Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit, and Nicholas Christopher in 2025 Chess Revival!- Page 16

[BJR]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:03pm

“Almost a concert” could also refer to a modern rock/pop concert. Shows that come to MSG are not theatrical concert versions a la Philharmonic or even the Chess concert that was done in 2021, but elaborate productions with giant LED screens and sets. Knowing this director, he’ll be leaning into its rock/pop music aesthetic. 

[nealb1]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:12pm

Really looking forward to seeing the show.  Have tickets for Saturday night, 11/22.  

"Almost a concert" means just that.  I'm sure we can all agree that it's rather pointless to make judgements on something that nobody has seen or experienced yet.  

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:17pm

nealb1 said: "Really looking forward to seeing the show. Have tickets for Saturday night, 11/22.

"Almost a concert" means just that. I'm sure we can all agree that it's rather pointless to make judgements on something that nobody has seen or experienced yet."

Exactly.  way too early to be passing judgement. 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:18pm

BorisTomashevsky said: ""It's being presented as almost a concert evening," he says. "There's real book scenes and everything, but it's in the sense that we are all players putting forward this piece and everyone can come and go out of scenes. A lot of people are going to be on stage at the same time“

Lame. Chess has waited this long to be done right, only to be done dirty.

The half-baked branding was our first clue."

I understand being apprehensive, but wait until we've seen something from it before declaring it to be done dirty. This is still a very vague description of the concept.

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:44pm

I was just re reading the article and it says Entertainment Weekly will have first Listen to three songs from Chess.

I'm guessing Nobody's Side for Lea and Anthem for Nik.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 3:58pm

Lord, the color scheme just keeps getting worse. Even the reds now aren’t the same red.

This feels like one long April 1st…

https://imgur.com/a/xvqPXli

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 4:39pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Lord, the color scheme just keeps getting worse. Even the reds now aren’t the same red.

This feels like one long April 1st…

https://imgur.com/a/xvqPXli"

Have you had anything nice to say about this show or is this the new show for you to constantly have negative things to say about?

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 4:46pm

Huss417 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "Lord, the color scheme just keeps getting worse. Even the reds now aren’t the same red.

This feels like one long April 1st…

https://imgur.com/a/xvqPXli"

Have you had anything nice to say about this show or is this the new show for you to constantly have negative things to say about?"

About this show? Plenty. About this production? I’ve yet to have reason to. I challenge anyone looking at that artwork to say anything positive about it.

This is why stuff stays mediocre. Because no one says “that’s fuc(king ****e!” and holds things to a standard. The number of times I’ve sat in a theatre and thought “Who approved this?”…

Boris Spassky has spoken. Bow down accordingly. 

Updated On: 8/28/25 at 04:46 PM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 5:03pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Great notes but he misses the internal rhyme of “in a” and “Brynner”"

To be honest, I blame that on flawed writing. "In a" and "Brynner" rhyme in standard varieties of British English (which Tim Rice speaks), but not in American English (which the character speaks). If I were singing it I wouldn't try to pretend it rhymed, either.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 5:42pm

I never even thought of that as being a rhyme. 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 5:52pm

Kad said: "I never even thought of that as being a rhyme."

If one pronounces "Brynner" as "Bryn-nah," it most certainly rhymes, and I believe that was the original intent. 

[Hey, Zelda!]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 6:14pm

CarlosAlberto said: "Kad said: "I never even thought of that as being a rhyme."

If one pronounces "Brynner" as "Bryn-nah," it most certainly rhymes, and I believe that was the original intent."

Tim Rice is the sort of lyricist in which you can hear the faint "Damn, that's too clever to pass up" in the background.

Updated On: 8/28/25 at 06:14 PM

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 7:55pm

Kad said: "SisterGeorge said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "Seems like either a music video or demo recording of“One Night in Bangkok” will droptomorrow."

Speaking of, anyone know of a delicious, nice-looking Thai restaurant in walking distance to the theater? The evening is an anniversary treat for the parents, so nothing too funky or hole-in-the-wallish. Thanks."

There are a slew of Thai places on 9th avenue that are all pretty good. Obao, Elephant Ear, and Viv are all less than a 10 minute walk from the Imperial and are all elevated in terms of decor."

