History Theatre / Chess

* HeyItsThatGuy: In the latest revivals:

** Hey, It's That Guy's Brother: Murray Head, brother of [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Anthony Stewart Head]], played Freddie in the 1980s West End production, and performs [[EarWorm "One Night in Bangkok"]] on the album.

* [[MovieBonusSong Broadway Bonus Song]]:''Someone Else's Story'' is an interesting case. It was added for the Broadway run and given to Florence, but in later productions it goes to Svetlana or even both of them. Some don't bother with it at all. Quite a few people feel that it doesn't fit in with the rest of the work and was an attempt at Disneyfying the show, but YourMileageMayVary.

* NoNameGiven: Anatoly and Freddie are simply "The Russian" and "The American" in the original ConceptAlbum. Also, The Arbiter only has a name in the Swedish version (Jean Jacques van Bohren), [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep though nobody calls him that anyway]].

The plot of each version has about this much in common: it concerns the World Chess Championships set against the backdrop of the ColdWar. There's the brash American champion Freddie Trumper, the reserved Russian challenger Anatoly Sergievsky, the American's second/reluctant girlfriend Florence Vassey who switches her affections to the Russian, the Russian's wife Svetlana, KGB and CIA agents (Alexander/Ivan Molokov and Walter de Courcey, respectively) working behind the scenes, and an Arbiter presiding over the tournaments.

A RockOpera with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of {{ABBA}} and with book and lyrics by TimRice. Widely considered to be the latter's {{magnum opus}}. It was originally produced as a successful ConceptAlbum in 1984, then became a West End production, and eventually reached Broadway. Each version of the show underwent changes in story and music, but the most recent version, performed in concert at Royal Albert Hall in 2008 is considered by Rice the official version.

* ColdWar: While the musical is called "Chess," the Cold War and all the ploys and posturing of the US and USSR dominate much of the plot. Interestingly, they mostly do away with the whole "West good, East bad" bit that characterizes most western stories set during the time period. Both sides have some pretty despicable people working for them and will go to any lengths to get what they want, even if it means [[spoiler: cooperating with the other side to screw over Anatoly.]]

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Arbiter, except in the Swedish version where his name is Jean Jacques Van Boren. It makes sense that he doesn't have a name since he doesn't really care about everyone else's problems unless they're interrupting the game, making him pretty one-dimensional.

* FreudianExcuse: Freddie - "Pity the Child" is pretty much FreudianExcuse: TheMusical.
** Florence as well, thanks to her DisappearedDad, she falls for older or unattainable men. Anatoly fits both of these categories. [[YourMileageMayVary But that's only if you see her as a villain for giving Anatoly a reason to defect and break up his marriage.]]
*** In support of the FreudianExcuse parallelism, the Australian production gives Florence her own reprise of "Pity the Child".

** The Swedish production in 2002 featured Helen Sjoholm as Florence and Anders Ekborg as Freddie; they had previously played the (less dysfunctional) lead couple of Kristina and Karl-Oskar in ''Kristina fran Duvemala'', also written by Andersson and Ulvaeus. Tommy Korberg also reprised his original role of Anatoly.

* NoNameGiven: Anatoly and Freddie are simply "The Russian" and "The American" in the original ConceptAlbum.

* Hey, It's That Guy's Brother: Murray Head, brother of [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Anthony Stewart Head]], played Freddie in the 1980s West End production, and performs [[EarWorm "One Night in Bangkok"]] on the album.

* [[MovieBonusSong Broadway Bonus Song]]:''Someone Else's Story'' is an interesting case. It was added for the Broadway run and given to Florence, but in later productions it goes to Svetlana or even both of them. Some don't bother with it at all. Quite a few people feel that it doesn't fit in with the rest of the work and was an attempt at [[{{Disneyfaction}} Disneyfying]] the show, but YourMileageMayVary.

* TheChessmaster: Molokov.

