CHESS at the Kennedy Center — Page 4

HSky said: "It wasn't just Freddie, the CIA agent rarely had a swear-free interaction."

Yes, Freddie’s language didn’t bother me. It was more the CIA agent- as you said, it seemed gratuitous at times.

Two other quibbles- I think they cut short You and I. Also, the dancing during Endgame was beautiful but I found myself watching the dancing more than the leads. Just my own personal observation

I went to see the show on the 15th and wanted to add my two cents. What a thrilling night of theater! The score is wonderful, like it always is, and the plot is awful, like it always is. Here's a list of my thoughts:

1) Highlights: Of the four main characters, Karimloo and Olivo were the standouts with the most cohesive characters. (Bradley Dean and Sean Allen Krill were also phenomenal). Karimloo killed every single song, every single facial expression. Bravo. Karen Olivo's vocals brought down the house-- Nobody's Side got two minutes of applause!

2) Raul Esparza rocked as hard as he possibly could. I wish his diction was as electrifying as his belting. During "Pity the Child" I legitimately thought, "This is so good! It's too bad I can't understand what he's saying." Regardless, the energy he brings to a role is phenomenal. Seeing him live was an experience I'll never forget.

3) I heard a gentleman behind me saying he thought Raul was too old for the role. "Look at the name Freddy," he said. "That should be someone... not in their twenties, but younger." It's something to think about. I watched Raul and thought, "This is a great performance, but it wouldn't win him a Tony." Whether it's the fault of the actor or the fault of the script, I couldn't see a cohesive character who was a paranoid schizophrenic, a chess prodigy, and a jilted lover. They felt like disjointed components of a character that came out to play when the scene dictated, and hid when it was convenient.

4) When you've got a musical like Chess, where lots of the plot and necessary information is in the form of song (see anything the chorus sings), those songs must be understandable. And alas, from where I was sitting (row F in the orchestra), I couldn't understand a word the entire show. I found myself wishing I knew the score better so I could predict what was being sung.

5) I also found myself a little confused by some of the choreography choices. The lyrical, modern dancing was beautiful, sure, but it also felt out of place in a cold-war era rock musical. The only bit of choreography that felt truly relevant to the show was during the Russian-inspired number (I've forgotten the title) with Bradley Dean. Also!!!!!!! I hated One Night in Bangkok! Raul somehow misdelivered some of the best lines ("the queens we use would not excite you" didn't get a single laugh). I hate seeing gratuitous objectification, and the song was full of it. I was not watching Thai sex workers-- I was watching chorus girls in lingerie, and I felt incredibly uncomfortable. The show had the balls to make one chorus boy a worker as well, and even though he poured his goddamn heart into that dancing, he still looked out of place. There was even a moment where all the girls were in line at the front of the stage and he was standing behind them. It might have been a little more fun to have an equal number of men and women in the dashing lingerie.

6) Ruthie Ann Miles, god bless her, did not blow me away at all. I had forgotten she played Svetlana, and when I watched her on stage for the first time, I thought, "Is this a local actor who's nervous on stage?". She sang primarily in her head voice, which was fine, but appeared incredibly weak against Esparza, Karimloo and Olivo, who were belting their asses off. This was especially true in "I Know Him So Well", which is a shame, because it's such a beautiful song!!! She was a great actress, but the vocals seemed weak.

7) When Florence's father appeared at the end, I was blown away that there was an actor who was waiting backstage for two hours only to appear for two minutes of stage time. What the heck was with that??

8) Finally, and most importantly, the show needs to figure out it's thesis before it can ever go anywhere. Is the show about love and self-sacrifice? Is it about the fact that despite our best efforts, people will always be puppets in their government regimes? When the thesis is made clear, the order of the songs will become clear, and so will the final number that keeps changing.

Did I enjoy every second? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is the show ready for a Broadway transfer? Dear God, not at all.

(additionally, shoutout to Bryce Pinkham who gave it his all in a weird, nonsensical role).

Saw this last night from the second row center orchestra and Wow!!!

