CHESS at the Kennedy Center — Page 5

I saw yesterday's matinee as well. Raul's performance was definitely heroic, and he got the adulation he deserved from the audience and his castmates. During the intermission, I was really dreading "Pity the Child," but he made some very smart choices in his placement of the money notes near the end of the song. I'm sure they were nothing like what audiences heard in prior performances, but it worked.

I liked the book a lot, much more than the version I saw at Signature a few years ago. That one seemed flat, but this one made the characters a little more vivid. It was also just more entertaining in its own right, full of humor as well as historical background. Maybe the book of this show is never going to be much more than an excuse to perform those wonderful songs but, again, it worked for me.

"Someone Else's Story," however, doesn't work for me at all when sung by Svetlana. I'm not familiar with the Sydney version alluded to in the thread, but the original version makes zero sense for Svetlana. It makes perfect sense when sung by Florence contemplating her decaying relationship with Freddy (first two stanzas) and excited about her prospects with Anatoly (last stanza), but none of this apples to Svetlana. Who is she talking about leaving? Not Anatoly, because he left her, and it was many years ago.

Worse still, the space where "Someone Else's Story" should be is now filled by "Heaven Help My Heart," which doesn't make much sense in that spot, when Florence has just started a romance with Anatoly. These are still great songs, but they've been robbed of much of their power by this shuffling around. I imagine the goal is to give Svetlana more to sing, but the best way to solve that would be to write her a new song.

kdogg36 said: ""Someone Else's Story," however, doesn't work for me at all when sung by Svetlana. I'm not familiar with the Sydney version alluded to in the thread, but the original version makes zero sense for Svetlana. It makes perfect sense when sung by Florence contemplating her decaying relationship with Freddy (first two stanzas)and excited about her prospects with Anatoly (last stanza), but none of this apples to Svetlana. Who is she talking about leaving? Not Anatoly, because he left her, and it was many years ago.

Another one of the problems of constantly giving Svetlana "Someone Else's Story" it robs Florence of an "I Want" song. ("and no, "Nobody's Side" is NOT an "I Want" song). The original London and concept album seemed to be Anatoly's story, so HE got the "I Want" song but as the show evolved for Broadway it became clear Judy Kuhn's Florence was the through-line. And thus they wrote "Someone Else's Story". An "I Want" song is very important for a character and without it leaves Florence slightly diffuse and somewhat strident, especially since we don't see a softer vocal side of her till "Heaven Help My Heart" late in the act ("Mountain Duet may SOUND ballady, but it's lyrics are mostly cynical and intellectual).

I saw this last night and have to agree about the sound. An announcement was made at the beginning that Esparza had the flu but would be performing anyway. What a trooper! Very glad I finally got to see any version of this show. Karimloo and Olivo were outstanding. Agree with the comments about the book. Wasn’t as impressed with Miles but that may just be because she was apparently ill as well and “Someone Else’s Story” is Florence’s song not “Someone Else’s Song.” Couldn’t understand purpose of narrator/arbiter. Pinkham makes big announcement about switching from narrator to arbiter then slips back and forth between the two. Pinkham was also very good though. Heard someone afterwards say how much they didn’t like it because of the unnecessary F-bombs throughout. The striptease/orgy during “one Night in Bangkok” was odd. Couldn’t help but think about the Come Fly with Us song from the movie All That Jazz which was much better. Don’t see this landing on Broadway successfully as currently being done. But, if Olivo sings Someone Else’s Story, I’ll be back.

Updated On: 2/19/18 at 11:13 AM

I just wanted to chime in and say this was one of the best nights I've had in the theater in a long time. It was such a joy to hear one of my favorite scores live for the first time, especially being sung by these glorious voices. I forgot how much I missed hearing Raul sing. Please, please, please come back to the stage in a musical soon! I'm just so glad I got to experience this.

What a beautiful posting by Ramin. Let's hope it can come to NYC.

I still don't get how "ship" became this weird new verb that has nothing to do with ships or shipping. Like "ratchet", it's usage doesn't make sense at all to me.

Mister Matt said: "I still don't get how "ship" became this weird new verb that has nothing to do with ships or shipping. Like "ratchet", it's usage doesn't make sense at all to me."

Had the pleasure of seeing this on Saturday, which as a longtime Chess obsessive and follower of Raul Esparza’s career, was wonderful. I had some mixed feelings about the production overall, but am so grateful to have seen it.

The new book was particularly interesting. I enjoyed that it gave Freddie some dimension rather than the typical “this guy’s an asshole” take, and gave Esparza a lot to work with acting-wise. That said, the mental illness angle was too much at times, particularly when they variously threw around the terms “paranoid schizophrenic” and “bipolar,” neither of which seem accurate to represent Freddie’s difficulties - nor is it really that important. Where this is concerned, less would be more.

I really loved the heightening of the Cold War politics and the tongue-in-cheek way the melodrama was presented. The droll, self-aware narration by Pinkham’s character was a fun framing device. There are definitely some current events references that get laughs. My concern is that, as seems to be the case with every Chess rewrite, the problems solved create other, perhaps more vexing problems. Upping the stakes danger-wise with the threat of nuclear war puts a spotlight the characters’ actions and motivations, which remain opaque at best, totally obscured at worst. As strong as Olivo and Karimloo were, this was the least convincing I’ve seen the Florence/Anatoly relationship. I did like the expanded roles for Walter and Molokov (and “The Soviet Machine,” which is somehow even more fun given today’s political climate).

I think I’m one of the few who like giving Svetlana “Someone Else’s Story,” even with the original lyrics. This production takes care to establish that Svetlana and Anatoly’s relationship was a political one without a lot of affection, so “sadly, she realized she’d left him behind / and sadder than that, she knew he wouldn’t even mind,” rings perfectly true emotionally even if he’s the one who abandoned her physically. Miles was unfortunately vocally miscast in the role, and the song (and all of Svetlana’s parts) lacked the punch they would have had with a strong belter.

The rest of the cast was uniformly strong, with Olivo and Esparza being the standouts for me. I thought the two had a lot of chemistry in their scenes together, and Olivo brought down the house with “Nobody’s Side.” “Heaven Help My Heart” is still, IMO, a total clunker of a song that stops the momentum of the show, but I think that’s a generally unpopular opinion. “One Night in Bangkok” was as ridiculous as it should be, if it really must be included, which I think it must. Esparza’s “Pity the Child” was fascinating and vocally very strong on Saturday night. That said, I couldn’t tell if his diction or the sound mixing were at fault (I suspect a combination), but I had a lot of trouble understanding his lyrics, especially in “The Deal (No Deal)” - and I know Chess like the back of my hand. My husband, who has no familiarity, could rarely fully understand the lyrics throughout, which is unfortunate for a show as lyrically clever as Chess.

In any case, this Chess was a wonderful night of theater, and I’m excited to see where it goes, as well as to have more to mull over with this quirky, dramatic show.

That's very impressive. Well done!

I read the lyrics on the link you provided, and I agree that they make much more sense for Svetlana than the original lyrics. I still don't think the song fits her quite as well as it originally fitted Florence, though. :)

And if you want to make your own opinion about this production, let me know :)

orangeskittles said: "The clips went the opposite direction the sound issues of the production and had the solo vocals overpower the rest of the music, but still good to see.

Broadway Center Stage: Chess"

Thanks so much for sharing this!!

Well, that was painful to watch. Ramin is the only one that vocally can handle this score.

Just listen to the OBC of Chess!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYxROvBeCGQ&list=PLF9C08C4CE52FB7F1