Chess From Royal Albert Hall - Review — Page 5

The concert version a few years back assigned SOMEONE ELSE'S STORY to Svetlana. I forget the name of the Florence but it was also a live CD, and the poor thing was losing her voice throughout the concert.

Why couldn't they have the sound production be like as it was for the LES MIZ 10th Anniversary Concert? And that was 1995. I refuse to believe that the sound technology in 2008 is worse than 13 years prior.

As I said before, I think there was a lot of fixing up done on the telecast. Maybe that's part of the reason why the sound sounds so piped in to our speakers. You can barely hear that there's an audience watching the performers onstage.

The choreography was awful as well as the gestures of the choir. MERANO was hideous.

I saw the Broadway incarnation and I believe the father was there during both acts. First act appearance was a variation of "The Story of Chess" while "Lullaby" was in the second.

If my memory is faulty, please feel free to correct me.

I thought Freddie is in love with Florence. Isn't the love triangle kind of crucial?

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Kind of unrelated seeing as how in this version Freddie tells Florence he loves her during the second act, but okay.

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Freddy- B+ (and yes, it's right there in the text: Freddy may very well be gay.)

I never got that from it. I just got that his father was an a-hole.

LOL, Mister Russell.

I don't think there's anything suggesting that Freddy loves Florence anymore. He's more upset Florence leaves him for the man who beat him- and a Commie at that- than that she left him period. He sees it as a betrayal of politics and business, not of love.

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Well, I had hoped that readers like Sporky might have had the imagination to see what I saw in Pascal's prformance: A sexually ambiguous man who may well "love" Florence, but who may or may not still be questioning his sexual orientation. I ha always felt that Freddy doth protest too much in the "Bangkok" lyric: "I get my thrills above the waistline, Sunshine", and, despite the rewrite in "Quartet," at one point in the show's evolutuion, Rice had Anatoly suggest tha Freddy was "a fruit."

It's called "subtext." And it's there whether you like it or not. Of course, I may also be giving Pascal too much credit as an actor.

MisterRussell: Okay, fair enough. I guess I wasn't thinking about it, though I did find it funny that after he said that line he was essentially groped by chorus members, and did not appear to dislike it.

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"I saw the Broadway incarnation and I believe the father was there during both acts. First act appearance was a variation of "The Story of Chess" while "Lullaby" was in the second.

If my memory is faulty, please feel free to correct me."

I believe Florence's father did appear in both acts but was later revealed to be an impostor.

I don't think this book will ever get fixed because it's too much of a mess. Better just to stick with the songs and let them stand on their own in a concert staging. I've seen staged productions, and doing this piece in concert is the way to go.

sanda's right.

This concert is in no way anything like seeing the show as it was done in London. (Or Sydney, which was a different but equally effective rendering of the material though very different).

This concert was thrilling for CHESS fans and may convert some to check out the score, best represented on the concept album or the Swedish Tour album (which was originally the entire london score, over 140 minutes of material, which was then edited down for the re-release to save disc space as discs running longer than 78 minutes cannot be insured by the printers so if there are printing errors there is no recourse).

Zubin Varla will forever be my favorite Freddy (and Judas - fierce doesn't even begin to describe it) and Anatoly's material is sonorous and gorgeous enough for me to enjoy any interpretation of the role, though I suppose Korberg in the 1994 CHESS IN CONCERT wins by a hair because of the spinetingling final note in "Endgame". Florence belongs to Elaine Paige, it was written for her, and anyone else who has attempted the role has appeared almost laughable... Carolee Carmello made it her own and brought layers to the character I never thought possible, so she is a favorite as well. Idina was underwhelming but I think time will look favorably on her slightly underplayed, stylized performance.

I love CHESS for what it is and this show will always be special to me in a way few are, so I love the fact it is on DVD (in English).

I find Rice's drastic re-write (which was produced in Australia and which I love for its uniqueness) and B&B's Swedish re-haul (which is a little too Euro, but interesting as a re-evaluation and addendum (3 new songs) to the score) equally interesting and effective in what they were trying to accomplish, neither of which served CHESS as a whole. The piece is delicate and anything straying too far from the concept album or this score in the concert will fail.

It needs to be a thrilling, elaborate pageant and a searing almost-melodrama to work properly. It is Bennett's American Megamusical and the original London book reflects that (and is reproduced here pretty much intact, with Nunn's influence barely apparent).

I think Michael Bennett's original concept of a multi-media pageant with the performers acting out the score on stage in front of video walls on the giant chessboard (essentially the score performed in this concert with slightly less recitative) with dance and video playing an important role in the storytelling, the show could have been as innovative as DREAMGIRLS or A CHORUS LINE.

Had he lived to follow his vision through to fruition... Essentially, all we got were the sets, costumes, cast and "The Story of Chess" from Bennett, alas. The Opening Ceremony was his last great accomplishment, though never personally polished in rehearsal of course because he was too busy dying in Arizona.

What could have been...

P

P.S. The only good thing I can say about Nunn's direction is that he kept every single bit of staging that Bennett and Avian had mapped out and was as minimalistic as he could be. What he did on Broadway is on the level of DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES rape and pillaging of great material.

Updated On: 6/19/09 at 12:10 AM

"Even if the upcoming "Kristina" concerts turn out to be as diappointing as this, at least they will have gotten one thing right: the leading lady (Helen Sjoholm). "

Seeing that "Kristina" is based on 8 AMAZING books, I can definitely say that the music AND the book for the concerts will not dissapoint! And Helen is fantastic as "Kristina", only wish they had used her as "Florence" in RAH (and I love Idina, but just not in this)

The Complete "Danish" Recording (sung in English) is by far the best imho (with the Swedish version a close second...seein that I'm fluent in Swedish, could be the reason I love that one), and the way it ends with "Florence" singing a reprise of "Anthem" actually made me cry! What a perfect way to end the show!

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I know it's apples and oranges, but Kristina is based on four books (I have them--the Swedish cast album inspired me to read them) and I already love the music. I just hope the translation is decent.

It's just that this incarnation of "Chess" was disappointing enough, especially in the casting of Idina, that at least "Kristina" has a leg up thanks to Helen.