STAGE REVIEW : ‘Chess’ Premiere a Fine Match of Cast and Score : Theater: Excellent direction, emphasis on the play’s rock music propel Tim Rice show.

The heavens smiled on the opening night of Starlight Musical Theatre’s “Chess.”

Due to fog, none of the usual planes flew over the stage Thursday. One could sense theater-goers tensing up, waiting for the first such invasion, then gradually relax as they realized they were actually going to get to see a show unfold from beginning to end without interruption.

That was part of the pleasure of “Chess.” But not the only one.

Starlight has put together a hot cast of terrific singers for this San Diego premiere--the best in this critic’s memory. And, because director James Rocco emphasizes the musical’s rock score, there are just brief moments of exposition between numbers.

Which is good. Because the book has always been the weakest part of “Chess.”

The show, conceived by Tim Rice and written by former ABBA writers and producers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (with Rice contributing to the lyrics), appeared as a record in 1984, as a London smash in 1986 and finally as a Broadway and touring flop.

In 1979, Rice conceived this story of a chess match between a Soviet and an American, with its sideline plot of political and romantic intrigue pushing humans along like living chess pieces. The story was timely then; the world was still electrified by the memory of the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky fight for the title of chess champion of the world in 1972. The match had all sorts of juicy Cold War undercurrents, especially with the continuing Soviet superstar defections making headlines at the time.

But by the time the show opened on Broadway in 1988, glasnost had made its Cold War subplot seem quaint. Some would say the collapse of the Soviet Union this year sounded its death knell.

For the show to survive, it needed a hook less dated than the particularities of Soviet-American animosity. Different regional companies have tried different approaches with varying success. Starlight presents it as a love story with some espionage on the side, a bit in the “Casablanca” mode--with one man called upon to make sacrifices for love.

Of course, this is not “Casablanca.” In that classic movie, the cynical, embittered character played by Humphrey Bogart is so smartly drawn that his later sacrifice comes across as an enormous and moving transformation. In “Chess,” the characters are not deeply drawn at all--in fact, they are soap opera-ish at best--and their sacrifices are fairly predictable.

But there are surprising moments of depth in this score, especially when performed with the dignity, power and grace of Jordan Bennett as Soviet champ Anatoly, Ray Walker as American champ Freddie and Karyn Quackenbush as Freddie’s assistant, Florence.

And, when the cast struts its stuff on the illuminated chessboard set, the effect is often quite mesmerizing.

Bennett, who starred as Jean Valjean in the Los Angeles production of “Les Miserables” at the Shubert Theatre, envelops the Starlight Bowl with a powerful, persuasively melting rendition of “Anthem”--a love song for his country.

Quackenbush, a catalyst who drives the action all the way through this production, soars in “Nobody’s Side” and again later in a duet of “I Know Him So Well” with Anatoly’s abandoned wife, Svetlana, poignantly played by Gail Wolford-Beall. As Freddie, Walker sizzles in “One Night in Bangkok.”

Rocco, who was responsible for the direction of Starlight’s wildly successful “Jesus Christ Superstar,” created the choreography. It’s clever, stylized and fun--in the MTV mode. He keeps the action moving swiftly--another wise move. Where other productions of the musical have topped three hours, this one takes about two hours, which feels right. We get just enough exposition for clarity’s sake. Too much and the show’s many holes would start glaring.

The striking chessboard set and stylish costumes, all from the touring production, are, at times, a show in themselves. Gregory Allen Hirsch masters the tricky lighting well.

The Starlight Bowl, it has often been said, has just the right acoustics for rock music. The “Chess” singers prove the point.

As for the Starlight Bowl without planes--who knows if it will ever happen again. But, for an opening night audience, it was a little heaven in Balboa Park--an ideal opportunity to discover the best that’s left in “Chess.”

“CHESS”

Music by Benny Andersson. Lyrics by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice. Based on an idea by Tim Rice. Book by Richard Nelson. Director and choreographer is James Rocco. Set coordinator is N. Dixon Fish. Costume coordinator is Scott Lane. Sound by Bill Lewis. Lighting by Gregory Allen Hirsch. Stage manager is Elizabeth Stephens. Assistant director-choreographer is Donna Drake. Hair by Donalee Braden. Musical director and conductor is Lloyd Cooper. With Ray Walker, Jordan Bennett, Karyn Quackenbush, David Cryer, Gail Wolford-Beall, Reggie Phoenix, Jamie Snyder, Ruff Yeager, Charles Jackam, Bryan Charles Feldman, Michael Dotson, Dan Leal, Javier Velasco, Emmi Nidorf and Christine Phelps. At 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays through July 19. Tickets are $14-$25 with 25% discounts for students and children. At the Starlight Bowl, Balboa Park, 544-7827 or 278-TIXS.