How Danny Strong Became The Guy to Fix the Musical ‘Chess’

Like Many of US, Danny Strong Watched A Concert Version of the Musical Chessand wasn’t Entirely Surea What was happering.

But Rather than giving up on the complicated plot and letting the rock score by benny andersson and björn ulvaeus of abba wash over HIM, Strong Was Completed to.

“All of a suden, I have this delusional thorough, whohh was, ‘geez, maybe and can fix the show,’ ‘Strong Said.

And so strong, who created TV Series Including Empire an Dopesickrewrote the book to musical which follows two chess Grandmasters, One American and One Soviet, Durying A Chess Tournament in the Midst of the Cold War, and Amid a Love Trianle. His Version, Starring Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, Starts Previews On Broadway Oct. 15, ahead of a nov. 16 Opening.

The Show, Famous for It Muddy Storyline Which Also Involves Subplots About Defection, A Lost Family Member And More, Was Originally Penned BYTEED ITER ITER. and on Broadway in 1988, WHERE IT CLOSED After About Two Months. The British and American Versions Also Have Different Plot Points, Further Confusion The Matter, But The Score Has Endured and Developed A Cult-Following.

Strong Approached Rice and the Original Creative Team for Permission, WHICH WAS QUICKLY GRANTED, BEFORE HONING IN ON HIS Version of Chess, WHICH HEIGHTENS OF THE ERA, AND IntRODUCES A NARRATOR to GUIDE The AUDIENCE THRUGH the Plot. HE Teamed Up with Director Michael Mayer (Spring awakening) On the Show and Held A Short Run at the Kennedy Center in 2018, and A One-Night Concert on Broadway in 2022.

While Strong is Known for His Roles in the Film and TV World, Including as An Actor, He’s Also Penned A Few Theatric Shows, Including The Book To The Musical Galileo, Directed by Mayer, Whoth He Also Hopes to See On Broadway in the Next Year. Mayer Saw The Same Concert As Strong (“It Was A Musical Event, and I Was Completely Confounded by The Story, Such As It Was,“ He Said) Ability.

“I Thought He Was Uniquelly Qualified To Marry A Large Political Story with the Interpersonal Drama that was in other that Larger Context,“ Mayer Said. “I THINK HE JUST DOES THAT SO WELL, AND HAS SUCH A GREAT Ear for Not Only The Wonkiness of Politics, But As EvidenCed In ‘Empire,’ Hee Got A Really Good Sense Obring. This Love Triangle Together. ”

Strong Spoke to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the first preview of Chess About What Drew Him to The Project and How Hows He May have Cracyd the Code for the Show (Even As He Warns there will be more Tweaks Dringing Previes).

WHEN DID YOU FIRST BECOME INVOLVED WITH Chess?

I was listening to it one day, and it’s very famus for not work, Because the musical’s very beloved Amongst Musical Theater Nerds Like Myself. And so i was listening to the music, and i was was Thinking, Who Doesn’t the Show Work? Because No One Ever Performs It. They just do Chess in concertBecause It Doesn’t make Sense. You Can’t Really Follow The Show. SO THEN I WATCHED A VIDEO OF The JOsh Groban, Idina Menzel Chess in concert. As i was watching it, my brain startd to go in rewrite mode, and i startd to try to see with what was the Problem and How i would fix it. And then, all of a suudden, i had this delusional thorough, whokh was, “geez, maybe i can fix the show.”

SO THEN I HAD A FRIEND REACH OUT to Michael Mayer, and She TEXTED HIM AND SAID, “DANNY WANTS TO FIX ‘CHESS’, AND HE WANTS YOU TO DIRECT IT.” And it was sort of a joke, almost. And then I woke up the Next Morning with An Email From Michael, and He Said, “I’M IN” AND THEN HE SAID, “TOM HULCE IS PRODUUING, SO YOU HAVE A PRODUVER TOO.”

WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COUPLAND BEING TO FIX IT?

I didn’t go into it, watching the Concert, Thinking, “Only and Can Fix Chess. I will be the hero. ” IT WAS MORE I JUST WANTED TO CHECK IT OUT. SomeTimes i’m Brough Into Rewrite Projects, and THEN SomeTIMES I’M BROUGHT IN POST TO RECAP PROjects. Many Times on Films and TV Shows.

WHAT DO YOU THINK The PROBLEM IS A CHAW?

The Show Was Very Hard to Follow. There Were Things That Wuld Happen Too Quickly, Things Where Story Wuld Turn Within Song. So You Couldn’t Really Pick Up What Had Happy, Because It’s Buried in Song Lyrics. And I ALSO TONOUGHT, I’D LOVE TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO INCREASE The STAKES. How Can You Raise The Stakes, So Is More Than the LOVE Story and Just the Chess Matches? And I Thought the Way to do that is the Cold War. WHEN they have written this show, the Cold War Was Happy, They Were Living It. And there’s Flicks of the Cold War Throughout the Music. But I Thoung IF I COLD INFUSE COLD WARTYLINES AND TAKE TRUE LIFE COLD WAR EVENTS AND PUT IT INTO The Story and Interst It WitH the LOVE Story High-Stakes Dynamic Story. That was my Main Approach to It.