The Good Wow:
- This Score continues to thrill! There is a reason it has been recorded so many times. Sad this cast won’t be preserved. If you want to hear them, PM me... I might know a way

- Raoul Esparza... I have been a fan since I saw him in the Evita tour many moons ago. The last time I saw him live was in Sunday in the Park at The Kennedy Center years ago. He did not disappoint at all!! There was a lot thrown at him to navigate as an actor, and he truly handled it well. Knowing people suffering from mental illness, he played it real. Vocally his voice was perfection for the role. Could he do it 8 shows a week? Not without some better vocal pacing, but for me, he stole the show.

- Karen Olivo brought the right balance of sass and heart to the role and her vocals blew the roof off of the theare. Her voice is limitless in its colors and control.
- The ensemble did some of the heaviest lifting and were phenomenal. The vocal power and effective choreography performed effortlessly throughout was not only impressive, but kept the pulse of the show constant throughout.

The Bad Wow:
- I am going to be in the minority here, but Ramin’s Lack of musicianship bugged me through the show. He has been vocal about having no formal training and not reading music. Many of his harmonies were fudged and he was pitchy and unsupported often between money notes.

- Ruthie... as others have said, this sat in a very strange part of her voice. Maybe with more time she would figure out the placement better, but she belted herself into a little coughing fit mid phrase during Someone Else’s story. In a way it was good her voice was so different from Karen’s for I know him so well, but her energy, both vocally and acting wise was so neutral that I barely noticed her there.

The Weird Wow:
- Bryce Pinkham is incredibly engaging and brings a great energy to the stage, but his sudden physical possession by the spirit of Elvis during the Arbiter song is... a choice...

-The first couple of rows should get ponchos. I had enough spit on me from Ramin and Raoul for a quality SVU dna sample

-Local DC Helen Hayes Award nominated actor, Thomas Adrian Simpson, appears as papa for the last 90 seconds for two lines and a hug... seems an aweful waste. And he got his own bow after the ensemble who had worked their tails off.

Again... pm me for more details

GeorgeandDot said: "I heard from a friend that Miles is indeed very sick. Her voice is sublime when it's in good shape. Also, I think she might be pregnant (hope I'm not saying anything that isn't supposed to be public yet), but that will effect the voice quite a lot."

She is indeed pregnant. She mentioned at the stage door that they put her in a shift dress to cover the pregnancy.

Pasunepomme said: "irishgator1 said: "She is indeed pregnant. She mentioned at the stage door that they put her in a shift dress to cover the pregnancy."

Where is the stage door, irishgator1? Seeing some mixed reports online as to whether it's indoors or outside."

It’s outside for the Eisenhower Theater. So go outside to the front of the building where the taxi line is, then take a left, then another left. You’ll see the stage door. It’s marked with the names of the theaters that it services.

Couldn’t disagree more. Unnecessary nuke talk? Kinda the whole point of the Cold War ....

If you like the Tim Rice-original-version-British-plot of "Chess" this is a very good take on that. The best easily (but after seeing the Royal Albert Hall and the semi-recent English tour version I caught in Northampton...it wasn't hard). Freddy's character was the best reconstruction. The new book made him (a little too melodramatically) actually bi-polar (the first time we see him he is off his meds). He's a bit of an amalgamation of Murry Head's and Philip Catnoff's Freddy, rock-god-as-chess-champ. He and Florence are in a sexual relationship at the beginning, but, as "Nobody's Side" shows, she's getting a little sick of the abuse. So Freddy's mother issues come to the front in the second act because he desperately wants her back. What I like is that "Pity the Child" is now actually dramatic. It makes Freddy think and realize and he now helps Anatoly win and ends up somewhat redeemed (Esparza walks off in the middle of that long, long guitar riff after the song that most actors and directors don't know how to deal with...it confuses the audiences cause they don't know exactly when to applaud and after his performance of that song the audience really wanted to applaud. Esparza would have sung the role better ten years ago, but for a man of 47 he never missed a rock and roll note, but his diction suffered. If I didn't know the songs I wouldn't have understood a lot of what he sang in his higher register. Ramin was gorgeous both in voice and presence, he's never been a great actor but still comes off very well. Again, I'm not in love with this version of the character, the same with Florence. Karen Olivio was good, her "Nobody's Side" probably was the hit of the evening (not for me, but it got the most extended applause) but I never bought the love story. I love my Ruthie Anne Miles, but she wasn't very good as Svetlana. Doesn't anyone realize "Someone Else's Story" makes no sense coming from that character??? ("Sadly she realize she's left him behind..." THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT HAPPENED!!)

