CHESS Previews — Page 3

It is interesting that basic look of the Chess set in their curtain call videos looks similar to the set of The Neil Diamond show A Beautiful Noise which is the set the Entertainmrnt Community Fund Chess benefit concert was staged on. This director and book writer were both involved in that December 2022 “concert”. I remember leaving thinking it felt like a full scripted Encores like staging and not an abridged concert.


There is a post from someone who was there last night talking about how cheeky self deprecating the narrator was. That was part of the benefit concert. The narrator highlighted some of the problems with story and winked at the audience for a laugh. Not sure I would call that fixing the book.

Had a fun night at the first preview for Chess. I'm not familiar with any of the previous versions of this show, but I've always loved Judy Kuhn's "Nobody's Side."

The audience was super into it - all the leads got huge applause when they entered, and Nicholas Christopher got a standing ovation after "Endgame." He was definitely the standout for me.

Lea Michele sounded great, as did Aaron Tveit. Nobody's Side and Someone Else's story were definitely the highlights of the night. Bryce Pinkham made for an engaging, tongue-in-cheek Arbiter which was fun to watch.

I've read that the original book had many problems, but whatever changes they've made seem to work for me. If I had to pick at something, Anatoly doesn't seem to care as much as I think he would about Svetlana and his kids in the first act.

The sound mixing made it tough to understand what people were singing (orchestra was maybe a tad too loud but loved how big the orchestra is overall). The costumes and sets aren't super exciting. I'm not sure I love the references to modern day politics, as they made for cheap laughs.

Overall though, it was an enjoyable night. Excited to read what others think!

Thank you so much!


my two cents:



The first preview of Chess was an absolute delight. I will never understand theatre people who claim to love the art form yet are so hard to please, because on this night, the audience was electric.



It was surreal to see Sir Tim Rice sitting just a few rows from the stage, but even that could not distract from how engaging the performance was. Bryce, serving as the narrator, was hilarious and brought a wonderful clarity to the story, which I actually found easy to follow. Yes, the show is about chess, and there was barely any chess played, but it is not really about chess. It is about people caught in a complicated moment in history, trying to navigate their messy lives, set against the backdrop of a few chess matches.



A modern dance sequence in the middle of the show at first seemed out of place, but it ended up working beautifully. It told the story of the love triangle in a way that was deeply moving. In fact, the whole show was moving, from start to finish.



Aaron was fantastic, though I did feel he was a bit underutilized. Hanna gave a heartfelt performance, showing both passion and genuine concern for her children. Lea does what Lea does best, and she does it brilliantly. She completely won me over, and I understood her character’s choices and motivations.



The real standout of the night was Christopher. His singing was extraordinary, and his acting was impeccable. I truly felt for his character and the difficult choices he had to make.



The set was fine, nothing spectacular, but it did not need to be. The focus was rightly on the performances and the story. I hope Sir Tim finally gets his flowers for this show, because it truly is a wonderful score, and this production captures its beauty perfectly.

EvaLupone said: "Thank you so much!


my two cents:



The first preview of Chess was an absolute delight. I will never understand theatre people who claim to love the art form yet are so hard to please, because on this night, the audience was electric.



It was surreal to see Sir Tim Rice sitting just a few rows from the stage, but even that could not distract from how engaging the performance was. Bryce, serving as the narrator, was hilarious and brought a wonderful clarity to the story, which I actually found easy to follow. Yes, the show is about chess, and there was barely any chess played, but it is not really about chess. It is about people caught in a complicated moment in history, trying to navigate their messy lives, set against the backdrop of a few chess matches.



A modern dance sequence in the middle of the show at first seemed out of place, but it ended up working beautifully. It told the story of the love triangle in a way that was deeply moving. In fact, the whole show was moving, from start to finish.



Aaron was fantastic, though I did feel he was a bit underutilized. Hanna gave a heartfelt performance, showing both passion and genuine concern for her children. Lea does what Lea does best, and she does it brilliantly. She completely won me over, and I understood her character’s choices and motivations.



The real standout of the night was Christopher. His singing was extraordinary, and his acting was impeccable. I truly felt for his character and the difficult choices he had to make.



The set was fine, nothing spectacular, but it did not need to be. The focus was rightly on the performances and the story. I hope Sir Tim finally gets his flowers for this show, because it truly is a wonderful score, and this production captures its beauty perfectly.

"

thanks for the review. I think Joshua Henry has a bit of competition for that Tony from what we are hearing about Nik.

Saw this tonight and loved it! Chess is a mess, but it's our mess, after all.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the new book, but mostly because a lot of the Narrator's narrating doesn't actually need to be there. There are some scenes where it's a huge plus, but there are others that are written so competently (and with great pacing) that the Narrator stopping after a song to set up the scene we're about to watch sort of crashes the momentum for me. I also felt like a lot of his lines were there for cheap laughs. That being said, the new scenes that aren't that are lovely.

