CHESS (2025 Broadway Revival) Reviews- Page 10

[yyys]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 2:28pm

Yep, I sat in the $58 mezz A seat yesterday.  Good view and the only obstruction is not being able to see the video projection on stage left during one scene.

Lea was in yesterday (Sunday 2/8) but Nicholas was out.  

I still think the show is just way too long...I don't think they did any changes from previews to final.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 2:40pm

Saw this Saturday: Lea’s understudy is incredible (and lacked Lea’s affectations 😬).  Incredible performances all around, but my God, this show is ****.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 4:28pm

yyys said: "Yep, I sat in the $58 mezz A seat yesterday. Good view and the only obstruction is not being able to seethe video projection on stage left during one scene.

Lea was in yesterday (Sunday 2/8) but Nicholas was out.

I still think the show is just way too long...I don't think they did any changes from previews to final."

 

They took out the ridiculous "ballet" sequence with Casey Garvin and 2 others from Act 2 (thank god)!  

They also toned down a lot of Lorin Latarro's other "overwrought" choreography.  She's usually much better than she was on this show -- but I guess not much to work with -- musically.

 

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 4:31pm

yyys said: "Yep, I sat in the $58 mezz A seat yesterday. Good view and the only obstruction is not being able to seethe video projection on stage left during one scene.

Lea was in yesterday (Sunday 2/8) but Nicholas was out.

I still think the show is just way too long...I don't think they did any changes from previews to final."

They did.  I believe they cut about 20 minutes out of the show during previews including a scene with Florence and Anatoly before HHMH ( which while i understand it being cut for time had added much needed character development for Florence) and that dream ballet.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 4:35pm

When I saw it back over the holidays, I thought it clipped along very well. Pacing isn't the show's problem. 

[inception]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 4:51pm

Reading this thread and the Ragtime one it seems like we're at that point in the season where the people who don't really like anything are getting around to seeing newer shows and feel the need to let the rest of us know that we're wrong about liking them.

[Ensemble17701165943]

Posted: 2/9/26 at 8:16pm

Agreed. I really wanted to see Lea since I missed Funny Girl, but I got over it. I just couldn't get past how lost I was in the story and the random plot points. Aaron is incredibly underutilized, but Nicholas was fantastic.  

[Melissa25]

Posted: 2/10/26 at 8:58am

Looks like they turned on the Bway Week twofer pricing for premium center front orchestra for tomorrow’s matinee. Perhaps its a grab a pal and play hooky kind of day.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 10:37am

I finally got around to seeing this and have to say I was quite pleased. I actually like that they staged it as a concert and I was very surprised that I liked the narrator role. I had a lot of trepidation about that part but for me it worked. Pinkham was excellent. Actually, I found everyone to be excellent. They are all working so hard. Also loved the set and the placement of the orchestra on stage. Some real thrilling memorable moments. Looking forward to the cast recording.

[always bway]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 8:19am

Agree! I love this production and have seen it three times now. Lea continues to delve deeper into the role in both the songs and scenes. I will forever miss the love triangle dream ballet. it was one of the most beautiful dances I have ever seen and best use of that weird choral music of any production of Chess. And Casey Garvin was GOD-like in it. 

I am anticipating this album with baited breath! WHEN???? Anthem on repeat for me. 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 9:45am

JSquared2 said: "

They also toned down a lot of Lorin Latarro's other "overwrought" choreography. She's usually much better than she was on this show -- but I guess not much to work with -- musically.

Latarro's choreography in this show is one of its weakest spots.  It's just not good and detracts.

 

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 4:22pm

always bway said: "Agree! I love this production and have seen it three times now. Lea continues to delve deeper into the role in both the songs and scenes. I will forever miss the love triangle dream ballet. it was one of the most beautiful dances I have ever seen and best use of that weird choral music of any production of Chess. And Casey Garvin was GOD-like in it.

I am anticipating this album with baited breath! WHEN???? Anthem on repeat for me."

Ive said it before but the loss of the scene with Anatoly and Florence before HHMH disappoints me even though I understand cutting a 4 minute odd scene for timing but I felt it added much needed background for Florence,  gave us insight into why Chess was so important to them both and Nik and Lea's acting was so good in the scene.  

