He is The Arbiter; he knows the score. Since 2018, Tony nominee Bryce Pinkham has shaped the “Chess” narrator into an iconic character. I stopped by the Imperial Theatre to hear more about Bryce’s creative process and behind-the-scenes of the hit Broadway musical.

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That actor is Tony nominee Bryce Pinkham, who has been building the character since 2018. I meet Bryce at the Imperial Theatre on a Wednesday, between the matinee and evening shows, and we walk backstage with his agent. His dressing room is full of character, featuring photos and artwork from Chess, as well as fan art from the animated series Helluva Boss, where he voices Stolas.

"Do you want some tea?" he offers. "I drink a lot of tea." 

I'm not surprised — the role of The Arbiter is a vocally challenging, high-octane performance that would likely drain my energy for the next month, though Bryce makes it look effortless.

As Bryce sips his tea, I pull out my voice recorder, and we begin chatting about bringing The Arbiter to life.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Bryce: When I started working on Chess, I was not yet a dad, and now I have two little ones who are six and seven. That gives you a sense of how long these things take. They came and saw the show the other night, which was the first time they saw me perform on Broadway. That's a special core memory for all of us.

Entering that new phase of life as a dad has changed how I view the performance. My wife and I joke that we go to work for a rest, because parenting is a lot of work. I get here and instantly become more playful and childlike than I am at home, where I have to be the grown-up. If you had asked me this question years ago at the Kennedy Center, I might have come across a little more serious. Now, I feel a lot more carefree.

The actual show itself also feels different from when we did it in 2018. We've had to change a lot of the political jokes we had back then, because those same jokes really aren't funny anymore.

Bryce: This all started in 2018, when Danny had the idea to revive Chess. The Arbiter was central to his plan: he wanted to make the character a sort of host, MC, puppet master, and history teacher, all rolled into one. We only had two weeks to put his idea on its feet. 

Growing up, I was a bit of a class clown and also an overachiever. My parents were called into a first-grade parent-teacher conference, and the teacher said to my mom and dad, "I need you to find Bryce an outlet for his reckless creativity, somewhere other than my classroom." That's how I got into doing this.

During rehearsals for the Kennedy Center, I found myself in the rehearsal room, ad-libbing to make the other people in the company laugh. Danny started to go, "You know what? Let's keep that. Can you say something like that again?" 

We realized, "These ad-libs are part of the character." This character is almost more with the audience than with the story. That's why The Arbiter breaks the fourth wall and says, "Now I have to transform. Now I have to go be in the story." 

Once we figured that dynamic out, we were off to the races. Danny and [director] Michael [Mayer] just let me go and ad-lib to my heart's delight. The best part about the relationship is that they were also able to tell me no. I started learning their preferences by what they said no to. 

Over the years, I got to know the show and the music really well. In our final Broadway rehearsal process, I felt like I had real agency in the room regarding the piece and my character. I don't know that I've ever felt so much like myself in a character before.

Bryce: I would say, "Trust yourself." That's maybe the note that every actor has to give themselves their entire career.

I take myself seriously as a person — I'm a grown adult with a family. But in the theater and the rehearsal room, I feel like I really do have an instinct for this. I don't always get it right, but I have an instinct for where to look. 

The key to comedy is: if it isn't funny to you, the audience probably won't find it funny either. The jokes that I get to tell, I enjoy. Either Danny wrote them for me, knowing it's what I would say, or we reworked some ad-libs that I did to make it fit with the greater piece. Some of them we didn't rework at all — they're just straight rehearsal room ad-libs that are now part of the show.

Bryce: My job every evening is to host the party, but I’m not every bit of entertainment at the party. I’m there to make sure everything flows, that the audience understands where we are, and that the songs are set up for success.

Chess is built on these incredible songs. Our primary goal, from day one of rehearsal, was to support the music. The Arbiter is an attempt to stitch the book together so the songs can succeed.

Sometimes my role is to set up these songs, and sometimes it's to comment afterward. One of my favorite moments is after Lea Michele sings "Nobody's Side." As we were looking for an ad-lib there, I remember thinking, "What do I say? Nothing I can say is gonna make that better." So I just come out and go, “I mean…” 

Then there are moments where I don’t come on at all, like after "Pity the Child." We knew the audience just needed to feel that.

Bryce: The first time I did the song "The Arbiter" at the Kennedy Center, I was feeling like, "Oh, God, what am I about to do? Am I going to be able to do this?" 

I think it was [choreographer] Lorin Latarro who said, "You just have to go for it." That's when I came up with that ad-lib where The Arbiter says, "Yes, I'm gonna sing, and yes, I'm going to crush it." That was me talking myself into doing it.

At the top of the song, I'm allowing this character of The Arbiter to suddenly realize that he enjoys this. He gets swept up by the music of Chess, and can't help himself. So, I'm thinking about that guy who's not sure he can do it, falling into the arms of Abba's music, letting that music carry him, and loving it.

Beyond that, I’m focused on articulating the words so you can hear them clearly. Lines like, "Chanting gurus, walkie-talkies, walkouts, hypnotists, tempers, fists" aren't easy!

Bryce: It’s rebuilt my confidence. Early in my career, with A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, I had that moment where I thought, "You're meant to do this." I helped lead a Broadway show that just won the Best Musical Tony Award, I paid off my student loans, and even met my wife in that show. But after that, like most careers in this business, there were highs and lows, and periods with no work.

It’s taken time to get back to a place where I trust myself the way I did then, and Chess has helped rebuild that trust. I feel like I’m in my prime now, and I don’t want to waste that by doubting myself. It’s made me more comfortable with what I can and can’t do, and more at peace with where I fit in the industry.

When I moved to New York at 25, I looked up to these comic performers who were brilliant onstage. Reflecting on that time has only yielded gratitude, the fire to keep going, and to share it with my kids, too.

I love being able to show them that if you find something you love doing for work, you’ve already hacked half the game.

Bryce Pinkham is currently starring as The Arbiter in Chess at the Imperial Theatre. 

Follow Bryce on Instagram, @thebrycecapades.