A thousand variations to be played

[meteordust]

Last weekend, I saw the BLOC production of Chess at the Theatre Royal. Chess is one of my all time favourite musicals, and this was the first time I had seen it on stage, even as community theatre.

They based it on the London version instead of the Broadway version, which pleased me greatly - although I didn't know which way they were going to go until the end, which made the climax genuinely suspenseful.

Both Anatoly and Freddie were well cast - very believable as the flawed and conflicted chess champions - and they delivered great performances, with one exception. 'One Night in Bangkok' is meant to be a showstopper, but unfortunately Freddie didn't give it quite the energy and attitude needed to pull it off. But then I guess it's hard to top Murray Head. Freddie's performance was admirable in other respects though; his 'Pity the Child' was almost better than the original.

Unfortunately, Walter was somewhat strident and the Arbiter a bit weak, but they were the only flawed performers among the seven main cast. Molokov was exactly as I imagined him to be, the tall, bearded, impeccable, sinister mentor. Svetlana conveyed the perfect mix of anger, wisdom, and hard patriotism. Both were great in their roles.

And Florence?

Oh man. It was worth the price of admission to see her alone.

Or rather, to hear her. I don't how to describe her voice, but it had all the range and power needed for the role, and some extra quality of emotion that was thrilling to listen to, each solo a highlight to be anticipated. On the CDs I own, Florence is secondary to the two chess players, but here she stole the show. Why she did not get top billing I do not know - she certainly garnered the most applause at the end.

What I found interesting was that the producers of this adaptation moved the song 'Nobody's Side' to the end. This is Florence's song, and making it the finale made the musical Florence's story - her standing alone at the end, after the whole tangled drama of loyalty and betrayal and choices, realising that you have to trust yourself and make it on your own. And that is fascinating, because Chess is a musical that is infamous for being revised and reinterpreted, to varying degrees of success, and this makes me wonder how many other versions of the story are possible.

Each game of chess
Means there's one less
Variation left to be played

An interesting footnote: it was through fandom that I first encountered Chess. The AmberMUSH Operetta Libretto based two of its songs off 'Quartet' and 'Heaven Help My Heart', and Mary Van Deusen vidded Blake's 7 to 'Where I Want To Be' and 'One Night in Bangkok'. Both intrigued me enough to seek out the original source. Yet another reason I love fandom.

Comments

[eidolontree.livejournal.com]

Whoa. You know, I've never known anyone who also knew of 'Chess'. I've owned an album of 'Chess' on cassette since I was older than twelve. I can't count the number of times I've listened to the songs, without knowing what the play was about. All I know of the play, I learned from wiki.

[meteordust.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool! I don't think I've ever come across anyone else who was a Chess fan either, except for people I've told about it. And it was pure chance that I came across it myself. But yeah, even without knowing the story, the songs are pretty arresting.

[eidolontree.livejournal.com]

Well, where I was at, the information wasn't really available to me to locate 'Chess'. I didn't even know it was a real play, for at least three years. I listened to the tape daily, it was one of my mighty three cassettes of the day (Nirvana "Bleach", Best Hits of Beethoven, and Chess). Even my music teacher hadn't ever heard of it. Being a dramatic child, I naturally loved it deeply and immediately.

I don't think I'd known anything of it, at all, until just this year. This winter, in fact. I also downloaded a torrent of 3 versions of the soundtrack, but none of them were my 'original' version, which I miss.

I had to do a lot of inventing of story-lines, back then. It was a strange thrill to see real information online, I'd gotten very used to none existing at all.

And now, I speak to someone who's seen the play, knows about it. This and Swordspoint. You may never be rid of me.

[meteordust.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, I'm not going anywhere either.

Just curious, which was the original version you heard? Mine was the concept album, but I'm interested in all the other versions out there.

[eidolontree.livejournal.com]

I don't honestly know, when I abandoned my home town, I left almost everything there, including my cassettes. I should ask my family to bring them the next time they visit, all this talk of Chess has made me nostalgic for the smell of those tapes.

I think I recognize the name "Murray Head", maybe we were both listening to the same album?

[meteordust.livejournal.com]

Would it be this version (http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Benny-Andersson/dp/B000002GLR) maybe? There are some samples available.

[strangevisitor7.livejournal.com]

I love Chess - One of my all-time favorites - Own both the US and UK soundtracks. About 10 years ago, I actually flew to Houston Texas to see it because I knew it would most likely never be staged any where near me (ohio). It was a blend of the UK with a few songs from the failed US version and was incredible. COnfirmed everything I loved about the soundtrack

I have never met anyone else who'd even heard of the musical let alone liked it as much as I do. But then again it was a failure on Broadway in the states

[meteordust.livejournal.com]

Yay, another Chess fan! That's great you got to go see it - it seems like it's staged so rarely compared to other shows. It really deserves more attention. There's some kind of special concert performance being held in London this year, so hopefully it will spark more interest.

[strangevisitor7.livejournal.com]

I would see it again in an instant. I wish they'd revive it. It really deserves to be noticed!