Chess, the Musical

 

Image credit: CHESS | Official Broadway Site

Chess - the musical - is enjoying a revival on Broadway right now. Reviews seem mixed. The New Criterion's review (February 2026, by Karl Smith) notes that "its story has always been a clunker despite many attempts at reworking it over the past forty years. And yet it continues to thrive because of its many top-notch songs." Certainly the songs, as Edward Winter notes in his review, are the high point.  

Smith considers the lyrics themselves "flat" because the story is a clunker, but "Ulvaeus and Andersson exhibited a thrilling breadth, saluting Italian opera in “Merano” and devising the appropriately soaring and well-titled “Anthem.”" 

Not knowing much about chess history, Smith misses much of the subtlety of the lyrics, with their many ironic references to chess history, fables about its origin, famous players, and so on. But while such knowledge is necessary for fully appreciating the songs, the lyrics are not obscure or insulting - or "flat" - to the general audience. Rice, after all, was not writing the musical for the exclusive enjoyment of chess historians! 

Smith's bottom line? "In an era when most Broadway shows fail to deliver even one memorable number, Chess offers easily half a dozen. Intermingled with the soggy drama is an enthralling concert." Agreed about the memorable songs; as for the "soggy drama," I quote Winter again for the defense: Chess is "no less ‘fun’ than earlier musicals about such rib-tickling subjects as Argentine dictators and crucifixions." 

Perhaps it's significant that it is just these two musicals (Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar) that Smith compares to Chess in his review. He thinks that in all three the plot is a mere excuse for the musical numbers. But even if they are, all three also deserve their success for their memorable songs alone.