* {{Jerkass}}: Freddie Trumper, though given the source material this is unsurprising.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Sort of. While the story has some elements that mirror real life, such as Freddie (in reality Bobby Fischer) being an ass [[spoiler: who concedes after losing five games against Anatoly (Anatoly Karpov).]] Even the 5:1 to 5:5 come back between Anatoly (now mirroring Viktor Korchnoi, particularly in his defection) and Viigand (Anatoly Karpov) is pretty close to what actually happened, only reversed in who was doing the coming back. The retcon takes two forms, the first being of course the love triangle. The second is the switching around of who exactly Anatoly is representing at any given moment. He starts out as Karpov [[spoiler: when he beats Bobby Fischer]], becomes Korchnoi [[spoiler: when he defects]], then goes back to being Karpov [[spoiler: by winning after his opponent had made a comeback.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Sort of. While the story has some elements that mirror real life, such as Freddie (in reality Bobby Fischer) being an ass [[spoiler: who concedes after losing five games against Anatoly (Anatoly Karpov).]] Even the 5:1 to 5:5 come back between Anatoly (now mirroring Viktor Korchnoi, particularly in his defection) and Viigand (Anatoly Karpov) is pretty close to what actually happened, only reversed in who was doing the coming back. The retcon takes two forms, the first being of course the love triangle. The second is the switching around of who exactly Anatoly is representing at any given moment. He starts out as Karpov [[spoiler: when he beats Bobby Fischer]], becomes Korchnoi [[spoiler: when he defects]], then goes back to being Karpov [[spoiler: by winning after his opponent had made a comeback.]] This troper's first reaction to the end was [[spoiler: "But he loses!"]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Anatoly Sergievsky--troubled AntiHero pulled apart by the demands of everyone in his life who eventually decides to stand up for himself? Or a spoiled JerkAss whose great success and beautiful family aren't enough, so he abandons the latter, and eventually admits his first obligation is to himself?
* BadassDecay: The versions that have "Pity the Child" in the first act result in Freddie becoming Walter's puppet without anything to save his character from being anything more than a {{Jerkass}} [[UnwittingPawn pawn with delusions of grandeur.]]

* BetterThanItSounds

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: "Endgame"--particularly the last minute of it-- as well as "Anthem", and "Pity the Child".
** "Mountain Duet".
** "Nobody's Side" is worth a mention too.
** The sheer complexity of "Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility)" is also worth mentioning.
*** The fanbase are a bit divided when it comes to this one - some feel that the very complex ending of the Albert Hall version is done more to show off and overlooks the reason that it becomes a quartet - Molokov won't shut up, so over this and the Arbiter prattling on, Florence and Anatoly try to have a conversation rather than it just sounding like a fragmented mish-mash. But, nevertheless, YourMileageMayVary and even if you don't like, it's still worth applauding.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Freddie seems to get this a lot from the fanfic writers, but not so much from the rest of the fandom.
** See the entry for AlternateCharacterInterpretation above. The latter interpretation leaves Anatoly as an even bigger a-hole than Freddie, so naturally the fangirls are gonna set about making him even more sympathetic.

* EarWorm: "One Night in Bangkok"
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyg0h6tk-MM "Opening Ceremony / The Arbiter"]]

* HilariousInHindsight: The 2006 World Championship match, anyone? Danailov would fit ''perfectly'' into this show.

* TheWoobie: Mischa in the Swedish production. Maybe his grandma as well.
** Depending on the production (and the actor), "Pity the Child" can almost turn Freddie into one.
* YourMileageMayVary: See second trope.

A RockOpera with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of {{ABBA}} and with book and lyrics by TimRice. Widely considered to be the latter's {{magnum opus}}. It was originally produced as a successful ConceptAlbum in 1984, then became a West End production, and eventually reached Broadway. Each version of the show underwent changes in story and music, [[AdaptationDecay not all of them for the better]], but the most recent version, performed in concert at Royal Albert Hall in 2008 is considered by Rice the official version.

* AdaptationDecay / AdaptationDistillation: YourMileageMayVary in extremis.

* UnwittingPawn: Freddie Trumper becomes one [[spoiler: for Walter and Molokov after losing to Anatoly.]]

'''Chorus Member:''' For no one really likes their offspring fighting to the death.\\

[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Original_Cast_Recording_-_Chess.jpg]]

* Hey, It's That Guy's Brother: Murray Head, brother of [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Anthony Michael Head]], played Freddie in the 1980s West End production, and performs [[EarWorm "One Night in Bangkok"]] on the album.

* BadassDecay: The versions that have "Pity the Child" in the first act result in Freddie becoming Walter's puppet without anything to save his character from being anything more than a {{Jerkass}} [[XanatosSucker pawn with delusions of grandeur.]]

* XanatosSucker: Freddie Trumper becomes one [[spoiler: for Walter and Molokov after losing to Anatoly.]]

A RockOpera with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of {{ABBA}} and with book and lyrics by TimRice. Widely considered to be the latter's magnum opus. It was originally produced as a successful ConceptAlbum in 1984, then became a West End production, and eventually reached Broadway. Each version of the show underwent changes in story and music, [[AdaptationDecay not all of them for the better]], but the most recent version, performed in concert at Royal Albert Hall in 2008 is considered by Rice the official version.