Making all the right moves
Current spotlight on Russian relations may give ’80s musical ‘Chess’ another shot at success
Idon’t know if the Russians have infiltrated the White House yet, but they were all over the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, last weekend for “Chess.”
So what did they think of that maddeningly flawed Broadway musical by Tim Rice and ABBA’s Benny
Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, which played just 68 Broadway performances in 1988?
According to highly sensitive documents obtained by The Post, they thought the score was “zakhvatyvayushchiy” (terrific) but the script was still a little “perepodvypodvert” (incomprehensible).
Just kidding about those Russians, though “terrific” and “incomprehensible” are the words nearly every critic has said about every incarnation of “Chess” since the original 1986 London production.
Danny Strong (TV’s “Empire”) tackled the new production’s script, which is based on the famous 1972 chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
“Chess” resonates today in a way it hasn’t since the Berlin Wall came down. Special counsel Robert Mueller didn’t attend the show — apparently, he’s got enough Russians to deal with in real life. And some politicos may have worried that if they sang along to “One Night in Bangkok,” they might be accused of collusion.
But the crowd was struck by the show’s timeliness.
“It was titillating!” one producer told me.
Others say the production was slick and had the feel of a John le Carré novel, but the script “still can get in the way of those great songs,” the source adds.
Rice and the ABBA boys were on hand and were happy to take in the thunderous applause for such songs as “Anthem,” “Pity the Child,” “I Know Him So Well” and “Heaven Help My Heart.” Although the show was a painful flop, Rice and ABBA both managed comebacks: Rice with “The Lion King” and ABBA with “Mamma Mia!”
The DC cast was sensational. Raúl Esparza (“Company”) played the arrogant American chess grand master, Freddie Trumper, with panache — “He can still swivel those hips!” says one of my spies — and Ramin Karimloo (“Les Misérables”) made a sexy Anatoly Sergievsky. Both he and Esparza, says another spy, were “out-testosterone-ing each other.” Karen Olivo broke hearts as the love interest of both Freddie and Anatole. And Ruthie Ann Miles, as Anatole’s long-suffering wife, matched Olivo power note for power note in “I Know Him So Well.”
In the audience were members of the Shubert Organization, which produced “Chess” on Broadway. They’ve kept their interest in the show all these years and have long nurtured plans to revive it one day.
Tom Hulce, who produced “Spring Awakening,” was also in the house.
At the end of the show’s run, Rice tweeted, “Thanks to all for a great new ‘Chess’ at the Kennedy Center. Superb company, fab reactions in hall & online. Where next? Fingers crossed . . .”
In fact, there’s another major production of the show about to open in London at the Coliseum. This one stars
Michael Ball (“Aspects of Love”) and is slated for a five-week run.
But it’s the Kennedy Center production that may make its way at some point to New York. The book needs work — it always does. But the score — and the times — should give “Chess” the shot it’s always deserved.