By Mark Ambrogi
“Chess” is not on the typical list of high school musicals.
“I think this is the first time, at least in this area, that this version of ‘Chess’ has ever been done,” said Ethan Mathias, a Hamilton Southeastern High School teacher who serves as the school’s musical co-director.
Mathias said the show was chosen by the co-directors because it fits the skills of this year’s talent pool at HSEHS. The musical is set during the Cold War with music created by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and lyrics by Tim Rice (“The Lion King”).
The performances will be at 7 p.m. March 10-12 in the high school’s Leonard Auditorium.
Senior Lauren Boswell plays Florence, a Hungarian-American. Her family moved from Hungary after her county was invaded by the Soviets.
“She is a second for an American chess player, but she kind of falls over to the dark side and falls in love with a Russian chess player,” Boswell said.
The musical is loosely based on the rivalry between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.
“The vocal parts of the role are challenging for me but it’s exciting to test my limits,” Boswell said.
Senior Josh Diggs plays Anatoly, a Russian chess player.
“It’s my first actual lead role in HSE drama production,” Diggs said. “It wasn’t hard, but it was interesting to step up. There are more songs to memorize.”
Diggs knew this was the role he wanted heading into auditions.
“As soon as I saw the concert version on YouTube, I decided that was who I wanted to be,” Diggs said.
Senior Sam Adams performs as Freddie, an American chess player. Adams played Emmett, one of the lead roles in the school musical “Legally Blonde” as a junior.
“This role is challenging just because last year I had to expand my range to hit some of the notes for Emmett,” Adams said. “I’ve had to expand it even more and that’s been even harder than it was last year. I’m just trying to condition my voice not to give out midway through rehearsals.”
Mathias’ fellow co-directors are his wife Devan, who handles the choreography, and Mary Armstrong, who heads the stage crew.
