Washington Post - Recommended
"...Through the enthralling eruptions of music you're able to look past the book's limitations and sit back and groove. The orchestrations by David Holcenberg, played by a 10-piece rock-and-string ensemble that's ably conducted by Jenny Cartney, provide an exemplary foundation. And you can't beat the voices, especially of the chess masters. Kushnier gives his songs, most notably the revelatory "Pity the Child," a rocker's shattering intensity."
Baltimore Sun - Recommended
"...Signature artistic director Eric Schaeffer has done a masterful job shaving off extra pounds from the original book by Richard Nelson and getting the storyline more tightly focused on the love triangle that has always been at the heart of it. The song order has been reshuffled a bit, too."
Variety - Highly Recommended
"...Whether this new version of "Chess" merits another bite of the Big Apple is ripe for debate. But for now, it's another feather in Signature's cap -- an enjoyable show featuring edgy performances, terrific voices and impeccable staging."
DCist - Recommended
"...Paice is a sexy firestorm as Florence, her voice sweet and heartbroken at moments, throaty and challenging the next. As Anatoly, Euan Morton turns the plaintive "Where I Want To Be" into a chilling tale of a man quite conscious that he's meandering through life, stilted by regret, while Jeremy Kushnier embraces the cocky bravado of the American Freddie with flair. The soaring sound each vocalist brings to Chess's already formidable score should help the musical earn a more deserving status in musical history: Chess is more than that one flop by ABBA where a Commie and a hothead stare across each other over a board."
Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...This new version is filled with unrelenting high-intensity passion, thanks to extensive reworking by director Eric Schaeffer, and to the show's captivating leads from Broadway and London’s West End."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...Signature has taken a gamble by presenting Chess, a musical that has never been professionally produced in the Washington area. More musically complicated than what has come to be thought of as a ''rock musical'' and bearing all of the regalia of the time when it was written, the project could have landed onstage like a Pet Rock. Fortunately, that's not the case. Chess is bright, engaging and full of queens (and kings and pawns and songs) that will, in fact, excite you.'"
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...The musical Chess has been a hodgepodge since its original London staging in 1986 and Broadway debut in 1988—and no two versions of the show have been the same—but that makes the strong production at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, a welcome surprise. It benefits from having Broadway performers Jill Paice, Euan Morton and Jeremy Kushnier in the lead roles, and from the wise decision by director Eric Schaeffer to emphasize the emotional tangles among these characters and minimize the surrounding story of Cold War espionage played out on the chessboard."
Washington City Paper - Somewhat Recommended
"...Nelson, along with songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus—the ABBA veterans, whose melodies can be surprisingly sophisticated, even if they often seem to have little to do with the words Tim Rice has strung upon them—hasn’t given Schaeffer much to work with, and some of the newest revisions to the story move its conclusion away from the bleakly tragic toward the mawkishly sentimental. If the complicated maneuvers of the heart—and of the game that was once at the center of this musical—are what intrigue you, you’ll probably come away feeling unmoved. Go just for the songs, though, if that’s your thing; you’ll definitely come away with one on your lips."
Washington Times - Highly Recommended
"...The eponymous highbrow 1980s musical, an imaginative retelling of a legendary Cold War chess duel, had a decidedly checkered career in its first outings, triumphing in London but bombing on Broadway. The newly retooled and updated version of the show, now playing in Arlington’s snazzy Signature Theatre, is a genuinely exciting late summer treat. It shows considerably more promise of success in 2010 than did its predecessors, the result of a cleaner plot line, a trio of fantastic lead singers—Euan Morton, Jill Paice, and Jeremy Kushnier—and a high energy performance by the entire cast and crew."
Express Night Out - Recommended
"...Director Eric Schaeffer doesn't shy away from the fact that "Chess" is a product of the '80s. MTV-style video screens, extensive use of synthesizers and a chorus apparently costumed by the ghost of Michael Jackson are all present here, and they add to a sort of endearing weirdness that any company tackling this musical should embrace."
Alexandria Times - Highly Recommended
"...It is impossible to say enough about Euan Morton as Anatoly Sergievsky. The Russian chess champion has the first solo in the musical, and Morton’s voice stuns the audience, carrying the fear and bitterness of a hunted man. Anatoly has sacrificed everything for the sake of his ambition, and now, standing at the top of the mountain, he discovers that he has nothing left but the fear of falling."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
Chess is Cold War meets hot rock. It’s a tour de force of intelligence, emotional intensity and intrigue (political and personal), sporting a jaw-dropping score with music by ABBA’s Benny & Bjorn (Mama Mia!) and lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar among his impressive catalog of hits).
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...
Schaeffer has assembled quite a cast. Helen Hayes Award winner Christopher Bloch shines in his performance as the Russian in charge of Anatoly, Molokov. Chris Sizemore plays the Arbiter who has the responsibility to make the chess game happen. Thankfully he gets the opportunity to sing the wonderful number "Arbiter's Song" which was removed from the Broadway production. Russell Sunday does a nice job as the U.S. representative Walter and Eleasha Gamble plays Anatoly's Russian wife. Her duet with Paice "I Know Him So Well" brings down the house."
