CurtainUp
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A CurtainUp London Review
Chess
Richard Nelson is credited with the book, but the original idea was Tim Rice's on this, his initial collaboration away from Andrew Lloyd-Webber. The first impression is the 72 strong orchestra and the wonderful orchestrals for the overture. This strength turns to a weakness in sound balance when we are unable to hear Tim Rice's lyrics over the orchestra. Matt Kinley's set design is based on a deconstructed Chess board with black and white and tumbling blocks spilling onto the sides of the set. As the orchestra plays the overture, the flags of the then USSR and the USA are raised over the stage. Two huge screens at either side are ready to play close ups of those singing or in the first number, "The Story of Chess", a history of the origins of the game illustrated by shadow puppets, like those from Indonesia. The first contest between the American Freddie Trumper (Tim Howar) and Anatoly is set in Merano, in the Italian Tyrol, where the contestants are greeted with steins of beer and dancers in traditional costume. But first Anatoly has to say goodbye to his wife Svetlana (Alexandra Burke) and their son Ivan (Cody Molko/Nicholas Antoniou-Tibbitts). The two seconds are Hungarian born Florence Vassy (Cassidy Janson) for Trumper and Molokov (Philip Browne's wonderful bass register) for the Russian. Stephen Mears' choreography is a joy, from the Tyrolean dancers to the Russians with Cossack jumps, American cheerleaders and, the highlight, in Bankok, all the elements that we associate with Thailand and a city of bars and available women, even though some of them may be Ladyboys, and complete with the acrobats who hang on silk banners. The British Embassy defection scene has predictable bowler hats and brollies. The visuals take us through a history of the competition for the first man in space, the first man in the moon showing old news footage on the long standing rivalry between the Americans and the Russians culminating in the USA not participating in the Moscow Olympics. We hear Anatoly's concerns about Freddie Trumper, his unconventional and unpredictable play but Trumper walks out of a meeting leaving Florence to meet with Anatoly and fall for each other and Anatoly defects to the West. The Second Act opens with Svetlana's new song "He Is A Man, He Is A Child" as she sings about her husband who has deserted her before changing scene to the excesses of Bankok for another chess match. The Russians, a curiously all male contingent, dance to "The Soviet Machine" but then we return to the women in the famous song from the show, "I Know Him So Well". In order to persuade Anatoly to go back to Russia, Florence's Hungarian father who has been missing is discovered living in Russia and his release is why Anatoly agrees to go back. Michael Ball is an excellent singer but in this day and age, a man working two women won't get a lot of sympathy. Tim Howar's Trumper does a lot of side looks to emphasize his mean character and I liked his voice. Philip Browne's Russian villain Molokov is a strong deep voiced performance. I didn't think that either Cassidy Janson or Alexandra Burke were outstanding and in fact I found Burke a tad shouty. The plot is no worse that many musicals but the problem for me was the video screens of the one singer, two huge profiles and a diminutive full face in the middle of the actual singer. I think the giant video interferes with the credibility of the actor singers, using concert visuals, and a lack of credibility means we cannot care about the characters and if we don't care, all that is left is lush orchestrations.
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Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES Chess Music by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus Lyrics by Tim Rice Book by Richard Nelson Directed by Laurence Connor Starring: Michael Ball, Tim Howard, Philip Browne, Alexandra Burke, Cassidy Janson, Cedric Neal With: Sabrina Aloueche, Robin Bailey, Sarah Bakker, Jeremy Batt, Kimberley Blake, Sophie Camble, Cellen Chugg Jones, Jordan Lee Davies, Jonathan David Dudley, Richard Emerson, Chris Gage, Matt Harrop, Jack Horner, Stevie Hutchinson, Nicholas Li, Sinead Long, Robbie McMillan, Jo Morris, Jo Servi, Alexandra Waite-Roberts, Carrie Willis, Stuart Winter Choreographer: Stephen Mears Set Design: Matt Kinley Costume Design: Christina Cunningham Video Designer: Terry Scruby Musical Director: Ben Atkinson Musical Supervisor, original orchestrations and arrangements: Anders Eljas Conductor: John Rigby Sound Design: Mick Potter Lighting Design: Patrick Woodroffe Running time: Two hours 40 minutes with one interval Box Office: 020 7845 9300 Booking to 2nd June 2018 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on Ist May 2018 performance at the London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane London WC2N 4ES (Rail/Tube: Charing Cross) Index of reviewed shows still running REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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