It Sounds Like You Put more Dialogue Into the Production Too.

It Feels Now Much More Like A Traditional Book Musical. There are rich scenes, and then we go into songs, and then sometimes we’ve got long sequences of just musical, and then sometimes we have few sequences of back Andy Also Let Me Cut Songs, So and Was Able to Pare Down the Music. I, ALONG with Every Other Musical Theater Nerd That Loves ChessWe Just Think Is One of the Great Rock Musical Scores of All Time. SO getting to pare it down and get to the essence of all the 20 incredible songs that were there are also have a Powerful Effect on the Show.

There Are Divering Plot Points Between the American Version and British Version, Including Different Winners of the Chess Tournament. Are you following one version more than the other?

I’ll Confess Something to You. I have no idea what’s in the American One. I Never Read It. They wrote a whole book for the American One, and I Just Never Read It. The Original Authors are not fans of it, and they were very unhappy with that version. And i just thorough, i’m going to work of the songs, and the London One is Pretty Much Sung-Thugh. So i just use the songs as the base for the show, and then came up with these Cold War Storylines.

WERE YOU NERVOUS About the Reaction to Cutting Songs?

It’s Been 40 Years, And I Just Thought, I Need to Follow My Instincts and Just Try to Put the Show Together in a Way while Whtry It Really Effective Piece of StoryTeling, An Al. And I wasn’t even Thinking about timiness and bjorn, what would be anger them, or what would would be bump their. I Just Really Tried to Follow My Instincts on How to Make This Show Work. And lo and behold, tim and benny and bjorn were incredibly receaptive to it once they read it, and they didn’t have a problem at all with the songs i’d cut.

And that WE DID IT at the Kennedy Center – and i’ve Done a Pretty Big Rewrite Since the Kennedy Center – It Was this Kind of Proof of Concept, and I was was. And at intermission, Benny Just Looked at Me Beaming. And he gave me a big thumbs up. And bjorn patted me.

And how about among the fans?

I Hope the Chess Fans Come In Open Minded, Because and See Them Online, and There’s A Lot of Debating Over Their Favorite Version and Their Favorite Recoding. And there’s so Many recrdings, and people are constantly posting questings at me and the TRUTH is that we’re ultimately guidated by the macro of hows. As if you’ve Never Seen It.

What Sparked More Rewrites After The Kennedy Center Concert?

There was things that worked that we wanted to expand upon. There were things that didn’t work that we wanted to eliminate. And it was a realy Helpful Kind of Moment in the Process of How to DO THE SHOW. We have a narrator, the arbiter. HE Narrates the Show. And it worked so well. I was surprised at How Well It Played. And he does it kind of with this sardonic tone. And it kildled. So we just built that into the show more.

And so you’re saying that myself and everyone who comes will be aboderstand of what’s happering in your Version of Chess.

I BELIEVE SO. I Believ It’ll Be Crystal Clear, Actual. And I Feel Like IF IT IS, THEN WE’VE ALRIREADY WON. Like Just that Alone Will Be A Victory. But, I Think The Music Is So Incredible, and The Songs Are So Dynamic That It Started with “Let’s Just Make This Clear and Legible” And Ths Went To, “How We Create SO OUR AMBITION ABSOLUTELY GREW as the Process Began.

I Interesting that this is coming after the success of the recent Broadway Revival of Merrily We Roll Alongwhoh also famously didn’t work when it premiered. Do you think that’s more of an apetite for reworking the bestse kinds of shows?

I Think It’s Sort of A Coincident, Because the Kennedy Center Was in 2018. So i didn’t Even Know About Merry, But Merrily Was Great for Us, Because It Was A Template and A SHOW that’s Beloved, that Famously Didn’t Work, and then they Redid It, and It Was Wildly SuccessFul. I THINK THAT WAS RELALLY HELPFUL FOR US TO GETTING The SHOW TO BROADWAY AND GETTING INVESTORS INTERESTED. I don’t know if it’s necessarily an apetite. I Think It’s An Element of Just People Love Tese Shows. They love this music. And so the idea that a show that almost Never Gets Done, Merrily Never Gets Done, Chess Rarely Ever Gets Done. The idea that, ok, if you can make this work and the shower can be. Well, The Fans of Tese Shows, They’re Very Excited To Come See of Them.

You may have Galileo Coming to Broadway, But Is There There More Theater or More Broadway That You Want To Take On?

I have one of the show that i’ve that i’m writing, but i don’t want to say what it is, because it haven’n I HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED THE SCRIPT YET. IT’s A Musical.

This Conversation Has Been Lightly Edited for Length and Clarity.