Chess at The Edinburgh Playhouse

September 16, 2010 9:47 am

Star judge of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, Craig Revel Horwood, is bringing his new show to Edinburgh’s Playhouse next week.
Craig is directing and choreographing the new production of ‘Chess’ which is coming to the capital on September 21 for one week.
He directs an amazing company of actors and musicians in this extraordinary new staging of the classic musical. Written by Tim Rice and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, Chess has one of the greatest musical theatre scores of all time including ‘One Night In Bangkok’, ‘Pity The Child’, ‘Anthem’, ‘You And I’ and, of course, ‘I Know Him So Well’ which became a number one hit for Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson.
The story follows two of the world’s greatest chess masters as they battle it out at the world chess championships but their greatest contest is for the love of one woman.
Amidst political intrigue and international conspiracies, the American and the Russian fight to win the heart of Florence Vassy in a romantic triangle that mirrors the heightened passions of the Cold War all set to an explosive score by the composers of ‘Mamma Mia’ and the lyricist of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita’.
Craig said: “Taking on such an iconic show was scary and quite nerve wracking because it is such a different type of performance and people love the score. It was quite a thing to take on but I really enjoyed it because I love a challenge. We have had great reviews so far and I am really looking forward to bringing the show to Edinburgh. I love the city and I hope to be there myself on the first Saturday.
‘Chess’ features a huge host of West End stars including James Fox (Fame Academy, Jesus Christ Superstar), Shona White (Wicked), Daniel Koek (West Side Story), and Poppy Tierney (Mary Poppins, Aspects of Love, The Witches of Eastwick).
Craig Revel Horwood has previously won huge critical acclaim for his thrilling productions of Boublil and Schönberg’s ‘Martin Guerre’, ‘Spend Spend Spend’, ‘Hot Mikado’ and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’.