Reflections on Chess

Hazel and I went to see Chess the Musical last night. It was a very small stage and performance with mainly keyboard accompaniment (which was ok at times since they used a lot of keyboards in the 80s). The performance went very well and overall I was happy with finally getting to see a musical that I have been familiar with for quite a number of years. Not sure if it was my brother or who first got me into the music from there but I enjoy it.

Chess was written in the 80s by lyricist Tim Rice (also did Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and wrote for the movie The Lion King), and music by two of the dudes from ABBA. So of course with the new ABBA musical Mamma Mia, there is some interest in the other musical.... Chess. No, it's not only about a board game, but it pulls out the times when Russia and the US were constantly at war with each other in more than just battles. Any competitive event (think Olympics) was drawn out and a country's pride was at stake - including many world champion level chess matches. In the musical, a chess match will again decide the world champion, but of course both the American and the Russian get involved with the same girl. Then the Russian tries to defect to the US, only to have his family threatened back home. The bigger picture is that the representatives of the countries are only political pawns by the government who is playing a larger strategic game and these folks only do what they are told (like a pawn).

So back to the performance last night - there were maybe 15 performers, most of them being labeled as "Ensemble" roles. They relied on the stage microphones to pick them up since individual microphones were not used. This caused problems when the performers went to the corners of the stage, or turned to move upstage. They also moved throughout the audience when moving on and off stage which can be a good thing to make the audience feel part of the show, but at one point an elder lady had to get rid of her drink so stood up and *BOOM* she was right in the middle of the show. I didn't see her name in the program, but I hope she was paid for her guest appearance.

With a small performing group and stage, there are also limits to how much dancing can be done. Mostly it's staging to get the desired effect, but last night there were times when dancing was required... only problem was that most of the girls were really good at dancing, the guys were brought in to sing, not dance. There was one guy that wasn't of your typical backup dancer physique.... in fact he had a pot belly! He was dancing and both Hazel and I got a chuckle out of watching that scene. I know how all of you enjoy watching me dance at wedding receptions, but I would not dance on stage in front of a paying audience for obvious reasons. Just wish this mentality would have been used last night.

The range required for the American Role is very high, and too high for the singer last night. There were a couple of cracks, followed by a safe change into false setto which isn't always good for a broadway-type show. I thought the Russian player did extremely well, as well as Flourence the female who shacks up with all the folks on stage. Not really, just seeing if you're paying attention.

So my fill of seeing a live performance has been satisfied for a while.

One week till Thanksgiving... do you know where your turkey is?

Song of the Day - Hazel and I ate at the Hard Rock Cafe in Minneapolis which was fun. I think the place is a little on the small side, but still worth a trip in there. Of course there are many items from Prince on display among the Elvis, Beatles, and Elton John items. I'm sure they could just buy things and say that the artist wore them and nobody would know the difference right? So back to the SOTD - All Hard Rocks play music so loud that you can't hear the person across from you while you eat.... and last night they played an interesting choice of songs while we ate - one of them being Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall from The Wall. So that is the song of the day... a great song!

Video of the Day - New Family Guy Season 4 DVD comes out soon. In honor of this event, there are some "behind the scenes" things out on the web to enjoy... including this one where you see the people behind the voices! I think it's funny how Seth MacFarlane's real voice is the voice he uses for Brian the dog.

Webpage of the Day - Everyday Objects under an X-Ray... some cool images in here.