Following the overture, the show begins in 1979 and the stage is set for a tense, international rivalry: American democracy vs. Soviet Communism. “It’s the red flag up against the stars and the stripes,” sings an all-knowing Arbiter, a character expanded for this revival to be a narrator throughout. The game of chess is a fitting metaphor.

Anatoly declares his ambition, along with his yearning for artistic freedom from oppressive Soviet control, in this insistent ballad. The stakes can’t be higher. “I’m running for my life and never looking back,” he belts, “in case there’s someone right behind me to shoot me down.”

In this song fragment reprised in Act 1 and performed in full in Act 2, Freddie, who has a reputation for volatility, maintains he’s “not the kind to be vindictive, holding some childish grudge.” But we later hear all about his troublesome youth.

As the title suggests, the action moves to the Italian city, where eager preparations are being made for the World Chess Championship. The song was cut for the show's Broadway premiere in 1988, but it returns for this revival.

“All they want is a show,” Freddie cynically sings as he takes in the media frenzy over the chess competition — “the big sensation.” He knows the game is all about entertainment and propaganda, not pure competition.

The original London production simply titled this song "Freddie's Entrance."

Pelted with intrusive questions from reporters, Freddie goes off script, and things get volatile. Florence steps up as a fixer, belting: “Smile, you’ve got your first exclusive story.”

This song came earlier in Act 1 in the original Broadway run.

In a number packed with pomp, the Arbiter presides as ringmaster and frames the match between Freddie and Anatoly as ritualized spectacle and combat. And he sees all: “I’m on the case, can’t be fooled, any objection is overruled.”

The number launched Act 2 in the 1988 Broadway run under the title “Arbiter’s Song.”

The match between Anatoly and Freddie begins, and this instrumental number underscores the action.

This punchy, opera-tinged tune weaves together the perspectives of Florence; Anatoly; Anatoly's coach, Molokov; and the Arbiter as everything turns into “a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee.” The song speaks to political and personal dramas brewing in the show.

With the final fate of the chess match on pause, Florence draws closer to Anatoly. Freddie lays into her, recalling how Russia laid siege to her homeland of Hungary in this urgent, defiant number. “If you walk out on me,” he rages full-throated, “they’ve got you like they got your father.”

The song's title was changed to “You Want to Lose Your Only Friend” for the 1988 Broadway premiere.

“What's going on around me is barely making sense; I need some explanations, fast. I see my present partner in the imperfect tense, and I don’t see how we can last.”

Florence’s tumultuous feelings flow in this belty, rafter‑raising power ballad that declares she will no longer be anyone’s pawn — in politics or love. In the original Broadway run, the song appeared later in Act 1.

This lyrical, flowing number marks the moment when Florence and Anatoly’s romantic connection becomes undeniable, high in the mountains and far from the glare of the media.

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than be wasting my time on mountains with you,” they harmonize — until Freddie arrives and shatters the spell.

The song was called “Terrace Duet” in the 1988 Broadway run.

“Who’d ever guess it? Such a squalid little ending. Watching you descending just as far as you can go. I’m learning things I didn’t want to know.”

This fiery, in-your-face number alternatively titled “So You Got What You Want” marks Florence’s breaking point — with Freddie personally and the political machinery professionally. No longer Freddie's chess second (an assistant-like role), Florence puts herself first.

Echoing and expanding upon the song fragment earlier in Act 1, Freddie exposes more about his inner pain and the feeling of being under a microscope. “I’m in the spotlight,” he sings, “half of the world my judge.”

“One of these days, and it won’t be long, he’ll know more about me than he should. All my dreams will be understood.” Florence’s torchy solo captures her inner tumult over her deepening feelings for Anatoly in spite of the personal and political risks.

In the 1988 Broadway premiere, the song landed early in Act 2.

In this fast-paced group number alternately titled "Reporters," Anatoly, who has a wife and kids back home in the Soviet Union, decides to defect to the U.K. The press pounces. “Are you starting again in all aspects of life?” they want to know. We do too.

“How can I leave her? Where would I start? Let man’s petty nations tear themselves apart. My land’s only borders lie around my heart.”

