Chess

[Brian]

Apr 28, 2018 20:24:12 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 19:52:23 GMT Brian said:

To be fair, where are you getting that impression? There is literally only one of the reviewers here who was even close to saying that.

Well, I did skim-read a bit before commenting so I'll probably go back and read the thread properly.

Some have loved it, others have been so so, one absolutely hated it.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Twitter and it’s getting overwhelming positivity there. I’ve seen plenty of scathing reviews on Twitter for other shows, though of course it’s not scientific!

I’ll definitely be interested to see what the critics think.

[d'James]

I trust they’re using the original European lyrics??

[Brian]

Ryan, this is for you!

[oxfordsimon]

50 seconds of that was enough for me. How to ruin it.

[misspiggy1979]

Had to understand the history of it beforehand. Not old enough to remember it first time around. Although my norwegian mother did. The second half was better. The stage was gr8. Though up in the cheap seats the ushers got complaints that people could not see the chess board. I was ok on row H. I hear craig revel horwood and tim rice were in the audience. For the afternoon show.

[theatreian]

In preparation for going at the end of May I watched the dvd of the Albert hall concert of Chess tonight. I had forgotten what a fabulous score it is. Hope this production sounds as good as they did tonight, although Ball is no Groban and Jansen no Menzel and Burke no Ellis. Who am I kidding!Well I am sure it will sound good anyway with the Orchestra and choir.

[richey]

Apr 28, 2018 21:24:41 GMT theatreian said:

In preparation for going at the end of May I watched the dvd of the Albert hall concert of Chess tonight. I had forgotten what a fabulous score it is. Hope this production sounds as good as they did tonight, although Ball is no Groban and Jansen no Menzel and Burke no Ellis. Who am I kidding!Well I am sure it will sound good anyway with the Orchestra and choir.

I listened to this again yesterday before my visit next Wednesday. It actually wasn't as good as I remembered. The sound on the night I went was awful- Pellow was virtually incoherent and Idina didn't seem to care. The only saving grace was hearing Anthem blasted out with the RAH organ.

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 20:29:09 GMT Brian said:

Apr 28, 2018 20:24:12 GMT aingidh said:

Well, I did skim-read a bit before commenting so I'll probably go back and read the thread properly.

Some have loved it, others have been so so, one absolutely hated it.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Twitter and it’s getting overwhelming positivity there. I’ve seen plenty of scathing reviews on Twitter for other shows, though of course it’s not scientific!

I’ll definitely be interested to see what the critics think.

It sounds a bit like Wicked when it first opened anyway. And now nearly 12 years later it’s kind of a West End staple. (even though the theatre is in Victoria). I highly doubt Chess will last as long as this but it seems like things may get either better or worse for it. I enjoy Burke as a performer so I’ll probably try and scoop up some audios over time of the show to see what I think.

Edit: All this time I thought Chess was a brand new musical with an open run and now I’ve done some research on it and feel so ignorant. This is a 5-week limited season revival and not a big new production. I think it will probably tour after this as they wouldn’t just cast and choreograph a production for 5 weeks and leave it like that?

[LaLuPone]

Apr 28, 2018 21:54:38 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 20:29:09 GMT Brian said:

Some have loved it, others have been so so, one absolutely hated it.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Twitter and it’s getting overwhelming positivity there. I’ve seen plenty of scathing reviews on Twitter for other shows, though of course it’s not scientific!

I’ll definitely be interested to see what the critics think.

It sounds a bit like Wicked when it first opened anyway. And now nearly 12 years later it’s kind of a West End staple. (even though the theatre is in Victoria). I highly doubt Chess will last as long as this but it seems like things may get either better or worse for it. I enjoy Burke as a performer so I’ll probably try and scoop up some audios over time of the show to see what I think.

You realise this is a revival though? Chess first opened in 1984! And no it certainly won’t last 12 years because this was only ever going to be a 5-week limited run.

EDIT: Sorry posted before I saw your edit!

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:00:09 GMT LaLuPone said:

Apr 28, 2018 21:54:38 GMT aingidh said:

It sounds a bit like Wicked when it first opened anyway. And now nearly 12 years later it’s kind of a West End staple. (even though the theatre is in Victoria). I highly doubt Chess will last as long as this but it seems like things may get either better or worse for it. I enjoy Burke as a performer so I’ll probably try and scoop up some audios over time of the show to see what I think.

You realise this is a revival though? Chess first opened in 1984! And no it certainly won’t last 12 years because this was only ever going to be a 5-week limited run.