Thank You!  
Also, re "almost a concert", the Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage (RIP) series where this version premiered a few years ago was "almost a concert" and hugely effective (of course on that occasion we were all expecting a semi-staged concert not a full-blown production.)

[Robbie2]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 2:05am

SisterGeorge said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "Seems like either a music video or demo recording of“One Night in Bangkok” will droptomorrow."

Speaking of, anyone know of a delicious, nice-looking Thai restaurant in walking distance to the theater? The evening is an anniversary treat for the parents, so nothing too funky or hole-in-the-wallish. Thanks."

 

SaiTong Thai on West 48th had the lobster pad thai absolutely amazing and everything was delish!

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 9:25am

Bangkok - sounds great!

[sr4mjc]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 11:06am

We enjoyed our meal at Elephant Ear.  Nice decor, reasonable price and not slow. 

I have the same feeling about Bangkok as Adam Lambert's recording of Heaven on their Minds.  Kinda bland recorded with no edge, but live is probably better.  I like the 80s feel though. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 12:05pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "
Boris Spassky has spoken. Bow down accordingly."

It's comments like this that are nauseating.

 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 5:25pm

I think Tveit also messed up a lyric… singing “since the Tyrolean spa had the chess board/boards in it” instead of “chess boys”.

It’s mixed so quietly I can’t quite tell which it is. Or maybe he’s just bending the pronunciation of “boys” into “baws”, almost a southern vowel. 

[Birdie Boy]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 1:38am

Whose idea was this revival anyway?  Producers trying to make a buck?  This already seems to be going down the path of The Last Five Years.  Good luck to them 

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 1:52am

Birdie Boy said: "Whose idea was this revival anyway? Producers trying to make a buck? This already seems to be going down the path of The Last Five Years. Good luck to them"

the way people are overreacting to every little thing before they even start rehearsals is quite something. 

The idea for this revival has been around for many years and they have been working towards this since 2018. It's not just been thrown together.  

 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 6:36am

GirlFromOz68 said: "Birdie Boy said: "Whose idea was this revival anyway? Producers trying to make a buck? This already seems to be going down the path of The Last Five Years. Good luck to them"

the way people are overreacting to every little thing before they even start rehearsals is quite something.

The idea for this revival has been around for many years and they have been working towards this since 2018. It's not just been thrown together.

"

Then why does everything about it so far feel like a dictionary example of “thrown together.” If a production has been dreamed about for years, surely the poster art is one of the things that’s been “imagined” to perfection by producers... But every version so far looks like the last-prize in a fan art competition. 

It all currently looks and sounds like a stop on the Albert Hall/London Coliseum/Actors Fund/Kennedy Center circuit. If it’s just going to be an Encores! Chess, it should have just been done at Encores!.

The original Broadway production is very appealing at the moment. 

Updated On: 8/30/25 at 06:36 AM

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 7:07am

Maybe don't read too much in Aaron's words. He said "almost" like a concert he didn't say it WAS a concert. 

Something ive found over the years is not all actors are fabulous at explaining their project.

I dont really care for the pink either but Ive never let that sort of thing influence how I think about what's on the stage.

People could wait until the show is at the very least in previews before being a bunch of grumpy whingers about it. its tiresome.

it might not be successful but strewth some of you here seem to hoping it fails, and bringing the tiresome attitude that infects other threads here is not what some of us are here for.

 

 

 

 

[Mary_Poppins]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 12:08pm

strewth /struːθ/

 

"Strewth. An exclamation similar to 'crikey'. Usually an expression of surprise, disgust or amazement."

 

"It's short for God's truth, which as far as I know, is primarily a Shakespearean era curse - only because it takes the Lord's name in vain. Strewth is the Australian version."

 

TIL

 

Also, I agree.

 

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 12:50pm

GirlFromOz68 said: "People could wait until the show is at the very least in previews before being a bunch of grumpy whingers about it. its tiresome."

We no longer live in an era where what you suggest happens and we haven't for some time. 

Rightly or wrongly, everything gets examined and discussed which is why a show's marketing (even color choices) and how an actor describes a production need to be thoughtfully considered for the potential messages it sends.

Doing so isn't particularly difficult.

Updated On: 8/30/25 at 12:50 PM

[GirlFromOz68]

Posted: 8/30/25 at 1:58pm

well bully for you .