Anatoly’s soaring Act 1 finale — an anthem for the ages — affirms the Soviet champion’s unbreakable bond with his homeland despite defecting to the West for love and freedom.

The story leaps ahead four years to Thailand’s capital city, where Anatoly is defending his title against the USSR’s new star, Vladimir Viigand, in a championship match. The shift is marked by an instrumental introduction that gets Act 2 off to an ear-tickling start.

“One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble. Not much between despair and ecstasy.” In the show’s breakout hit, ever-present across versions, Freddie steps up as a jaded TV commentator sizing up the city. The ensemble lends major support.

The song launched Act 2 in the London world premiere, but it came about midway into Act 1 in the Broadway premiere.

Political maneuvering precedes this searing solo by Svetlana, Anatoly’s wife-turned-pawn of Soviet officials. She sings of loving a brilliant public champion who remains emotionally immature and unreliable in private.

Added for a 2009 Swedish production, the song now makes its Broadway debut with the current revival.

“We predict a stunning victory both on the board and off it. This will show the traitor no one rats with profit.” Soviet powers-that-be reveal their plan to use Viigand to humiliate the defector Anatoly.

During a tense live TV confrontation, Freddie blindsides Anatoly with jagged questions and jabs about his defection. “Is being homeless affecting your game?” Freddie jeers. “No, by a home I mean real home. The place where your family is.”

Lyrics don’t get plainer and emotions don’t burn brighter than in this heart-stirring duet. Florence and Anatoly face reality about their relationship amid personal obligations and crushing political pressure: “Where there's truth, there will be lies. You and I, we’ve seen it all, been down this road before.”

Cold War politics, like the game of chess, are all about winning. The company-wide song spotlights each character’s hidden agendas as they collide, and the plot hurtles forward. The song reprises melodies and motifs from other songs, including “Where I Want to Be” and “Nobody’s Side.”

In this extended version of this hard-driving number heard in fragments in Act 1, Freddie goes from introspective to raging as he reflects on his traumatic childhood and how it shaped his ruthless, distrustful personality.

Svetlana: “Wasn’t it good, wasn’t he fine?” Florence: “Isn’t it madness?” Both: “He won’t be mine.”

Anatoly’s lover and his wife bond over their shared heartbreak and knowledge of his complex character in this poignant duet, which has become one of the most iconic songs from Chess.

This climactic ensemble number depicts the nail-biting final chess match amid high-stakes moves, bluffs, and betrayals as the relationship of Freddie, Florence, and Anatoly assumes new dimensions.

In this poignant power ballad, Florence reflects on her past and recognizes she’s been defined by other people’s needs and politics. She resolves to finally claim her own voice.

In the 1988 Broadway run, the song appeared midway through Act 1.

Florence and Anatoly get the last word — er, lyrics. They reflect on what they’ve been through together and what they’ve given each other as their final moves draw Chess to a bittersweet close.

Scenes and songs in Chess vary across major productions, including both Broadway runs. Some songs listed in the 1988 production have been cut or appear in other forms. Here are a few Chess songs that appeared in past versions of the show, but were cut for the current revival.

• “The Story of Chess”: This number, sung by Florence’s father to her as a girl, gives an overview of the game. It was the opening number of the 1988 Broadway run, and its lyrics are now woven into “Pity the Child #2.”
• “How Many Women”: “How many women would drive themselves crazy by arguing over a game of chess?” Florence asks Freddie in this song that establishes tension between them.
• “Merchandisers Song”: Commercial sponsors reduce the brainy game of chess to crass bottom lines.
• “U.S. Versus U.S.S.R”: Sung by the Arbiter, this song is folded into “The Arbiter” in the Broadway revival.
• “You Want to Lose Your Only Friend”: This song gets threaded into “1956 Budapest Is Rising” in the new revival.
• “Hungarian Folk Song”: In the original Broadway run, the song underscored a locale change and highlighted Florence’s nationality.
• “Let’s Work Together”: In the original London production, this song was in place of “The Soviet Machine.”

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Photo credit: Chess on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)