Video: Nicholas Christopher Is Exactly Where He Wants to Be
The Tony Award nominee plays 'Anatoly' in Chess on Broadway.
Fresh off his 2026 Tony nomination, Nicholas Christopher is still marveling at how unexpectedly this chapter of his career came together. Between sharing the stage with Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit, building a deeply connected ensemble, and performing one of Broadway's most beloved score's onstage each night, Christopher says the production has become one of the most exhilarating experiences of his career.
Speaking with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge, Christopher reflected on his Chess journey so far. “I think the most special thing about it is that it was so unexpected,” Christopher explained. “I never thought of this show as something I could do. I never thought that I would be friends with Lea Michele and Aaron Tveit! It just seems really out of left field in the best way possible.”
That spirit of spontaneity has become central to the production itself. “Because the stage is so bare, we have to fill it with our imagination and our emotions and our music and our love and our... everything,” he said. “So there’s always a looseness to the show. The show is never the same way twice.”
Christopher credits much of that fluidity to co-star Bryce Pinkham, who he says acts as “the connective tissue of the whole piece,” helping guide the company through each performance while encouraging an atmosphere built on trust and collaboration.
“Aaron and I had done Sweeney Todd together, so we had a bit of a foundation of what it’s like to work with each other,” Christopher explained. “Then last summer, we got in the studio and started working on the script and started getting to know each other and started to have a rapport.”
His scenes with Michele, however, brought a different kind of vulnerability.
“I didn’t know I was such a prude coming into this,” he joked. “But these are really intimate scenes that I’m having with this woman every night! There really has to be a sense of trust with each other. I think Lea and I have built a really wonderful friendship.”
For Christopher, one of the production’s most electrifying elements is the way the music physically surrounds both performers and audiences. “There’s something just beautiful about having the band on stage and feeling the vibration of that,” he said. “A lot of Broadway shows sort of mix it low, and I think we’re really rocking with our mix. Literally, the walls are vibrating. It really fills this swirl of communication between the audience and us on stage,” he added. “It just reminds us that we’re all actually in one room together. It’s the closest thing to flying, for sure.”
Watch in this video as he shares more about advice he's gotten from his costars, what he loves most about his character, and more.
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