Chess Musical West End

Chess premièred in the Prince Edward Theatre in London on 14 May 1986 and closed on 8 April 1989. It was originally set to be directed by Michael Bennett, but he withdrew for health reasons. He only did so, however, after casting the show and commissioning the expansive set and costume designs. The show was rescued by director Trevor Nunn, who shepherded the show on to its scheduled opening, though with considerable technical difficulty. The three principal singers from the concept album, Elaine Paige, Tommy Körberg and Murray Head reprised their roles on stage. Barbara Dickson declined to appear, and Siobhán McCarthy played the part of Svetlana.

According to set designer Robin Wagner, interviewed in Lynn Pecktal's book Set Design, the original Bennett version was to be a "multimedia" show, with an elaborate tilting floor, banks of television monitors, and other technological touches. Nunn, realizing he could never bring Bennett’s vision to fruition, instead applied his realistic style to the show, although the basics of the mammoth set design were still present in Nunn's show. This included the three videowalls, the main of which featured commentary from chess master William Hartston, along with appearances from BBC newsreaders.

The London version was a massive physical production, with estimated costs up to $12 million. It expanded the storyline of the concept album, adding considerable new recitative, and attracted several West End stars, such as Anthony Head, Grania Renihan, David Burt, and Peter Karrie, during its three year run.

The production won the 1986 London Critics' Theatre Award for Best Musical, and received three 1986 Laurence Olivier Award nominations: Best Musical, Outstanding Performance by an Actor (Tommy Körberg) and Outstanding Performance by an Actress (Elaine Paige). Notably, in two of these categories (Best Musical and Outstanding Performance by an Actor) Chess lost to The Phantom of the Opera, by Rice's former collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber.



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