As for the choreography, yes its a bit awkward in places.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/16/26 at 5:01pm

I enjoyed the choreography itself. I just felt it would have looked much better in a less cramped space. JMO

[pinkthemusical]

Posted: 2/20/26 at 6:34am

Finally saw this a few weeks ago. Nicholas Christopher absolutely deserved better reviews than the show got — his Anatoly is the emotional core holding everything together. And he can SING. Aaron T is charming, as expected. Leah's voice underwhelmed the night we were there, but I saw her rock it in Funny Girl, so I think she had an off night. She could not emote, though. My friends all commented that her performance felt flat.
The book is messy but the score still hits hard. Glad it's finding an audience despite the critics.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 2:27pm

Yesterday the second cover for Florence was on for her (I believe) second performance: Samantha Pollino. Stellar, in every way. Menzel-like pipes, and a Laura Osnes quality (at her best, i.e. Bandstand) in her presentation and her beautifully modulated upper register. I thought she worked especially well with Tveit. But then, I find Tviet to be doing some of the best work of his B'way career. IHere, in the most defined role in the show - original and even the unsuccessful Strong adjustment - he finds a soulful inner life that amplifies Rice's backstory for the literally traumatized character. In his 40s, Tveit still looks a decade younger until the videos begin; the contrast between the maturity and pain in his eyes and the younger body jerks the character into sharp focus, and by "Pity the Child," almost definitive, it's clear that he is giving a dimensional musical theater performance.

Yet ... yet as a show....  At this relatively late date, I'll join the chorus of naysayers who can't validate Strong's 10-12 years of work. Every point raised against it I support. The topical interpolations feel cheap, unearned, and insult both everyone who's toiled on this flawed piece for decades and the NY audience. A choir that knows damn well what we're enduring in 2025-2026. By the time we get to an ageist Biden quip - which did not land yesterday - I felt for the gifted actor forced to spill it. That said, and not a contradiction, the MVP is Pinkham, who is mesmerizing, delivering a charismatic point of access, and who handles the score, the weirdly robotic choreography, and the Strong wise-ass narrative with triple-threat savvy.

I have thoughts on the still unsuccessful character of Florence, which I'll post separately.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 2:31pm

As a longtime fan - dating to the concept album, I feel that the biggest as yet unfixable flaw is in the Rice created DNA. Florence remains a woman devoid of agency independent of relationship with these two men. Every song she sings is a codependency anthem, up through the repurposed Judy Kuhn era I Want, “Someone Else’s Story,” yet another meditation on choosing a high maintenance man. Why can’t the second act position her in the chess universe? Let her acumen be celebrated with validation? (See The Queen's Gambit.) The rank sexism in the game’s history is a genuinely interesting subject; no one touches it. She moves from troubled guy to equally troubled guy without a professional epiphany worthy of her stage time. She has no ambition beyond fully accommodating the demanding eccentricities of two genius players. Arguably, she never changes, merely substitutes one set of romantic crises for another. By the end her absence of dimension - even within the rigors of the game - damages her weight in a narrative about personal achievement. Her famous duet with her Russian competition doubles down on woman-behind-the-man cliche. Sorry, even for the eighties. This muddy second act, burdened still with her paralysis as a human being, feels like a missed opportunity. I was hoping a solution to Florence - she gets the last curtain call, after all - would help the storytelling coalesce. A final 11 o'clock revelation, insufficiently set up (and which I won't spoil) only underscores my points above.

[Mary_Poppins]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 11:07pm

Folks, not every show is - or should be - about everyone having 'agency'. Quite on the contrary, this is about people being pawns in other people's CHESS-like games. And it's not just Florence.

And as an aside: No, Florence should not compete in the literal Chess tournaments herself. This story is set up as a duel, between two players and two superpowers. The only reason Florence is a strong player herself is so she can be around all the time and not just be someone's wife or girlfriend. And it even does give her a bit of agency because she can negotiate with the arbiter or switch sides.

