Rock Musical CHESS Set To Play Gallery Players

Gallery Players announces the final show of its 51st season, the timely classic, Chess. It is an epic story set at the height of the Cold War, where two great chess masters-an American and a Russian-meet in Bangkok to battle for the world championship... but their greatest contest is for the love of one woman.

Before Mamma Mia!, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of the pop group ABBA, fashioned this daring musical from an idea by lyricist Tim Rice. Originally satirizing the hostility of the international political atmosphere of the 1980s, Chess could very well have been written today, as politics, espionage and intrigue collides with love and chess. Featuring the Top 40 hit "One Night in Bangkok," Chess arrived on Broadway with great fanfare and acclaim, but is only seldom performed. Now, following the Gallery Players' production, this year alone will bring a late-April West End Opening, a mid-June concert at Town Hall, and an opening on Broadway in late 2018. Of Chess, Rolling Stone said the "dazzling score covers nearly all the pop bases".

Chess opens Saturday, April 21st, and runs for 16 performances only through Sunday, May 13th, 2018. Performances will be held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm and Sunday afternoons at 3:00 pm. The second and third, Saturdays will also have matinees at 2:00 pm.

Tickets are $30 for Adults and $20 for senior citizens, students, and children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased 24/7 online at www.galleryplayers.com or by calling OvationTix at 212-352-3101 (phone hours 9-9 weekdays, 10-6 weekends). Chess is an approved Actors' Equity Association showcase.

Bringing Chess to the Gallery Stage is Executive Producer and Director, Mark Harborth; Company Manager, Nick Radu-Blackburn; Music Director, Benjamin L. Jacob; Assistant Director/Choreographer, Ryan Graytok; Set Designer, Grenville Burgess; Lighting Designer, Scott Andrew Cally; Projections Designer, Heather M. Crocker; Costume Designer, Antonio Consuegra; Assistant Costume Designer, Sherry Wu; Props Designer, Gabrielle Giacomo; Production Stage Manager, Roxanne Goodby; Assistant Stage Manager, Emily La Rosa and a stellar cast featuring Fiore Barbini*, Emma Grace Berardelli, Jay Braver, Ben Carlson, Doug Chitel*, Anthony Logan Cole, Joey Donnelly*, John Gibson*, Brian Graziani, Christopher Jumper*, Gavin Kenny, Emily La Rosa, Tara Llewellyn, Tyler McCombe, Carman Napier*, Jan-Peter Pedross*, Logan Rathmann, Becky Rosky, Elizabeth Sauter, Rachel Shafran, Jennifer Walder, Dennis Wees* and Travis Wicklund

(*member of Actor's Equity Association).

Following the Sunday, April 22nd, matinee, the audience is invited to Gallery Talks, a brief, complimentary post-show event at which they can openly discuss topical facets of the show and the production with theatre scholars, the director and the cast.

A New York institution for over 50 years-The Gallery Players' season comprises three plays and three musicals from both the classic and contemporary repertoire; the season finale is the annual Black Box New Play Festival, which workshops and presents world premiere productions of works by emerging playwrights. Gallery's OVERTURES program features staged readings of new musicals held throughout the regular season. Gallery has received the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement, as well as Innovative Theater (IT) awards for outstanding musical for Urinetown, Yank, and Like You Like It, and has earned the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret."

The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th Street, between 4th and 5th Avenues, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Avenue or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: the BQE to Hamilton Avenue, to 14th Street. Website: http://galleryplayers.com.

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