Jaxx Theatricals treats audiences to a fully-staged production of Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’s rarely revived Chess The Musical, sensationally performed in the company’s spiffy East Hollywood digs.

The musical brainchild of the composer half of ABBA and lyricist Tim Rice (of Evita, Aladdin, and The Lion King fame), Chess began as a 1984 concept album, played three years in London’s West End, and then got re-imagined and considerably re-written for a 1988 Broadway transfer that lasted a scant 85 previews and performances.

What plot there is revolves around a world championship chess match between brash American Frederick Trumper (D.T. Matias) and the equally cocky Russian Anatoly Sergievsky (Michael Scott Harris), a contest which mirrors the Cold War still being waged at that time between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Complicating matters is an operatic-style romantic quadrangle which has both Frederick and Anatoly smitten with Frederick’s “second,” Florence Vassy (Whitney Kathleen Vigil) until Anatoly’s Russian wife Svetlana (Jill Marie Burke) shows up in Act Two to complete Chess’s combustible four-sided love mix.

Overseeing all of the above is the nameless Arbiter (Nathanael O’Neal), with wily Russian Alexander Molokov (Bryan Vickery) serving as Anatoly’s second and the equally cunning Walter De Courcey (Joe Chiapa) forming part of Freddie’s delegation.

If Chess hasn’t achieved the international success of Andersson and Ulvaeus’s more famous collaboration, it’s probably because it centers not on a freewheeling single mom running a Greek taverna but a title sport unlikely to keep an audience glued to the edge of their seats, nor does it help that Chess’s mostly “sung-through” format requires paying especially close attention in order to figure out just who’s who and what’s what.

What Chess does have to offer is a collection of eclectic (and in some cases instantly recognizable) songs ranging from catchy synthesizer-based ‘80s fluff to soaring operatic bombast (and everything in between), and the opportunity for performers to rock the house with one power-piped vocal after another.

Jaxx Theatricals’ stellar cast make the very most of every one of Chess’s more than two-dozen songs, Jeremy Lucas directs the show with visual flair, and perhaps best of all, Chess gives choreographer Lucas and his tremendously talented ensemble ample opportunity to dazzle in a series of production numbers running the gamut from music video punch to balletic élan to dance-club pizzazz.

Harris is a veritable force of nature as Anatoly, imposing in presences and humongous of voice, and his deeply emotional “Anthem” rises to the rafters and beyond.

Matias makes for a dynamic, sexy Frederick, hitting his own thrilling high notes in “Pity The Child” and driving the audience wild with the ‘80s pop hit “One Night In Bangkok.”

Vigil follows her riveting performance as Kate in Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party with the most glorious of star turns in Chess, singing “Nobody’s Side” and “Heaven Help My Heart” like the fiercest of pop divas, and just wait until she joins voices with Burke’s svelte and stunning Svetlana in a show-stopping eleventh-hour duet of “I Know Him So Well.”

O’Neal is a powerful presence throughout as The Arbiter, Vickery makes for a charismatic, velvet-voiced Molokov, and Chiapa, Erin Lee Smith (Mayor of Merano), and Kyler Wells (Leonid Viigand) are standouts in smaller roles.

Hardest working of all are Taylor Bailey, Kiera Morris (Civil Servant), Landry Noel (American Dream Queen), Sophia Marie Rizzo (Civil Servant), Cat Ski, dance captain Jenna Small (Russian Dream King), Smith, Russian Dream Queen), dance captain JD Torres Morabito (American Dream King, Civil Servant), and Wells, who not only execute Lucas’s high-energy dance moves without seeming to pause for breath but do so while singing up a storm.

Music director James Lent on keyboards and Alec De Kervor on guitar, Lucas Helfman on bass, and Tom Zygmont on drums) provide wall-of-sound instrumental backup with the help of prerecorded music tracks by Jeff Moehle.

Set designers Colin and Laurilee Tracy have transformed the Jaxx Theatre into a wide-screen chess board, strikingly lit by Justin Kelley-Cahill.

Jeanne-Mare Raubenheimer gives each performer their own individual bejeweled makeup design and Lucas and Morabito’s endless array of costumes, in both black-and-white and living color, are each and every one downright spectacular.

 Sound designer/engineer Jamie Humiston does a mostly fine job of mixing vocals and instrumentals, though the latter do tend to overpower whatever spoken dialog there is.

Griffith Frank takes over the role of Frederick in July with Matias taking over as the Arbiter and O’Neal as Anatoly. Alora Kinley is swing.

Chess The Musical is produced by Lucas and Torres Morabito. Kasmira Buchanan is associate choreographer. Burke is music supervisor. Colin Tracy is stage manager and Keny Marine is assistant stage manager.

Given how rarely Chess The Musical gets revived, its arrival at Jaxx Theatricals merits event status by its mere existence. That this is as topnotch a production as any Chess fan could wish for makes it even more of a musical theater must-see.

The Jaxx Theatre, 5432 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood.
www.Showclix.com/Event/Jaxx-Chess

–Steven Stanley
June 26, 2024

Tags: Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, Jaxx Theatricals, Los Angeles Theater Review, Tim Rice