Broadway's 'Chess' Reimagined as Clunky Blend of Genres

On November 16, 2025, director Michael Mayer's new Broadway production of the 1980s musical 'Chess' opened at the Imperial Theater. The show, which centers on the rivalry between American and Soviet chess wizards and the woman caught between them, has been given a modern makeover that sets it at "garish, sometimes glorious, war with itself."

Mayer has brought in screenwriter Danny Strong to introduce new packaging, with geopolitics and nuclear anxiety widening the scope of the show. An administrative role from past productions, The Arbiter, has been transformed into an omniscient narrator who contextualizes the story for modern audiences, acknowledging the show's dated and corny elements.

However, the three lead performers - Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher - are simply trying to deliver earnest, Broadway-style performances, despite the production's self-aware, meta-theatrical framing. Tveit's rendition of "Pity the Child" and Michele's powerful vocals in "Nobody's Side" and "I Know Him So Well" stand out, but they struggle to comfortably exist under the diminishing glare of The Arbiter's and Mayer's wry commentary.

The result is a strange, undermining, and conflicted production that grapples with the battle between sincerity and snark. While some may long for a wholly heartfelt 'Chess,' this version offers a peppery, style-forward take on the amoebic musical, using it as a tragicomic plot point to explore the shift from the pre-meta-irony world to the one we find ourselves in today.