unfixable.<\/p>\n

Ever since its London premiere in 1986, folks have tried and failed to crack this convoluted curio of a musical, which follows a Cold War-era love triangle set in the cutthroat world of competitive chess.<\/p>\n

Even still, the songs are so damn catchy that people keep going back to the well, seeing if they can wring a coherent story from the frequently intoxicating pop score, which is cowritten by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bj\u00f6rn Ulvaeus of ABBA fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A fitfully rousing new revival, which opened at the Imperial Theatre Nov. 16, attempts to palliate audiences by making \u201cChess\u201d the butt of the joke, injecting meta humor about current politics and dangling plot threads into \u201cour most entertaining Cold War musical.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a smugly satisfied approach that would be borderline intolerable if it weren\u2019t for the dazzling constellation of stars that is Lea Michele<\/a>, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, whose full-throated commitment to this tuneful slog may convert even the staunchest of \u201cChess\u201d agnostics.<\/p>\n

Gun to our heads, we couldn\u2019t begin to tell you much of what \u201cChess\u201d is actually about. There\u2019s a pompous American grandmaster, Freddie Trumper (Tveit), and his brooding Russian rival, Anatoly Sergievsky (Christopher), who face off at a world chess championship. Michele, meanwhile, plays Freddie\u2019s discerning strategist and lover, the Hungarian-born Florence Vassy, who despises the Soviets for past family horrors yet still holds a flame for Anatoly.<\/p>\n

The show uses the game of chess as a larger metaphor for the geopolitical landscape, although even with a streamlined new book by Danny Strong (\u201cDopesick\u201d), much of the CIA and KGB machinations are too insipid to drum up much intrigue. The Arbiter, too, has become a grating, \u201cDeadpool\u201d-style narrator preening after every groan-worthy joke about Donald Trump<\/a>, RFK Jr.<\/a> and Joe Biden<\/a>. While songs like \u201cThe Arbiter\u201d should soar, they\u2019re instead served with thick slices of ham by Bryce Pinkham, who risks popping an eye socket with all his winking.<\/p>\n

As directed by Michael Mayer (\u201cSpring Awakening\u201d), this too often feels like a \u201cChess\u201d revival that is embarrassed by its own existence. Rather than earnestly leaning into the melodrama, the show constantly undercuts its emotional moments with a punchline, which quickly becomes more exhausting than charming. Kevin Adams\u2019 stark lighting creates some splendid pictures, although Tom Broecker\u2019s sleek costumes and David Rockwell\u2019s minimal sets are better suited for a concert staging than a Broadway production commanding top dollar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But for all its shortcomings, it\u2019s impossible not to fall under the spell of this powerhouse cast. After swooping in to save the ill-conceived 2022 revival of \u201cFunny Girl,\u201d Michele earned enough critical goodwill and box-office pedigree<\/a> to pick any show that she wanted to do next. That she chose a property as dicey as \u201cChess\u201d is admirable in itself, but it also makes complete sense, given how perfectly the score is suited to her stunning vocal abilities.<\/p>\n

Michele is sublime as Florence: a role that allows her to be fiery and fragile, sultry and sagacious. The \u201cGlee\u201d star has shown commendable growth as an actress, and her marvelous voice has rarely sounded better than it does on \u201cSomeone Else\u2019s Story<\/a>\u201d and \u201cI Know Him So Well<\/a>,\u201d her glorious, high-camp duet with the similarly dynamic Hannah Cruz as Anatoly\u2019s spurned wife. But it\u2019s Michele’s formidable take on \u201cNobody\u2019s Side<\/a>\u201d that will give you full-body chills, further cementing her status as one of Broadway’s finest leading ladies working today.<\/p>\n

Tveit brings delightful sleaze and sex appeal to crowd-pleaser \u201cOne Night in Bangkok<\/a>,\u201d with an ingenious piece of trouser choreography by Lorin Latarro that drew audible gasps from the audience. And although he already has multiple Broadway credits, it\u2019s not a stretch to call this a star-making turn from Christopher, whose thunderous baritone ignites \u201cWhere I Want to Be<\/a>\u201d and \u201cAnthem<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together, this bewitching trio elevates an otherwise muddled revival, which is at its best when Mayer has the good sense to just let them park and belt. “Chess” might ultimately prove to be the most fascinating gambit of the season: neither an overwhelming triumph nor a total wash.<\/p>\n

Let’s just call it a draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cChess\u201d is now playing at the Imperial Theatre (249 W. 45th Street).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 As it turns out, \u201cChess\u201d is still unfixable. Ever since its London premiere in 1986,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[37741,13716,228,61348,21540,155114,116929,155115,5266,39642,14804,12,88,6334,1978,17249,3319,565,9465,3729,13723,108231,27354,95572,86605,3258,2005,3,21897,13470,13471,5573,899,411,788,8620,12362,3479,13692,1139,3259],"class_list":["post-297072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-abstract","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-biden","tag-broadway","tag-broadway-u0026-musical-theater","tag-chess","tag-chess-u0026-abstract-strategy-games","tag-cold","tag-cold-war","tag-donald","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-f","tag-games","tag-joe","tag-joe-biden","tag-jr","tag-kennedy","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-mayer","tag-michael","tag-michael-mayer","tag-musical","tag-new","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-review","tag-robert","tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","tag-strategy","tag-theater","tag-trump","tag-u0026","tag-war","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}