How Glee prepared Lea Michele for Chess — plus, hear the star sing 'Someone Else's Story' (exclus...

&34;'Chess' feels like it's just been there waiting for me,&34; says Michele.&34; How Glee prepared Lea Michele for Chess — plus, hear the star sing 'Someone El

"'Chess' feels like it's just been there waiting for me," says Michele."

How Glee prepared Lea Michele for Chess — plus, hear the star sing 'Someone Else's Story' (exclusive)

"'Chess' feels like it's just been there waiting for me," says Michele."

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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September 10, 2025 1:00 p.m. ET

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Lea Michele in 'Chess'. Credit:

- *Chess, *the 1980s cult favorite Broadway musical, is getting a long-awaited revival this fall, starring Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher.

- * *debuts your first listen to three songs from the show, concluding this week with Lea Michele's rendition of 'Someone Else's Story.'

- Michele talks discovering the role of Florence and how she fell into what has become a dream role.

For Lea Michele, it's finally checkmate.

The actress, who moved from Broadway star in *Spring Awakening *to TV breakout on *Glee, *never would've called Florence in *Chess *a dream role — but she's inadvertently been circling the musical for years. And now, this fall, she's starring in the show's long-awaited return to Broadway.

The cult favorite musical, with music from Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA and lyrics by Tim Rice, is getting a Broadway revival with a revised book from Danny Strong (*Empire*). Directed by *Spring Awakening *helmer Michael Mayer, the show follows chess players — American Freddie Trumper (Aaron Tveit) and Russian Anatoly Sergievsky (Nicholas Christopher) — and the woman caught between them, Florence Vassy (Michele).

Following our debut of Aaron Tveit's rendition of "One Night in Bangkok" and Nicholas Christopher's take on "Where I Want to Be," * *can exclusively share a clip of Michele employing her signature belt on "Someone Else's Story."

*Chess *is Michele's second outing on Broadway since her feted return in the revival of *Funny Girl, *fulfilling her lifelong dream of playing Fanny Brice on stage. *Chess *doesn't have quite the same hallowed place in Michele's life, but the star says she feels like the production is kismet.

"I feel like I was born to sing this music," she tells EW. "I feel like I was born to sing Tim Rice's lyrics. It just feels like it's been a part of me without me even knowing."

In some ways, it has. Michele made her Broadway debut when she was only eight years old, joining the ensemble of *Les Miserables *at the Imperial Theatre. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), that's where *Chess *also made its initial Broadway bow, and where it's returning this fall for its first ever New York revival.

Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher in 'Chess'.

It's also where Michele heard any music from the show for the first time. "I wasn't a young girl who grew up listening to Broadway showtunes," Michele admits. "But once I was in *Les Mis* surrounded by a really beautiful cast of young, theater-loving, talented kids, they really educated me. That's when I got my Broadway musical education. I heard songs from *Bye Bye Birdie *and *Miss Saigo*n for the first time. And it was in my dressing room that one of the young girls sang a part of 'Heaven Help My Heart.'"

Michele will now be singing that song in its entirety eight nights a week.

She points to other funny coincidences, like the fact that a photograph of her in front of the Imperial taken around the same age happens to feature a poster for *Chess *in the background. Or there's her connection to Idina Menzel, who played Michele's mother on *Glee, *and sang the role of Florence in a 2008 West End concert. It was that album recording, which also features Josh Groban and Adam Pascal, that renewed Michele's interest in the musical.

"When I heard Idina do 'Nobody's Side,' I just said to myself, 'This is my new anthem. I have to sing this song,'" Michele recalls. "As a performer, I've only had that feeling one or two other times in my life. And I know that when I get it, it's meant to be."

Nicholas Christopher asks 'What happens when a dream is met?' with exclusive 'Chess' song clip

Listen to Aaron Tveit sing 1980s hit 'One Night in Bangkok' from 'Chess' (exclusive)

Still, even with her interest in that song, Michele admits *Chess* wasn't a show that was necessarily on her bucket list. "Playing Fanny Brice was my dream for so long that I couldn't open my mind and my heart to any other dreams until that one was done," she says. "I just felt like that I needed to do that show. It was a part of my history and the patchwork of my life."

Michele fulfilled that dream, taking over for Beanie Feldstein, and it left her hungry to find the next mountain to scale. "When I finished, the first thing that I felt was, 'I'm just so ready and excited to explore other roles and find a new dream,'" she explains. "Then *Chess* came around, and I played 'Nobody's Side' again and like, 'This is it. I need to play Florence.'"

"That feeling has only increased every single day since Michael asked me to do this," she continues. "It may not have been a dream role that I've had for years, the way that Fanny was, but the minute it came into my life, it felt like it's just been there waiting for me."

Bruce Glikas/WireImage

The character of Florence Vassy has changed a lot since *Chess *first premiered as a concept album in 1984. Indeed, even the song that EW is premiering, "Someone Else's Story," has shifted over the years. It was not a part of the original score on the album, and then, when it was added for the West End debut of the musical, it was given to the character of Svetlana, Anatoly's estranged wife. It wasn't until the 1988 Broadway production that it became Florence's number.

That constant state of evolution will also feed Michele's take on the role. "This is a woman in a man's world," says Michele. "She's a genius. She's a chess champion on her own. But she is surrounded by these men. She is fighting to assert her knowledge, her mind, and her voice, but she is also someone who has love, wants love and is vulnerable. I love playing characters that have such a strong push and pull between their strength and their vulnerability."

Michele spent the summer with her costars, Mayer, and writer Danny Strong poring through the script and various revisions. It led to a clear and fresh point of view for the scene in the show where she sings "Someone Else's Story."

"It really is her moment to express what she has learned, where she is now, and the confidence that she has in her future — whatever that might look like," she muses.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

***Sign up for **'s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.******* "Being able to play this strong female in this male-driven world is something that I've never got to do before," she adds. "But being able to bring in those other layers of emotion and the trauma of her history, I want to put it all in there. I feel like I can, and I can do it with such ease and confidence with the incredible people that I have around me. I feel like I can fall and [my costars] will both catch me. It's given me the capability to take her in a very strong direction."

Oddly enough, though *Glee *featured no small share of deep musical theater cuts, the show never did do a number from *Chess. *However, in yet another sign of Florence being a role that was waiting in the wings for her, Michele says the TV show prepared her for the unique challenges of the score.

"It was such an incredible experience as a vocalist to be able to learn how to sing so many different styles and materials," she says of *Glee. *"It was a challenge, but it helped me to be able to constantly make those vocal shifts and to go from a show like *Funny Girl* to *Chess.*"

It's even more important given that the *Chess *score doesn't fit neatly into a box of pop, rock, or even classic showtunes. It's got a little bit of everything. "Not one song is the same here for me," Michele adds. "With Aaron, the songs are definitely more pop-rock, and then with Nick, they're more classic Broadway. It's so fun to be able to dive into all of the fun textures and go on a little bit of a rollercoaster throughout this show. It's something that I've been unknowingly preparing for a very long time now."

*Chess* begins performances at the Imperial Theatre on Oct. 15 with an official opening night set for Nov. 16.

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