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Broadway’s Chess revival will close June 21 when Lea Michele leaves, dropping plans to continue through September with Joanna ‘JoJo’ Levesque in the lead role.
The 2025 Broadway revival of Chess will close June 21, three months earlier than the production had previously planned, with the final performance now timed to Lea Michele‘s scheduled departure.
The production had announced earlier this month that singer Joanna JoJo Levesque would take over the lead role of Florence on June 23 and carry the show through at least September 13. That handoff is now off.
The New York Times’ notice that box office made Michele’s appeal essential to the show’s continued run framed the decision as a hard read of the numbers. The show had simply not built an audience that could carry it without her.
The numbers tell the story. Deadline’s breakdown of the production’s box-office trajectory and the producers’ statement on the closing tracks weekly grosses from a peak of $2.07 million in late November 2025 to roughly half that in recent weeks.
The most telling test came in early April. With Michele on vacation, weekly box office dropped to $585,803 and the Imperial Theatre filled to only 66 percent capacity.
The Tony Awards were the other punch. Chess landed five nominations: Nicholas Christopher for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Bryce Pinkham for Featured Actor, Hannah Cruz for Featured Actress, Brian Usifer for Orchestrations, and Kevin Adams for Lighting Design. Michele, Aaron Tveit, and the Best Revival category were all shut out.
The production’s pedigree is heavy. Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, with Tim Rice; a new book by Danny Strong of Dopesick; direction by Michael Mayer, who worked with Michele on Spring Awakening and Funny Girl; choreography by Lorin Latarro.
The show is a Cold War story. Tveit and Christopher play rival grandmasters from the U.S. and Soviet Union; Michele plays the woman who manages the American player and falls in love with the Soviet one. Songs include One Night in Bangkok and Nobody’s Side.
Chess opened last fall and broke several house records at the Imperial. Variety’s coverage of the closing announcement and the show’s mixed reviews notes the production drew unanimous praise for its lead performances but mixed critical reception overall.
The producers issued a joint statement. “Bringing Chess back to Broadway for the first time in nearly 40 years has been an enormous privilege,” said Tom Hulce, Robert Ahrens, and The Shubert Organization. “We are extremely proud of everything this production accomplished during its historic Broadway run.”
The capitalization was substantial. Reports have placed the production’s budget at roughly $15 million; producers have not officially confirmed the figure. The early closing means the show will not recoup its investment.
Chess has a notoriously troubled Broadway history. The original 1988 production, with a different book by Rice, closed after two months. This revival lasted longer but lands in the same fundamental position: a Broadway show that didn’t find its audience.
Levesque’s casting, announced earlier this month, had been the bridge meant to extend the run through summer. With that bridge canceled, Michele’s final bow on June 21 will also be the show’s.
The Imperial Theatre will host one of Broadway’s busy fall openings. Whatever follows Chess into the house has not yet been announced.
