CHESS at the Kennedy Center — Page 6

GrecoGambit said: " CHESS AS FAN FICTION/SITCOM/MacGYVER



SPOILERS ABOUND- BEWARE!!!!!!



There is much (unnecessary) talk of bombs/nukes in Danny Strong’s new libretto for CHESS- the biggest bomb is the one onstage due, in large part, to said new libretto.

I take no joy in this. I love CHESS- beautiful, flawed work that it is. I have enjoyed Mr. Strong as an actor, notably in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. It’s a shame Joss Whedon did not take a crack at fixing this show.

I was starting high school when the concept cd came out. I was obsessed with the music- the story was always muddy at best. I saw the show in London- which was still a bit muddled but had the magic of Elaine Paige and company. I saw the disappointing, John leCarre-esque Broadway version. What? Too much book, not enough singing. I saw it at Paper Mill with a stunning Judy MacLean. I collected audios of productions all over the world.

How on earth would/could you take a show that was always somewhat convoluted and make it ever more so?

What makes CHESS linger is the score. The new book makes Richard Nelson’s look like a Hugh Wheeler masterpiece. It’s WAR GAMES meets LES MIS! There might be a nuclear war because of the chess match outcome! Why not strap a puppy and refugee with an illness to the warhead? Seriously, all I could think as I watched the horror unraveling before me was “What is Tim Rice thinking? This is going to ruin the last chance he has to see it succeed on Broadway in his lifetime.”

The sound design is unforgivable. If you are doing a musical at the Kenney Center with celebrated Broadway names, get your sh*t together. It was embarrassingly bad- like a sub-par community theatre.

Chorus? Very little legit sound- like really good kids from Burch Gardens. Projections? Meh. Choreography? Meh.

I had such high hopes. To paraphrase ALL ABOUT EVE: “I live for the theatre as a Trappist monk lives in his faith. In it I toil not, neither do I spin.” I wanted this production to at long last allow CHESS to triumph and flourish.




The bad:

Raul. Just. No. It’s like Danny Strong watched VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and decided to merge Neely O’Hara and Tony Polar. Seriously? If this were a film, there would be a drinking game every time someone said “take the/your pills.” He’s not Rain Man. He’s not Francis Farmer. In Raul’s hands, Freddie becomes the character you want to be strapped with the orphan and dog to the nuclear warhead. He has always been a smug, self-indulgent performer in the Kevin Spacey vein. If he’s so repellent, why would Florence give a crap about him? And yes, now we have the CIA telling her if she doesn’t control him and “MAKE HIM TAKE HIS PILLS”, they’ll deport her. Seriously. That’s in there, too. The only pill in evidence was Raul. His diction made Patti LuPone at her worst sound like Kenneth Branagh at his best. If he can talk by the end of this short run, it will be a miracle.

Ruthie Ann Miles. No. She’s a lovely woman and performer but miscast vocally and type wise. She wasn’t offensive- just done no favors by anything in this production.

The horrific:
The book. Seriously. This may be the worst book for a musical ever- and I saw SENATOR JOE.

Please, please, please do NOT bring this travesty into New York. CHESS has a remarkable score. It may be that like BAKER’S WIFE and MERRILY, it’s best enjoyed as a recording. I am hoping the ENO production with the rumored cast will erase all the horrid memories of this misguided, poorly directed, shoddily produced/mixed, horror of a “rework”. It is the equivalent of Meg Ryan post-plastic surgeries- someone you have loved for years who in unrecognizable for the worst.



“Didn’t I know how it would? If I knew from the start, why is it breaking my heart?”

"

Exactly...right!? Problematic book all over the place and terribly confusing but that score ~ amazing!

This Kennedy production of CHESS  would never last on BWAY

Mmm I'm not impressed with Ramin at all. All his notes are off key except (sometimes) the long straight "Moo's" at the end of a line.

As for all of them, they are overdoing it. They need to understand that this music and material is already very intense, so treating each word, note and syllable with such exaggeration and also separating many sung words from spoken words, sometimes multiple times in 1 line, and then when the next syllable is sung they make it extremely exaggerated, makes it feel very tiresome, overly dramatic, posturing and unfortunately feel more fake and less real and intense.

People need to learn that this material should be approached in a more natural way. More respect for the sung lines and they audience will engage much more. There is a reason why they are singing, because this art form is about sung thoughts. More than 75% of the lyrics and music should not be sung in a soap opera way (speaking/bleating) in someone else's face in a way too literal and exaggerated way and pretend that that gives the essence or intention more power. It does not. The essence should not be that literal. There is a higher power in this art form. Less literal soap opera, more natural opera feeling.

Here is a clip with some good examples of that. The naturally sung scenes are much better acted too. Because acting through song is an interaction of both, not a separation. The naturally sung notes work as emotion evoking factors. Not the forced/overdone ones in the wrong places.


https://youtu.be/Q4NNlEPraKo

Updated On: 3/3/18 at 05:29 AM

Can you explain in which line in this video he is showing off? 

I think he sings it very truthfully.

He might have gone overboard more at the end of the song, like they do in this Chess clip, but not in the part shown here. Which is the point.

Updated On: 3/3/18 at 07:19 PM

Interesting to see all the different opinions on here.  Personally, I was so enraptured with the first night's performance I stayed for the second and honestly would have stayed all weekend if money allowed.  Ruthie had bronchitis and was pregnant, Raul had a throat infection and Karen had a cold the whole run so it was a miracle any of them pulled it off.  I loved the new book as the story never made much sense to me but I agree about too many f-bombs (and I'm from Jersey).  I could wax poetic about this production forever.

I hope so, but I haven't heard anything recently.

There's also the factor of Moulin Rouge since Karen Olivo was involved in both projects, and that will definitely transfer (it's just a matter of when/where at this point).