Main Characters
| Character | Voice Type | Description |
| Frederick "Freddie" Trumper | Tenor | "The American": The United States' champion—a self-absorbed, fame-and-fortune-seeking, short-tempered, Russophobic bad boy, who either matures, aiding Anatoly a year after his own defeat, or remains selfish and wins (depending upon the version). |
| Anatoly Sergievsky | Baritone/Tenor | "The Russian": The Soviet Union's champion—a troubled father and husband who despises the propaganda and politics of the tournament, eventually deciding to defect from his homeland, even at the cost of deserting his family. |
| Florence Vassy | Mezzo-Soprano or Belter | Freddie's strong-willed English (though, American, in the Broadway version) second and paramour, who was born in Budapest and separated from her presumably captured or killed father during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, having now no further knowledge of his whereabouts (though she is of Czech birth in the Sydney version); she feels strained by Freddie's brashness and falls in love with Anatoly, eventually becoming his mistress. |
| The Arbiter | Baritone/Tenor | The coldly objective, no-nonsense referee of the championship tournament and also the president of the International Chess Federation. |
| Molokov | Bass or Bass-Baritone | Anatoly's slick second who is also, in fact, a manipulative KGB agent; in the West End version his first name is mentioned as Alexander; in the Broadway and Sydney versions, it is Ivan. |
| Walter de Courcey | Bass-Baritone | A media personality of the tournament and a secret CIA agent; his surname is sometimes spelled "de Courcy." |
| Svetlana Sergievsky | Mezzo-Soprano or Belter | Anatoly's estranged wife who, under Molokov's machinations, tries to persuade Anatoly to return to his homeland; although upset at Anatoly's betrayal, she also understands that Florence has given Anatoly something she cannot herself. (In actual Russian, her surname is stylized as the feminine "Sergievskaya.") |
Read more about this topic: Chess (musical)
Famous quotes containing the words main and/or characters:
“One of the main things that interfere with our joy is the belief that if we try hard enough, read the right books, follow the right advice, and buy the right things, we could be perfect parents. If we are good enough as parents, our children will be perfect too.... Unfortunately, what comes from trying to live out this philosophy is not perfect children but worried parents.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“The naturalistic literature of this country has reached such a state that no family of characters is considered true to life which does not include at least two hypochondriacs, one sadist, and one old man who spills food down the front of his vest.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)