35 Years After Chess: The Musical, We're Getting Another Chess Musical

Playbill trumpeted the news yesterday that the popular Netflix series The Queen's Gambit is being adapted into a musical stage play. This brought to mind the first, and only, previous chess musical, titled, appropriately enough, Chess.

It loosely paralleled the Fisher-Spassky games, telling the story of a Cold War match between an American and a Soviet, taking place in Bangkok. It opened on London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1988. It was nominated for two Tony awards.

It is perhaps best known for the song "One Night in Bangkok," which stirred some minor controversy when it was banned by the Thai government radio and TV stations because the lyrics could ″cause misunderstanding about Thai society and showed disrespect towards Buddhism.″

The music video, naturally, is still available on YouTube.

One lyric isn't so controversial: "One town’s very like another when your head’s down over your pieces, brother."