Just edited my post. Didn’t actually know of Chess beforehand and thought it was a new musical. Feel very ignorant.

[musicalmarge]

Apr 28, 2018 21:54:38 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 20:29:09 GMT Brian said:

Some have loved it, others have been so so, one absolutely hated it.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Twitter and it’s getting overwhelming positivity there. I’ve seen plenty of scathing reviews on Twitter for other shows, though of course it’s not scientific!

I’ll definitely be interested to see what the critics think.

It sounds a bit like Wicked when it first opened anyway. And now nearly 12 years later it’s kind of a West End staple. (even though the theatre is in Victoria). I highly doubt Chess will last as long as this but it seems like things may get either better or worse for it. I enjoy Burke as a performer so I’ll probably try and scoop up some audios over time of the show to see what I think.

Edit: All this time I thought Chess was a brand new musical with an open run and now I’ve done some research on it and feel so ignorant. This is a 5-week limited season revival and not a big new production. I think it will probably tour after this as they wouldn’t just cast and choreograph a production for 5 weeks and leave it like that?

What odd comments! Chess has been around since the 80s. You can’t compare to Wicked. What’s being in Victoria got to do with anything? Hamilton? Starlight? Unlike Broadway the West End is spread out. Plus these new Collesium 5 weeks runs are just one offs. They aren’t staged so they can tour. On another note I’m glad they have fixed the lip sync issue!

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:05:07 GMT musicalmarge said:

Apr 28, 2018 21:54:38 GMT aingidh said:

It sounds a bit like Wicked when it first opened anyway. And now nearly 12 years later it’s kind of a West End staple. (even though the theatre is in Victoria). I highly doubt Chess will last as long as this but it seems like things may get either better or worse for it. I enjoy Burke as a performer so I’ll probably try and scoop up some audios over time of the show to see what I think.

Edit: All this time I thought Chess was a brand new musical with an open run and now I’ve done some research on it and feel so ignorant. This is a 5-week limited season revival and not a big new production. I think it will probably tour after this as they wouldn’t just cast and choreograph a production for 5 weeks and leave it like that?

What odd comments! Chess has been around since the 80s. You can’t compare to Wicked. What’s being in Victoria got to do with anything? Hamilton? Starlight? Unlike Broadway the West End is spread out. Plus these new Collesium 5 weeks runs are just one offs. They aren’t staged so they can tour. On another note I’m glad they have fixed the lip sync issue!

Let’s put it this way, I have little to no knowledge of more older/classic shows and I genuinely thought this was a new show until I looked it up.. Sometimes I say things that don’t quite make total sense. Lesson learned, always research a show before posting on its thread...

Edit: I thought it might help by mentioning that I’m 14 and I only really got into theatre and its ways in late 2016 which is why I’m not really familiar with “legacy” shows like this. I try to go to the theatre as often as I can but I’m just not as much of an expert as others.

[Brian]

^We all make mistakes!

[steve10086]

Apr 28, 2018 22:22:51 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 22:05:07 GMT musicalmarge said:

What odd comments! Chess has been around since the 80s. You can’t compare to Wicked. What’s being in Victoria got to do with anything? Hamilton? Starlight? Unlike Broadway the West End is spread out. Plus these new Collesium 5 weeks runs are just one offs. They aren’t staged so they can tour. On another note I’m glad they have fixed the lip sync issue!

Let’s put it this way, I have little to no knowledge of more older/classic shows and I genuinely thought this was a new show until I looked it up.. Sometimes I say things that don’t quite make total sense. Lesson learned, always research a show before posting on its thread...

Edit: I thought it might help by mentioning that I’m 14 and I only really got into theatre and its ways in late 2016 which is why I’m not really familiar with “legacy” shows like this. I try to go to the theatre as often as I can but I’m just not as much of an expert as others.

I’m just depressed that you’d call Chess a “legacy” show. To me that’s South Pacific or My Fair Lady :-)

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:38:36 GMT steve10086 said:

Apr 28, 2018 22:22:51 GMT aingidh said:

Let’s put it this way, I have little to no knowledge of more older/classic shows and I genuinely thought this was a new show until I looked it up.. Sometimes I say things that don’t quite make total sense. Lesson learned, always research a show before posting on its thread...

Edit: I thought it might help by mentioning that I’m 14 and I only really got into theatre and its ways in late 2016 which is why I’m not really familiar with “legacy” shows like this. I try to go to the theatre as often as I can but I’m just not as much of an expert as others.