The new book does some other smart thing. It sets Act One against the SALT II peace talks (and Anatoly's defection is the secret cause why the talks failed) and Act Two is set against that, only recently discovered moment when NATO was doing nuke drills and the Russian's thought Reagan was readying an invasion and we came very close to nuclear war. The world is saved by Anatoly returning the the USSR. Now, this might sound stupid, but it grounding the story in actual events saves it from becoming a random spy story with real-world stakes. After throwing every number at the opening using "The US vs USSR" makes some sense. The book is written as a concert version of the show, with The Arbiter acting as a self acknowledged narrator. Every song from the original black album is there (minus the Merchandisers and Embassy Lament). Added are songs from the original London production (mostly stuff I hate). Unlike a lot of people, I love the Broadway original. I love the Richard Nelson book and I am always very invested in the Florence/Anatoly love story. So I'm not of the opinion that the show needs to change. And there are so many songs that are superfluous to action and character (smartly jettisoned for the Broadway production). Songs I love to hear on the recording, but Trevor Nunn was smart to streamline.

Michael Mayer's direction was adequate but the choreography (the Chess Hymn actually has a dream ballet that retells the story of the three leads) was horrible.

But its always a thrill to hear this score and it was nice not be insulted by the stupidity of the Brit version.

Updated On: 2/17/18 at 10:52 PM

@Owen22: "Someone Else's Story" would make more sense coming from Svetlana if they'd given it more thought and assigned her the lyrics from the 1990 Sydney production, where they, y'know, actually put in the effort to make the song fit her.

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g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "@Owen22: "Someone Else's Story" would make more sense coming from Svetlana if they'd given it more thought and assigned her the lyrics from the 1990 Sydney production, where they, y'know, actually put in the effort to makethe song fit her."

I agree, but wan't the problem that these lyrics weren't written by Tim Rice? I don't know who did write them, but I think he gave permission for someone else to do it only for that production.

This is not surprising. Having performed vocally challenging roles, you have to find where you can preserve your voice and where to go full throttle. He was running a marathon like a sprinter, if you smell what I’m cooking. He has a great, powerful voice, but even on Friday, he had blown it out by Pity the Child. The two show day yesterday must have done him in.

I saw this Friday night. Disclaimer -- I'd never heard the albums before, but I knew it was considered a great score with a problematic book. I also knew it was about a chess tournament/love triangle during the Cold War. That's it.

I enjoyed it a lot, thought the performances were very engaging. I found the late appearance of Svetlana very confusing and thought she should have been worked into the first act if they were going to keep her as a character. I thought the amount of time she got in the second act drug it down.

One Night in Bangkok. I did not expect the dancers to end up in lingerie gyrating on each other and Raul. All while Bryce, Ramin and other cast members sat fully clothed on stage. Frankly I was just kinda embarrassed for the dancers, though they gave it their all. Raul's performance of the song was great; it had this tired sleaziness to it that showed that living a life of vice isn't a fun life after all. I'd like a recording of his version of this song.

LOVED Bryce Pinkham as the Arbiter. I absolutely adored him in Gentleman's Guide so he was one of the main reasons I wanted to see this. He brought a lot of good sarcastic delivery that undercut some of the more awkward transitions between scenes.

The sound -- I COULD HARDLY UNDERSTAND ANYONE. At intermission, the woman in front of me turned around and asked if I could understand the songs. I said no, not all of them! She was relieved and thought it was just her. Couple behind me was saying the same things. I didn't have trouble following the plot, but especially Karen Olivo's songs I could not understand (though she sounded great and put in a ton of emotion!) I see a lot of shows at the Kennedy Center and the sound is always a muddled mess, but this was way worse than normal.

I didn't listen to the original album before the show because I didn't want to be spoiled, but I definitely wish I had so I would have understood more of the lyrics.

Raul also had a fan club in attendance wearing matching L&O: SVU shirts. Who knew that was a thing.

Updated On: 2/18/18 at 08:51 PM

Really unfortunate that Raul has a throat infection and Ruthie has bronchitis. I admire their commitment, even though it must be difficult to power through.