How do you solve a problem like “Chess”?
With music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA) and Tim Rice, and now with a new version of Rice’s book by Danny Strong, “Chess” tells of the Cold War chess rivalry between Freddie Trumper (Aaron Tveit) of the US and Anatoly Sergievsky (Nicholas Christopher) of the USSR, as well as the woman, Florence Vassy (Lea Michele), who gets caught in the middle. While beloved by some, “Chess” is a famously messy musical, particularly due to Rice’s confused book, which has been reworked too many times to count. Songs have been moved, added, cut, or reassigned. Settings (both
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