Video: Inside the First Rehearsals for CHESS on Broadway

A new video gives fans a look inside the first rehearsal for the upcoming Broadway revival of Chess, starring Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit, and Nicholas Christopher, with the creative team offering insight into how the show has been re-imagined.

With a score by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA and Tim Rice, Chess at the Imperial Theater will have a new book written by Danny Strong.

"What Danny did that is so amazing to me," said director Michael Mayer, "He figured out a way to incorporate all of the character and story elements that are baked into these amazing songs, and wrote a brand new story that really embodied every bit of those."

Strong shared how excited he is to work with Mayer as he brings his new vision for the 1986 musical to life.

"Michael's one of my favorite directors of all time," Strong said. "I just thought 'Michael Mayer should direct this.' Thank you, for saying 'yes.'"

"There's this duality in this show," said Mayer. "It's Cold War, and now. It's commenting on the political system, and investing and believing in this very passionate love triangle."

In the revival, which has its first performance on October 15, Michele, Tveit, and Christopher are playing Florence Vassey, Freddie Trumper, and Anatoly Sergievsky, respectively. They are joined by a cast including Hannah Cruz (Svetlana), Bryce
Pinkham (The Arbiter), Bradley Dean (Molokov), and Sean Allan Krill (Walter).

The ensemble includes Kyla Louise Bartholomeusz, Daniel Beeman, Shavey Brown, Emma Degerstedt, Casey Garvin, Adam Halpin, Sarah Michele Lindsey, Michael Milkanin, Aleksandr Ivan Pevec, Aliah James,  Sydney Jones, Sean MacLaughlin, Sarah Meahl, Ramone Nelson, Fredric Rodriguez Odgaard, Michael Olaribigbe, Katerina Papacostas, Samantha Pollino, Regine Sophia, and Katie Webber.

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