‘Chess: The Musical’ Is Somehow More Of A Musical About Chess Than You Can Imagine

Several months ago, I received a text from my friend Giulia with news that every former musical theater nerd yearns to hear: she had an extra ticket to see a Broadway show. Namely, Chess: The Musical, starring Lea Michele, and did I want to go? Yes, I said, yes, I will, yes!

I knew very little about chess the game, and even less about Chess: The Musical, but the real draw was Lea Michele. Who wouldn't want to see the allegedly illiterate diva with indisputable pipes serenade you in the flesh? I knew Chess was scored by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, a group that knows how to write a certified banger. I'd heard some of these bangers in high school, like "I Know Him So Well" and "Heaven Help My Heart." And I knew the musical was, ostensibly, about chess. And yet nothing could have prepared me for just how much chess would be present, literally and metaphorically, in the musical Chess.