CHESS (2025 Broadway Revival) Reviews — Page 5

Chess on NBC NEWS’ ‘TODAY’ Show

3 performances

Thursday, December 11

(7-9 a.m.) TODAY Exclusively Announces TIME’s Person of The Year. Mel Robbins on “The Let Them Theory.” Hot List: Stocking Stuffers with Chassie Post. Lea Michele on Broadway’s “Chess.” Performance by Lea Michele.

(9 a.m.) On The Money: Smart Tipping Practices with Christine Romans. Catching up with Daryl McCormack. Hot List: Stocking Stuffers with Chassie Post. Winter Proofing and Home Gear Checklist with George Oliphant. Performance by Aaron Tveit from Broadway’s “Chess.”

(10 a.m.) Brooke Sheilds Co-Hosts. Mel Robbins on “The Let Them Theory.” TODAY Food: Hannukah with Joel Gamoran. Performance by “Chess” on Broadway’s Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher.

Updated On: 12/9/25 at 02:24 AM

GirlFromOz68 said:

"Also, all the Chess clips that had been posted on YT are now taken down. Seems like the Chess producers must have asked for it as I see no other reason for it. Very different to the FG producers who seemed quite happy for her posts to stay up."

Damn, did MC post anything after Bangkok and Anthem? Those were the last ones I saw. And were there any other substantial posts by other people except the stuff that got posted very early on?

MC also removed all the Funny Girl numbers. Such a shame. Maybe they should hand over their material to the Brazilians. I think they're not so easy to take down.

GirlFromOz68 said: "Update: I can still see all the FG ones she posted."

Grab 'em while you can. Maybe the changes take a while to propagate to Youtube's servers for Australia. For me the Header with DROMP, the Lea playlist and all Funny Girl videos except the 19 seconds with "Hello Gorgeous" are gone, unless I'm missing something.

So I missed I Know Him So Well. At least there was an audio boot of that.

Edit:

Now the DROMP header is back!? Still can't find the rest. This is confusing.

Updated On: 12/9/25 at 08:31 AM

I wonder if they will announce the cast recording before Christmas.

As for Today, going by ensemble members on IG they will all be there this time unlike Fallon and Aaron is doing Bangkok.

Will be interesting to see if they switch things up with Lea and Nik and do Nobody's Side and Anthem.

SisterGeorge said: "Saw this last week and loved it (notwithstanding some of the Arbiter's well-documented idiotic comments). While "Anthem" is unquestionably the musical high point, I thought Aaron was quite wonderful throughout with the exception of his "One Night in Bangkok" which I though was curiously lethargicand mostly unintelligible. Is this always the case, or did I just catch him on a bad night? Definitely going back."

I loved the choreography on One Night in BK, but like you, I couldn't hear him well and the vocals didn't quite pack the punch. Aaron was fab, imo, on the Pity The Child numbers though.

A comment on one of the Chess official videos 3 days ago. This sounds like we are in for a wait if we want the cast recording.

Ludvig Andersson, a co-producer and Benny's son, was asked about that in the Dec 2025 ABBA Fan Club magazine. He said: "We have been working on that for months. New York rules regarding hourly payment and union rules unfortunately make it very difficult to bring about a cast album. It's incredibly expensive and we hadn't budgeted for that. Complicated, but we are still working on it."

It's pretty clear they didn't expect Chess to be doing as well at the box office as it has done so far. Not surprising given the history of Chess and why I've long suspected why they went with the minimalist sets, costumes etc to keep costs down.

I was having a discussion with friends before it opened and we figured it would be doing well if it landed at $1.2-1.3M each week so I think it doing so much better than that has been a big surprise to those involved.

Hopefully this will help getting the cast recording done.

EDSOSLO858 said: "This morning on the Today Show...

Aaron Tveit and the company performing "One Night in Bangkok":

https://www.today.com/video/broadway-cast-of-chess-sings-one-night-in-bangkok-on-today-254230085829

Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher performing "Mountain Duet":

https://www.today.com/video/stars-of-chess-on-broadway-perform-mountain-duet-on-today-254230085831

Michele performing "Heaven Help My Heart":

https://www.today.com/video/lea-michele-performs-heaven-help-my-heart-live-on-today-254231109942"

Lea and Nick sounded fantastic. Why is Bangkok soooooo slow and seemingly lackadaisical?? The dancers were great in such a tight space though. And that split in the end was the highlight!

Updated On: 12/11/25 at 12:22 PM

Lea and Nick sounded fantastic. Why is Bangkok soooooo slow and seemingly lackadaisical?? The dancers were great in such a tight space though. And that split in the end was the highlight!

They all sounded great, but Bangkok shouldn't be performed at 8am. Ever.

quizking101 said: "While an unconventional choice, I think doing “Mountain Duet” in the flagship program was the smartest idea because it gives the audience Lea Michele and also shows off a hint of Nicholas Christopher’s powerhouse vocals. “Heaven…” was also beautifully done.

The marketing quandarythe show will have going forth is that “One Night In Bangkok” is the most overtly sexual, yet most well-known song from the show. I wouldn’t even call this performance censored so much as absolutely castrated. The choreography was toned down and far less suggestive, and Aaron barely moved since he was singing into a microphone. I’m thinking they need to save this song for any late night performances so they don’t do it dirty like this again.

Maybe they could have Aaron do “Pity The Child” or him, Nick, and some other principals do a modified “The Deal (No Deal)” insted"

they did it on Fallon and it was very much in the similar vein with less ensemble so I don't think you are going to get the full thing in their usual costume on TV.

As for Lea and Nik, after watching the abridged Mountain Duet,.how the hell is anyone saying they lack chemistry???

Updated On: 12/11/25 at 02:00 PM

GirlFromOz68 said: "quizking101 said:
The marketing quandary the show will have going forth is that “One Night In Bangkok” is the most overtly sexual, yet most well-known song from the show. I wouldn’t even call this performance censored so much as absolutely castrated. The choreography was toned down and far less suggestive, and Aaron barely moved since he was singing into a microphone. I’m thinking they need to save this song for any late night performances so they don’t do it dirty like this again.

Maybe they could have Aaron do “Pity The Child” or him, Nick, and some other principals do a modified “The Deal (No Deal)” insted"

they did it on Fallon and it was very much in the similar vein with less ensemble so I don't thibk you are going to get the full thing in their usual costume on TV.

As for Lea and Nik, after watching the abridged Mountain Duet,.how the hell is anyone saying they lack chemistry???"

On Fallon, it was also a brief snippet in a medley, not the whole song. They also usually have more room on a late night stage than a daytime stage, but they could also do what Ragtime did and pre-tape it at the theatre.

Timon3 said: "Have they included Mountain Duet? I don’t think that song was in the original Broadway production."

There's a link to them singing it on this very page from earlier today.

Updated On: 12/11/25 at 09:24 PM

Aaron Tveit and the company performing "One Night in Bangkok":
https://www.today.com/video/broadway-cast-of-chess-sings-one-night-in-bangkok-on-today-254230085829
Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher performing "Mountain Duet":
https://www.today.com/video/stars-of-chess-on-broadway-perform-mountain-duet-on-today-254230085831
Michele performing "Heaven Help My Heart":
https://www.today.com/video/lea-michele-performs-heaven-help-my-heart-live-on-today-254231109942"

These performances are other worldly! They did a great job. Even Aaron on ONIB sounded strong and clear. KUDOS!