Theater News

Tim Rice: Chess Revival on Tap for Broadway "Late Next Year"

The show’s composer revealed the news to WhatsOnStage.com.

Bjorn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice, and Benny Anderson during the curtain call of a 2003 Actors' Fund benefit concert of their musical Chess.
Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice, and Benny Andersson during the curtain call of a 2003 Actors' Fund benefit concert of their musical Chess.
(© Joseph Marzullo)

A revival of the storied musical Chess is getting ready to make its Broadway debut, lyricist Tim Rice told TheaterMania's sister site, WhatsOnStage.

"The plan is to bring it to Broadway late next year," said Rice. "We've got a new team in who helped to restructure the storyline and it seemed to work really well as a tabletop production."

Chess features music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of the band ABBA, and tells the story of a Cold War-era chess tournament between two grandmasters, an American and a Soviet, and the triangle with a woman who serves as one of their managers and falls in love with the other.

The show's 1988 Broadway production, starring David Carroll, Philip Casnoff, and Judy Kuhn, closed after 68 performances. A 2003 Actors' Fund concert edition starred Josh Groban, Adam Pascal, and Julia Murney. Idina Menzel joined Groban and Pascal for a 2008 London concert that was later released on CD and DVD.