A Story of "Chess"

For those unfamiliar with Chess, it is a musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by former ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. Throughout its many incarnations it has remained the story of a romantic triangle between two players at a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other.

One of my professors in college claimed that productions of the musical Chess were like snowflakes. No two stagings of the musical are alike.

A look at Wikipedia backs up his hypothesis. The original concept album was created in 1984 without a traditional Broadway musical “book” and with only a vague outline of a story. People all over the world have fallen in love with music, and it seems everyone has struggled to hang the songs onto a story in an effort to bring the show to the stage. The London production bears little resemblance to the Broadway show, which has little in common with either the Des McAnuff national tour or the Australian version.

As Wikipedia puts it, Chess is “fertile ground for those seeking to ‘get it right.’” So of course it calls out to me. Through the same college professor I have had the opportunity to read a number of different versions of the show, and came to feel that I needed a crack at creating a book for Chess.

I worked off and on creating my own marriage of the previous incarnations of the show and combined it with my own research into the personalities of the real life chess masters that inspired the musical.

Like the Australian and Des McAnuff scripts, my version has both acts take place at a single chess tournament in a single city (Bangkok). Also like those scripts, this version takes place in 1990 as the Cold War has thawed, and the Berlin Wall has fallen.

Act 1

The Arbiter of the upcoming world chess championship explains the history of the game of chess, as we move to Bangkok where the championship is being held. The brash American champion, Freddie Trumper arrives with his second, Hungarian orphan Florence Vassy and Walter Anderson, his manager. The current Russian champion, Anatoly Sergievsky, and Alexander Molokov, his second (actually a KGB agent), watch with curiosity and disdain on TV, before Anatoly laments as to how he has got to be the top Russian player. It turns out that Molokov has brought Svetlana, Anatoly’s wife, to the championship to keep the pressure on, because the Russians fear that Anatoly has become restless. In their hotel room, Florence has become dissatisfied with Freddie showboating for the press, and feels that she has lost her love of the game.

The opening ceremony features an arbiter insisting on holding the proceedings together, US and Soviet diplomats vowing their side will win, and marketers just looking to make a buck. During the match Freddie accuses Anatoly of receiving outside help via the flavor of yogurt he is eating, and Freddie storms out, leaving his second, Florence, in an argument with the Arbiter and the Russians. She later scolds him, but he insists that she, a child émigré who escaped Hungary during the 1956 uprisings, should support him. She reflects that "nobody's on nobody's side," before heading off to the meeting between East and West.

The attempt to smooth things over goes badly and ends with Anatoly and Florence together, where they quickly develop feelings for one another. Freddie doesn't turn up, leaving Anatoly and Florence to eventually embrace, before being interrupted by Freddie. Enraged by Anatoly and Florence’s kiss, Freddie agrees to resume the match. That night Anatoly returns to his hotel room to find Svetlana waiting for him. Unable to offer her husband any comfort she reflects on “Someone Else's Story.”

As the matches continue, Freddie flounders, finishing the act with 1 win and 4 losses; he blames Florence’s actions for his poor showing at the championship. Florence tries once again to apologize to Freddie before finally quitting as his second. Anatoly surprises everyone by defecting.

Act 2

Upset by Florence’s defection to Anatoly’s side, Freddie throws himself into the Bangkok nightlife, One week later; championship has been delayed while Anatoly’s emigration is sorted out. Florence worries that after the initial heat of her affair with Anatoly that things are suddenly beginning to cool. Molokov uses Svetlana in an attempt to blackmail Anatoly into returning to the Russian side. Florence approaches Freddie about a second postponement of the championship in order to allow Anatoly to get his head back into the game.

Molokov approaches Freddie with a plan to help him win Florence back, by offering to feed Freddie with information about Florence’s father’s fate. The Arbiter denies the request for a second delay in play, and the championship resumes. The stress impedes Anatoly's ability to play chess, and Freddie starts winning games and pulls into the lead.

Anatoly is further rattled when he sees an interview with Svetlana on television, where she pleads for his return. The Russians attempts to get Anatoly back strain Anatoly's relationship with Florence, and she shares her woes with Svetlana.

