“Chess,” the ABBA-scored musical set set around a Cold War-era chess tournament, will return to Broadway in a revival directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer and choreographed by Lorin Latarro. The production will begin performances this fall at a Shubert theater to be announced.
The cast will be led by Tony Award winner Aaron Tveit, Emmy Award nominee Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher as Freddie Trumper, Florence Vassey and Anatoly Sergievsky, respectively.
“Chess” features music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of the pop group ABBA), lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice, and a book by Rice (from an original concept by Rice). The musical was first released as a concept album in 1984, followed by a 1986 West End production, which ran for three years. An altered version with a book by Richard Nelson opened on Broadway in 1988, running for only two months. The show was revived in the West End in 2018. The Broadway revival will feature a new book by Danny Strong. Brian Usifer lends music supervision.
Tveit’s Broadway credits include “Next to Normal,” “Hairspray,” “Wicked,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Moulin Rouge!,” for which he won a 2020 Tony Award. Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995 at the age of eight alternating the role of Young Cosette in “Les Misérables.” On Broadway, she went on to appear in “Ragtime” and “Spring Awakening” and, most recently, as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl.” Christopher has performed on Broadway in “Motown,” “Hamilton,” “Miss Saigon” and “Sweeney Todd,” and this past fall, starred as Seymour opposite Sherie Rene Scott in the off-Broadway production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“Chess” is the iconic musical where power and passion collide, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s America versus Russia at the World Chess Championship, where the espionage and romance are as complicated and exhilarating as the game itself. For the two players and the woman torn between them, everything—personal, professional and political—is at risk... and nobody’s rules are the same.
The production continues what is becoming the year of ABBA on Broadway. The hit jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” recently announced plans for a Broadway revival, opening at the Winter Garden Theatre this summer.
Dates, venue and additional cast and creative team information will be announced shortly.
This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.
