Chess (musical)

The musical tells of a duel between two chess players , one of whom is Russian and the other is American. The prototypes of the characters, in all likelihood, were chess players Boris Spassky and Robert Fisher . Their 1972 World Chess Championship match took place in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland . The parallel to the Cold War fell off after 1991 . The theme of the musical is politics, conspiracy, love and jealousy.

The plot of the musical is as follows: during the Cold War, the World Chess Championship is held. World Champion - American Freddy Trumper and USSR Champion - Anatoly Sergievsky are fighting for the title of new world champion. Florence, an American friend and second, tired of the way her lover treats her, leaves him. Anatoly seeks to escape from the eternal control of the overly vigilant KGB officer Molokov, assigned to watch him. Having won the championship, Anatoly escapes to the West - Florence also leaves with him, with whom the new world champion has an affair. However, lovers are not destined to be together for long ...

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulveus have long dreamed of creating a larger-scale piece of music, different from a simple popular music album. They willingly agreed to Tim Rice’s proposal to write music for an already invented plot. At the end of January 1983, Björn, Benny and Tim arrived in Moscow. The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the atmosphere of the country, which will be discussed in a new musical called "Chess". One of the prototypes of the protagonist - the Russian chess player, apparently, was Anatoly Karpov . It was with him that the guests wished to meet.

For three days in the capital, Benny, Björn and Tim visited the Bolshoi Theater, watched the ballet The Nutcracker, walked around Red Square, and also visited one of Alla Pugacheva ’s concerts in the concert hall of the Olympic Village . Having met with the Soviet singer, after some deliberation, the authors of the future work suggested that she play the role of the wife of a Russian chess player. However, this did not come true (as well as meeting Anatoly Karpov).

The role of the Soviet grandmaster Anatoly (later the surname Sergievsky was invented) was played by Tommy Cherberg , his beloved Florence - Elaine Page , Barbara Dixon played the Russian wife Svetlana, and Murray Head - Fredi, an American chess player.

Two scenes of the musical - “One Night In Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well” - topped the English and American charts. The double album sold a total of 2 million copies.

“Chess” demonstrated to everyone that Tim Rice is able to create successful pieces without Andrew Lloyd-Webber: in many countries the album with the recording “Chess” was much better than the recording of “The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, released in the same year.

The director of the play, Michael Bennet ("A Chorus Line") began work, but then refused - Bennet was dying of AIDS. Three months before the premiere, the show was left without a director. Trevor Nunn , then the art director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is now one of the leading British directors. Nunn reduced the use of technique and choreography in the play, but the remaining technique constantly malfunctioned. However, despite all the problems, the premiere took place on May 14, 1986 at the Prince Edward Theater. Trevor Nunn managed the incredible - not only to save the production, which was in danger of death, but also to turn it into an amazing show. The three main soloists who played the Chess on the original recording (Murray Head, Elaine Page and Tommy Cherberg) reiterated their roles in the theater.

The London production was a beautiful, vibrant, technically challenging show with a budget in excess of £ 4 million. Sixty-four television monitors, which at any given time could transmit from one to 64 pictures, are the merit of designer Robin Wagner. A revolving stage and sophisticated lighting by one of the best contemporary theater designers of the world, David Hersey, complemented the picture.

Opera was banned in the Soviet Union almost immediately after its release. Already in 1984, Glavlit secretly seized records with this music coming by mail from abroad to Soviet citizens. As indicated in the Certificate on the work of the censorship center at the Leningrad Post Office in 1984 ^[1] :

In November 1986, the newspaper “ Komsomolskaya Pravda ” published an article “And Now the Chorus” criticizing the opera. In 1987, Sergey Minaev quail "Night in Bangkok", which became a hit.

Residents of the Italian town of Merano are preparing for the solemn event: the match for the chess crown between the American world champion Freddie Trumper and Soviet challenger Anatoly Sergievsky. Freddy arrives with his adjutant mistress Florence Wassi of Hungarian descent; he behaves impudently and defiantly and even attacks a journalist who is interested in their relationship with Florence. Anatoly is accompanied by KGB officer Alexander Molokov as an adjutant, who is waiting for possible provocations. The referee insists on a clean game, but after Anatoly begins to win, Freddie throws the chessboard down on the floor and leaves. Later it turns out that Freddy is behaving so defiantly on the advice of his sponsor, Global TV, who is represented by Walter de Curie, craving for sensations on the air. Florence scolded him for this, but Freddie responded by reminding her of her father, captured by Soviet troops during the 1956 Hungarian uprising . Florence manages to arrange a meeting between Freddy and Anatoly, but Freddy lingers and eventually finds Florence in the arms of Anatolia. As a result, a relationship is sorted out between Freddy and Florence, and she abandons him. Together with Florence, Anatoly flees to the British Embassy and seeks political asylum in the West.

A year later, Anatoly must defend his world title in Thai Bangkok in a match against a new USSR challenger Leonid Wigand. He arrives there with Florence, who is now his mistress, and discovers that the commentator of the tournament is none other than Freddy Trumper. It turns out that Freddie, Molokov and Walter have woven a network of intrigues around Anatoly and Florence. The KGB agent brought the wife of Anatoly Svetlana from the Soviet Union to Bangkok and informs him that if he does not lose the match and does not return to his homeland, then his wife and small child will be repressed. At the same time, Walter informs Florence that her father is in prison in the USSR and will be released if she persuades Anatoly to lose. And Freddy asks her to return to him: trying to play on her pity and tells her about her unhappy childhood. However, despite all the threats and obstacles, he wins the match in Bangkok, after which both Florence and Svetlana suddenly realize that in reality he loves not them, but only chess. The classical production of the musical leaves the final open: the audience themselves can decide the fate of the heroes, however, in most subsequent productions, Anatoly returns to the USSR to his family, and Florence learns that she was used and she will never see her father.

• Merano
• The Russian And Molokov / Where I Want To Be
• Opening ceremonia
• Quartet (A Model Of Decorum And Tranquillity)
• The American And Florence / Nobody's Side
• Chess
• Mountain duet
• Florence Quits
• Embassy lament
• Anthem
• Bangkok / One Night In Bangkok
• Heaven Help My Heart
• Argument
• I Know Him So Well
• The Deal (No Deal)
• Pity the child
• Endgame
• Epilogue: You And I / The Story Of Chess

• Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice: Chess. Selections from the musical. Piano, vocal & chords . Wise, London 1997. ISBN 0-7119-6697-4

• "Chess" (English) in the Internet Broadway Database Encyclopedia
• Chess on stage and in music // Musicals - A Story about World Musicals
• Chess (Chess). Plot // Tim Rice - Written in Stars
• Translation of the musical “Chess” by A. V. Butuzov
• ABBA Russian Fan Club Blog // Learn