Chess
by Benny Andersson, Richard Nelson, Tim Rice, Bjorn Ulvaeus
Full Length Musical, Drama / 9m, 2f, 1boy(s) or girl(s)
"One of the best rock scores ever produced. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show." - TIME
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Cast Size
9m, 2f, 1boy(s) or girl(s)Duration
More than 120 minutes (2 hours)Subgenre
Adaptations (Literature), PeriodAccolades
Tony, From Broadway, From West EndTarget Audience
- Appropriate for all audiences
- Adult
Additional Info
The collaborators on Chess are giants of rock music and rock musicals, and here they have created a complex rock opera that played to full Broadway houses and standing ovations. In this musical, the ancient game becomes a metaphor for romantic rivalries, competitive gamesmanship, super-power politics, and international intrigues. The pawns in this drama form a love triangle: the loutish American chess star, the earnest Russian champion, and a Hungarian American female assistant who arrives at the international chess match in Bangkok with the American, but falls for the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest the players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score that includes “One Night in Bangkok” and “Heaven Help My Heart.”
Reviews
REVIEWS
"One of the best rock scores ever produced. This is an angry, difficult, demanding and rewarding show." - TIME
"Worth seeing." - New York Post
Videos
Considerations
Performing Groups
- High School/Secondary
- College Theatre / Student
- Community Theatre
- Professional Theatre
- Large Stage
Cautions
- Mild Adult Themes
License details
- Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.
Production
Details
- Time Period: 1980s, 1950s
- Duration: More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
- Setting:
Budapest; Thailand; JFK Airport between 1956 and the 1980's.
- Additional Features: Not Applicable
- Features / Contains: Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes, Period Costumes
Music
- Musical Style: Classic Broadway
- Vocal Demands: Difficult
- Orchestra Size: Large
- Chorus Size: Large
Song Samples
Casting
9m, 2f, 1boy(s) or girl(s)FLORENCE - strong belt voice (to E). Mid-thirties. Born in Hungary (so musn't look like an "All-American Girl"); has been brought up in America since 1956. She is clever, theatrical, touching, vivacious, volatile. Frederick's chess "second."
FREDDIE - Rock tenor (to C). Mid-thirties. An American chess champion. A cross between Bobby Fisher and John McEnroe. Arrogant and temperamental, but a genius; his chess playing revolutionary. We need to see his artistry along with his danger and his obsessiveness.
ANATOLY - Baritone (to G sharp). Early forties. A Russian chess champion. Unexpectedly charming. He doesn't seem a romantic hero at first, but becomes one through his personality. An intelligent, feeling, passionate man.
MOLOKOV - Bass (down to F sharp). Fifties. Not a fake, comic, stage Russian. Intellectually formidable. Seemingly a father figure to Florence. Anatoly's chess "second." An actor who sings well.
SVETLANA - strong belt voice. Late thirties. Anatoly's wife. Domestic, wholesome, homey. A dramatic contrast to Florence - not a contemporary cosmopolitan woman.
WALTER - Bass-Baritone (down to G sharp). Fifties. A marketing agent. Seemingly respectable, substantial, trustworthy. An actor who sings well.
ARBITER - rock high baritone (up to A). Thirty to early forties. International businessman. Smooth, but with a quick temper.
GREGORY VASSY
YOUNG FLORENCE
NIKOLAI
JOE
HAROLD
ENSEMBLE
Cast Attributes
- Ensemble cast
- Expandable casting
- Flexible casting
- Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle)
- Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
Resources
Rehearsal Resources
Music Material Rental Packages
Full Package
2 Piano/Conductor Scores
30 Vocal Chorus Books
Reed I (Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet)
Reed II (Oboe, Flute, Clarinet, English Horn)
Reed III (Clarinet, Flute, Bass Clarinet)
Reed IV (Bassoon, Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone)
Horn
Trumpet I
Trumpet II
Trumpet III
Trombone I
Trombone II
Drums
Percussion (Timpani, Mallets, etc.)
Guitar
Keyboard I (Piano/Synthesizer)
Keyboard II (Synthesizer)
Keyboard III (Synthesizer)
Violins (3 books)
Cello
Bass
Available Services
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