I’m just depressed that you’d call Chess a “legacy” show. To me that’s South Pacific or My Fair Lady :-)

Well maybe not “legacy”, maybe... err... I give up. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[steve10086]

Apr 28, 2018 22:40:34 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 22:38:36 GMT steve10086 said:

I’m just depressed that you’d call Chess a “legacy” show. To me that’s South Pacific or My Fair Lady :-)

Well maybe not “legacy”, maybe... err... I give up. 🤷🏻‍♂️

No, it’s only because it made me feel old :-)

Don’t give up!

[Deleted]

What is the running time for this? The only production of Chess I've ever seen was an amateur one and that seemed to go on forever - pretty sure it ended up being nearly 3 hours, if not longer!

[musicalmarge]

Tumbleweed.................

[Brian]

Apr 28, 2018 22:47:27 GMT @posterj said:

What is the running time for this? The only production of Chess I've ever seen was an amateur one and that seemed to go on forever - pretty sure it ended up being nearly 3 hours, if not longer!

2 hours, 45 minutes apparently...

www.eno.org/whats-on/chess/

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:50:35 GMT Brian said:

Apr 28, 2018 22:47:27 GMT @posterj said:

What is the running time for this? The only production of Chess I've ever seen was an amateur one and that seemed to go on forever - pretty sure it ended up being nearly 3 hours, if not longer!

2 hours, 45 minutes apparently...

www.eno.org/whats-on/chess/

That does sound about normal for a West End musical. 15-20 mins is probably the interval which makes the show about 2.5 hours.

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:22:51 GMT aingidh said:

Edit: I thought it might help by mentioning that I’m 14 and I only really got into theatre and its ways in late 2016 which is why I’m not really familiar with “legacy” shows like this.

I think "legacy" show is a fair description! "Chess" is 32 years old - so this is like someone in 1986 reviving a 1954 show like "Salad Days" or "The Pajama Game"!

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2018 22:01:10 GMT aingidh said:

Apr 28, 2018 22:00:09 GMT LaLuPone said:

You realise this is a revival though? Chess first opened in 1984! And no it certainly won’t last 12 years because this was only ever going to be a 5-week limited run.

Just edited my post. Didn’t actually know of Chess beforehand and thought it was a new musical. Feel very ignorant.

Don't feel ignorant- we certainly aren't all born knowing everything (despite what some of this lot her might like to think ) there's no reason having gotten into musicals recently- and being far too young to remember the original- that you should know Chess. 

I've been a musicals never for about 15 years now and I quite often come across things I don't know about that apparently are 'super famous' and 'important'. 

[Deleted]

I just got 2 rush tickets for tonight from TodayTix. A bargain. £22 instead of £65 in the upper circle. Looking forward to it!!

[Deleted]

I really loved this tonight! I thought it was great.

Ok, the sound/diction for the large group numbers were a mess and even knowing the score well didn't help decipher what they were singing, but for  the main scenes/songs, the sound was excellent. Really good use of the screens at the sides and thankfully the audio and visual were in synch. Excellent set design and lighting.

I thought the 4 leads were all great, and i don't understand the bashing of Alexandra Burke. I thought she was fantastic vocally. Yes she might not act the songs enough, but she definitely gets it across well. I really liked the new song for Svetlana at the top of Act 2.Would i pay to see Alexandra play Florence? Yep! Michael Ball was back to form, none of his cabaret nonsense and mannerisms, but it must be said, he's also not the greatest actor. Cassidy Jensen was very good, but she didnt blow me away and Tim Howar definitely has the chops for Freddie. The women's roles are very underwritten and there's no real introduction to either of them in the show.

The orchestra sounded glorious, as were the extra chorus brought in for the second half.

The biggest applause was for I Know Him So Well, but me for the best number was The Deal. It's always been one of my favourite songs in the score and in this production it had an amazing sound and fantastic guitar riffs, and a great drum beat throughout, something that i felt was missing from Nobody's Side. I only wish there was a pause for applause for it, before it goes into Pity The Child. On the Danish Tour recording, at the very end, after You and I, there's a finale, with Florence singing a reprise of Anthem, and to me that was a better ending than just You and I.

Maybe it's because my expectations were lowered by people on here, or maybe because i only paid £22 instead of £65, but i thought was great and i'll definitely be going again before it ends.

[alece10]

Too tired to write anything sensible at this time so will give my two penneth tomorrow.
But absolutely loved it.