Compare with Svetlana who has none of that. Svetlana has a somewhat more determined and forceful appearance but that's because she can have only one goal and only one way to achieve it, no options. She doesn't have agency, just desperation.

And as an aside to the aside, it is explained that Florence can't compete herself because she hates the Russians too much to play against them with the necessary cold blood. That makes some sense to me.

Updated On: 2/23/26 at 11:07 PM

[getatme]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 11:29pm

Saw Samantha Pollino as Florence Saturday afternoon and while I thought her performance was pretty devoid of acting, her vocals more than delivered. I was very impressed, perhaps more than I had been by Katerina Papacostas back in december.

Aaron is still giving the best performance in the show for me, he is so much more loose and free than I've ever seen him in any show previously. He imbues Freddie with humor and charm and a biting edge, overcoming some of the cringiest moments of the book.

I still enjoy the production. The book is not great, no. But the music soars and the production seeks to put that front and center.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/4/26 at 9:40pm

No release date for the album yet? Mmmkay

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/4/26 at 9:44pm

CATSNYrevival said: "No release date for the album yet? Mmmkay"

It's most likely a deliberately planned release for peak awards season. Patience. 

 

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 3/5/26 at 3:14am

Auggie27 said: "As a longtime fan - dating to the concept album, I feel that the biggest as yet unfixable flaw is in the Rice created DNA. Florence remains a woman devoid of agency independent of relationship with these two men. Every song she sings is a codependency anthem, up through the repurposed Judy Kuhn era I Want, “Someone Else’s Story,” yet another meditation on choosing a high maintenance man. Why can’t the second act position her in the chess universe? Let her acumen be celebrated with validation? (See The Queen's Gambit.) The rank sexism in the game’s history is a genuinely interesting subject; no one touches it. She moves from troubled guy to equally troubled guy without a professional epiphany worthy of her stage time. She has no ambition beyond fully accommodating the demanding eccentricities of two genius players. Arguably, she never changes, merely substitutes one set of romantic crises for another. By the end her absence of dimension - even within the rigors of the game - damages her weight in a narrative about personal achievement. Her famous duet with her Russian competition doubles down on woman-behind-the-man cliche. Sorry, even for the eighties. This muddy second act, burdened still with her paralysis as a human being, feels like a missed opportunity. I was hoping a solution to Florence - she gets the last curtain call, after all - would help the storytelling coalesce. A final 11 o'clock revelation, insufficiently set up (and which I won't spoil) only underscores my points above."

there was a scene that was cut just before heaven help my heart which added quite a bit to Florence's story. She arrived at Anatoly's hotel room, talks to him about the possibility of defecting,  he talks about fear of leaving Russia. She said he would still have Chess, that it was all she had when she went to the US as a child.

He asks her who taught her chess and we find out her mother taught her, her dad didn't think girls should play chess until he saw how good she was and they played chess together until the Russians took him away.

We find out her mother was killed when they ran into a group of Russian soldiers and she managed to hand Florence over a fence to other people before she was shot in the face.

Florence tried to compete in competitions herself and did well nationally but when she competed against Russians she always lost as she got so angry about Hungary so she became a second. 

Anatoly talked about throwing matches as a little boy as he wanted to go home but then he saw a match between a famous Hungarian and a Russian and he fell in love with Chess.

you can see the bond between Anatoly and Florence ovet Chess in this scene and it was beautifully acted by Lea and Nik.

I get why it was cut as it was four minutes long but I still wish it had been kept for the character development in it.

[Ball of Buttah]

Posted: 3/6/26 at 7:27pm

Hopefully, this stops another new thread for no reason. 
 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2026/03/06/lea-michele-aaron-tveit-nicholas-christopher-chess/88889905007/?fbclid=PAdGRleAQYT91leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAae0KqxHlY4gJJ4_7E24228Ipeha6-wilcltrWfKfrPVM-MzeGnrSdno90vFwQ_aem_Yc_SSV4StC6qKX6x0oxDSQ

 

[suzcap]

Posted: 3/12/26 at 10:39am

Chess social media teasing the album release, so probably sooner then later.

chessbway - 

It won’t be long before you can put our record on🖤. #ChessBway