Chess, the cult Benny Andersson-Bjorn Ulvaeus-Tim Rice rock opera about an international chess competition set during the Cold War, closes its brief, east coast tour Feb. 13 at Hartford's Bushnell Theatre. The musical, directed by Bill Castellino, began performances in Connecticut Feb. 8 after stopping at Wilmington, Delaware's Playhouse Jan. 28-Feb. 6.

Brad Drummer (The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love), Kim Lindsay (Titanic, Les Miserables), Philip Hernandez (Les Miserables, The Capeman) and Kirsti Carnahan (Kiss of the Spider Woman) star as Freddie, Florence, Anatoly and Svetlana, respectively. Also in the cast are David Brummel (Nine) as Molokov, Mark McGrath (The Scarlet Pimpernel) as Walter and David Massenheimer (Les Miserables) as the Arbiter.

Chess's design is by John Farrell (set), Jeffrey S. Koger (lighting), David Lynd (sound) and Therea Squire (costumes).

This tour is produced with Jeffrey Finn Productions, CT's Bushnell and DE's Playhouse Theatre. The three were responsible for the 1999 spring tour of The Who's Tommy (which visited Wilmington, Hartford, Stamford, CT, Boston and Chicago) and a recent tour of the revised Company.

Tickets are $49.50-$16.50. The Bushnell is located at 166 Capitol Avenue. For tickets to Chess, contact the Bushnell at (860) 987-6000. The Bushnell is on the web at http://www.bushnell.org. -- By Christine Ehren