Chess - The Musical

It's been dubbed a thinking man's musical -- which may explain why it bombed on Broadway....

Inspired by the world-was-watching contest between American chess genius Bobby Fischer and the Russian champion Boris Spassky in 1972, the fictionalized face-off isn't about the game. Rather, "Chess" mirrors the way the players were manipulated by the Soviet and American governments during the Cold War....

"Chess" opened in London in 1986, where it ran for three years. It debuted on Broadway in 1988 and closed after just two months.

Read "'Chess': A stage musical that makes crowds think" from the Staten Island Advance.