I echo everyone saying Nicholas Christopher walks away with the night - he is a wonder. Does anyone know if he has any stiff Tony competition? I cannot imagine someone else wowing me as much as he did tonight.

Lea Michele is perfect. She always does exactly what you think she will, but even so, isn't it so thrilling? It sort of felt like she was shedding the girl who's played teenagers her whole career and came out tonight a bonafide leading lady. I don't know how to describe it, there just feels like a shift there, for the better. She has such a chip on her shoulder as Florence, but conceals it (so welllllllllllll) while helping an affecting but underused Tveit from losing his cool. I loved her performance.

Hannah Cruz is also lovely, and I adore the choice to give Someone Else's Story back to Florence. They give her He's a Man, He's a Child here, and she devours. Fantastic.

I loved the lighting design, and didn't mind the sparse set, as I felt it was used well.

anthem was unbelievable

it closes act one

and nicholas is phenomenal

a chill-inducing, fantastic performance of that song

it comes after a weird, awkward conversation about his defecting

but he walks in a circle and launches into it

Is Chess fixed? Likely no. Did I have a great time? Yes. Was it thrilling to hear this music performed as well as it was tonight? Absolutely.

The new book is not great. There's over-narration, groan-worthy political jokes referencing modern day, a wink wink at the audience after seemingly every number, and if any of this had been delivered by a lesser performer than Bryce Pinkham, it would have felt like an absolute slog. But he is so charismatic and charming, that even when I was rolling my eyes I found I was doing it with a smile.

The actual book scenes between characters are also not great, but they're largely short and give way to such an excellent score that I wasn't overly bothered. I couldn't even hate the "happy ending" the show now has because it led to a Ragtime original cast reunion.

Performances are all really quite good. I can't say much more that hasn't already been said about Nicholas Christopher. While his accent veers into Count Chocula at times, he delivers every single song with power, presence, and pristine vocals. This show will make him the star he should have become years ago and it is well earned. Felt like a true star is born performance.

Lea is wonderful. She has such star quality and is incredibly watchable. Vocally had a couple of hiccups that I think will get ironed out quickly, but she sells the songs she needs to sell and looks gorgeous while doing it. Great chemistry with her co-stars.

Tveit I was a little baffled by. It's the first time I found myself preferring his acting to his singing. Found he struggled a bit with the highest notes in Pity the Child and it all felt rather tentative like he was winding up to sing big. But then I thought his acting was refreshingly free and loose, where I usually find him cold and rigid. Not totally convinced he's cool enough to pull off One Night in Bangkok. It was a good performance, but rather paled in comparison to those around him.

Hannah Cruz looks like a million bucks, sounds like a dream, and is such a wonderful actor. Very exciting to see her get this opportunity.

Bradley Dean is another unsung hero here. Soviet Machine was thrilling.

It's over-choreographed, I found the ensemble numbers quite exciting to watch, but then when the ensemble was upstage singing harmonies during solos they would do some INCREDIBLY distracting dancing (someone mentioned the wave which happened not once, but TWICE during Where I Wanna Be). Hopefully it gets fine-tuned.

It's really a concert staging with a bigger budget. I thought the set was actually very attractive and the space was used well. Excellent lighting by Kevin Adams, as always.

Overall, I had a great time and I can't wait to see it again. It's not going to convert anyone, it might end up deterring critical Chess fans. But for me, it was overall a success.

Was this "modern dance" done to the instrumental Chess (Chess #1 on some recordings) piece? Which is some of my fave music in the show...

MDWHIT57 said: "I'm seeing it Halloween Front MEZ all the way on the left. Says the seats are partial view. But it's what I could afford. Three questions:

2) While I find the idea that Lea would riff American Idol style to be disturbing in the extreme, is it distracting? I wish people realized it was about the music/message and not them! How selfish that behavior is.

Any help you can give me is appreciated. MDW"

I'm a big Lea fan, so I am fully acknowledging my bias here, but I don't think her riffs or vocal adlibs were distracting or indulgent in any way. They were also very far and few between. Original poster who said this is definitely entitled to their opinion, but "American Idol riffs" is so far from what I would categorize what I heard tonight. She was marvelous.

Having seen Kuhn and Carroll (both, heaven), I've been wondering how well Lea handles the high soprano sections (especially the last stanzas of Quartet)?

getatme said: "Bradley Dean is another unsung hero here."

100%. This man does not get the recognition he deserves.

ACL2006 said: "Lot666 said: "PIZZAGIRL2 said: "lea did exactly what i expected...adds those american idol-style riffs to songs we love"

This will ruin in for me."

not surprised she's trying to pull off a GLEE-level type of CHESS revival here."

Not what shes doing at all.

Updated On: 10/16/25 at 09:17 AM