The next day Anatoly is able to tie up the score 5-5. Freddie has become more interested in winning back the love of Florence than winning the game. He approaches her with the information that Molokov has provided regarding her father, seeing though the ploy she storms away.

During the final game Anatoly realizes that his defection and his personally life have distracted himself from his true love, chess, and he again devotes himself to winning the game. He chooses to recant his defection, and makes a tactical error. Freddie immediately takes advantage of the blunder and proceeds to win the game and the tournament, becoming the new world champion.
As the curtain closes, Florence completely breaks tie with Freddie, Anatoly returns to Russia and Svetlana.

Songs:

Act I

The Story of Chess
What a Scene! What a Joy!
Smile You Got Your First Exclusive Story
Anatoly and Molokov/Where I Want to Be
Freddie and Florence
Chess Hymn
Merchandisers
The Arbiter’s Song
US vs. USSR (Diplomats)
Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)
Argument / Nobody's Side
Cocktail Chorus
Terrace Duet
Who’d Ever Think It?
Someone Else's Story
No Contest
Florence Quits/A Taste of Pity
Terrace Duet Reprise
Anthem

Act II

One Night in Bangkok
Heaven Help My Heart
You and I
Where I Want to Be Reprise
Freddie Goes Metal
Let's Work Together
The Arbiter’s Song Reprise
Argument
I Know Him So Well
The Deal
Endgame
You and I (Reprise)

The thing that I enjoyed most about my revision was an embrace of the complexity of the characters. The love story between Anatoly and Florence always rings false to me in other versions. They come together too fast and separate too easily. In this script we see them at the beginning feeling restless in their roles and looking for something to which they can commit, and bring passion back into their lives.

I think that Svetlana is too interesting a character to be used simply in act two to bring pressure on Anatoly. By brining her into the story at the very beginning we see that the Russians are aware of Anatoly’s restlessness probably even before he is.

Finally in an almost Chekhovian fashion, by the end it seems that almost no one has gotten what they want. Freddie commits himself to getting Florence back and fails. Anatoly reconnects to his love of chess and loses the championship. Svetlana doesn’t have her husband’s love, but at least has managed to keep the status quo. Florence like the American version of the script, finds herself for the first time truly on nobody’s side, and perhaps has the most optimistic of endings, as she is in a place to build a life that is undefined by being someone else's second.

About ten years ago I was applying to grad schools and in support of my application to Northwestern I had the opportunity to interview with Robert Falls. Mr. Falls had recently opened another troubled Tim Rice show on Broadway, Aida. I happened to speak about my revised script for Chess during the interview. Mr. Falls told me that it was easy to fix some else’s work. At the time I had felt embarrassed and a little ashamed of the months I put into the project. Of course, I’m not sure that I believe in the truth of his assertion. It wasn’t easy for me for me to fix the show. It certainly hasn’t been easy for anyone else to come up with a successful script. And based on having had the chance to see Aida, I suspect that Robert Falls didn’t have such an easy time fixing the work from its Atlanta premiere.

I obviously never had any intention that the show would be seen on stage. And unlike scripts I have worked on since, I never even put together a table reading to see if it needed any additional work. I have long since stopped asking people to take a look at it, and tell me what they think. It was very satisfying mental exercise for me to, and I feel that it helped me learn a good deal about the structure of a musical.

I know my script is certainly not definitive. Looking at it again after sitting on a shelf for almost ten years, I still have many problems with my revisions. In trying to build four strong lead characters, the musical doesn’t have a clear character for which the audience can root. I think the London version wants Anatoly to be the lead, and the American script wants the show to be the story of Florence. My script never settles on anyone. Also I worry that the script is still book heavy and long. I have read the streamlined American book edited by David Bell used in many regional productions, and while I appreciate how focused it is, the characters lack complexity.

The exciting thing about Chess is the fact that it will never be fixed. It is clear that after a twenty-year history, there will likely never be a single book for the show. Perhaps that is why now it seems that if it is produced at all, it is presented as a concert.