The Muny’s “Chess” Has Many Moving Pieces

    by Pat Lindsey
Making the move from my French fantasy world of “Beauty and the Beast” to the reality of “Chess,” set during the 1980s Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, was a giant leap for me. For The Muny, it was a logical move, because St. Louis is home to the Saint Louis Chess Club and World Chess Hall of Fame and the game that has become widely popular.
For me, the best of “Chess” is four spectacular talents who sing an eclectic score of conventional tunes mixed with pop and rock. The music was written by two ABBA songwriters, Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, with lyrics by Tim Rice, for a double album that achieved worldwide success. The two most recognizable songs are, “One Night in Bangkok” and “I Know Him So Well.”
The story is based on an East meets West chess match that occurred in 1972 between American Bobby Fischer and Soviet Boris Spassky. At that time, the match captivated the world, because it was symbolic of the political relationship of the two countries.
Jarrod Spector (Frederick Trumper) ably portrays the self-centered Bobby Fischer character. He is an ugly American who throws temper tantrums when a match doesn’t go his way. His Soviet opponent, Anatoly Sergievsky, is beautifully played by John Riddle. He is much more even-tempered and dignified.
Trumper is assisted by his love interest, Florence Vassy (Jessica Vosk), but he rarely shows her any love. By Act II, Florence redirects her attentions to the Soviet and a love triangle develops. That love triangle actually gets pulled into a square when Anatoly’s Soviet wife, Svetlana, comes on the scene. Anatoly apparently hasn’t seen her or his children for more than a year and Svetlana (Taylor Louderman) pleads for him to give up chess and come home.
The songs that Spector, Riddle, Vosk and Louderman sing are not particularly memorable, but their voices are. John Riddle gave me goosebumps every time he hit the powerful notes. Jessica Vosk and Taylor Louderman sang a gorgeous duet with, “I Know Him So Well.” As Florence, Vosk used her impressive voice to sing through the entire musical. And Jarrod Spector, who we met in “Beautiful,” is a tenor beyond compare. A strong ensemble supports the main characters.
The staging of this musical is just as it should be–giant moving chess pieces and boards. During a match, a camerman walks around the grandmasters and projects the match onto a giant screen. After Freddie goes into his biggest tirade and resigns from the match, the stage is filled with reporters on black and white TV screens relaying the news to all parts of the world. Most of the choreography takes place around the elevated chess set at center stage. Dancers are sometimes KGB and CIA agents.
There is much more historical background to this show than meets the eye.

An astute history buff would probably understand that this game of chess is about Anatoly and Florence being pawns between the CIA and KGB over Soviet American summit politics. That was totally lost on me. I found both the politics and love story confusing. In the beginning, we learn that Hungarian-born Florence is orphaned at the hand of the Soviets. Then, near the end, we learn that Florence’s father might still be alive. If Anatoly will lose the chess match, Florence’s father will be freed. So, the audience is faced with a series of questions: Will Anatoly throw the match? Will Anatoly stay with Florence? Will Anatoly return to his wife and children? Will Florence be reunited with her father?…In the end, the audience still doesn’t know all the answers
My advice to Muny-goers is to just sit back and enjoy the show with its fantastic music. It is sensory-appealing and sometimes thrilling. You know you can always count on The Muny to produce a show with the best musical talent, musicians and stage decoration. If it’s a beautiful night, what more could you want?
“Chess” will be playing nightly at 8:15 p.m. at The Muny in Forest Park now through July 11. For tickets, go to muny.org or call 314-534-1111.

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