Chess The Musical In Concert - TR Drury Lane

[alece10]

Great. I missed put on the first date so good news.

[Deleted]

That wasn't great and weird not having any of the concert leads

[richey]

Jun 26, 2022 18:33:45 GMT @theatrefan2 said:

That wasn't great and weird not having any of the concert leads

well, I know him so well wasn't too bad but One Night in Bangkok? Oh...dear...

[BurlyBeaR]

Jun 10, 2022 13:41:03 GMT LaLuPone said:

What’s the view like from Row D of the upper circle?

Have a look on Seatplan

seatplan.com/london/theatre-royal-drury-lane-venue/royal-circle/

[richey]

Extra performance announced- there's now a matinee on Tuesday too

[fiyerorocher]

Samantha Barks and Frances Mayli McCann were both absolutely stunning in this tonight! The people sat next to me, however, would have been better staying home and listening to the cast album - if they weren't singing, they were talking...!

[Being Alive]

They gave Barks the last bow which is...weird.

Am sure Hadley's Anthem will have been worth the ticket price alone, but still think the cast is all a bit vanilla

[anniel]

This was heavily pruned and taken at quite a speed.

Loved Samantha Barks & Hadley Fraser - their duets especially were really very good indeed & Anthem was excellent. Fraser is a very good actor too.

Was a bit ‘meh’ about the other leads.

It is always lovely to hear the score played by an orchestra though.

[scarpia]

I enjoyed this a lot more than the awful production at the Coliseum but it was still a bit 'meh' for me. Mainly because I'm convinced now that the material just doesn't work in the theatre. It's a gorgeous album but dramatically it's a total mess and the lyrics are some of Tim Rice's worst. How we got from the sardonic bite and concision of Evita to 'and we more or less are............../to our credit putting all that aside' I have no idea. A collection of great songs that seem like they can be rearranged in any order (and often are) doesn't make a musical. Tim Rice seems to be convinced, based on the programme notes, that this show is fine without a book but it really isn't. In this production at least the 'news announcements' from Trevor McDonald helped clarify what was going on at various points.

I liked the set up of the stage (and thank you for not projecting it out into the stalls and ruining sightlines as Laurence Connor did at the Coliseum...though I didn't get to see all of the video projection but it doesn't look like that contributed anything). It was lovely to have an orchestra that size, although the sound design/balance was off but I guess that is inevitable for a show where there are only 2 performances. Some of the orchestral swells never really took off. But in general it was a much slicker and professional affair than what happened with Sunset Blvd at Alexandra Palace last year.

I'm not sure any cast member really hit it for me. Samantha Barks had a lovely tone to her voice (reminiscent of Elaine Paige) but often I felt the songs were being shouted/screamed. It was also odd at the beginning for her to have an English accent whilst talking and a very American one whilst singing. Hadley Fraser was fine. Joel Harper-Jackson has a great tenor voice but the diction was sometimes a bit muddled...and I think I only understood certain lines from having known them already. I think Ako Mitchell must have had some vocal problems because the Arbiter's song was a bit painful and a struggle. I'm sure he can probably do the song justice but his voice tonight sounded hoarse and tired.

There was a standing O at the end...but then the theatre (gorgeously renovated, BTW) was packed with Chess fans.

[inthenose]

Aug 1, 2022 22:29:10 GMT anniel said:

This was heavily pruned and taken at quite a speed.

Loved Samantha Barks & Hadley Fraser - their duets especially were really very good indeed & Anthem was excellent. Fraser is a very good actor too.

Was a bit ‘meh’ about the other leads.

It is always lovely to hear the score played by an orchestra though.

I felt like standing up and screaming “CALM DOWN” to the MD, who clearly had a train to catch. Full thoughts to follow.

[inthenose]

Personally I thought the singing was quite bad. Ako Mitchell had a bit of a nightmare and it’s not something to dwell on - no need to be unkind. Hadley Fraser seemed to be the only one attempting to sing the score as written (a score which was on fast forward for some bizarre reason, and very poorly played by an under-rehearsed orchestra).

Bit of a mess really.

The usual and predictable sound problems in rear stalls. People complaining to front of house around me at the interval, being led to the bar for “compensation”!

Oh, what was going on with the book?

Folks, don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything tonight.

[inthenose]

Aug 1, 2022 22:37:07 GMT scarpia said:

I enjoyed this a lot more than the awful production at the Coliseum but it was still a bit 'meh' for me. Mainly because I'm convinced now that the material just doesn't work in the theatre. It's a gorgeous album but dramatically it's a total mess and the lyrics are some of Tim Rice's worst. How we got from the sardonic bite and concision of Evita to 'and we more or less are............../to our credit putting all that aside' I have no idea. A collection of great songs that seem like they can be rearranged in any order (and often are) doesn't make a musical. Tim Rice seems to be convinced, based on the programme notes, that this show is fine without a book but it really isn't. In this production at least the 'news announcements' from Trevor McDonald helped clarify what was going on at various points.

I liked the set up of the stage (and thank you for not projecting it out into the stalls and ruining sightlines as Laurence Connor did at the Coliseum...though I didn't get to see all of the video projection but it doesn't look like that contributed anything). It was lovely to have an orchestra that size, although the sound design/balance was off but I guess that is inevitable for a show where there are only 2 performances. Some of the orchestral swells never really took off. But in general it was a much slicker and professional affair than what happened with Sunset Blvd at Alexandra Palace last year.

I'm not sure any cast member really hit it for me. Samantha Barks had a lovely tone to her voice (reminiscent of Elaine Paige) but often I felt the songs were being shouted/screamed. It was also odd at the beginning for her to have an English accent whilst talking and a very American one whilst singing. Hadley Fraser was fine. Joel Harper-Jackson has a great tenor voice but the diction was sometimes a bit muddled...and I think I only understood certain lines from having known them already. I think Ako Mitchell must have had some vocal problems because the Arbiter's song was a bit painful and a struggle. I'm sure he can probably do the song justice but his voice tonight sounded hoarse and tired.

There was a standing O at the end...but then the theatre (gorgeously renovated, BTW) was packed with Chess fans.

I think this is very, very generous.

[stagebyte]

What was the running time please?

[shownut]

I thought it was a slightly interesting but very uneven evening.

Like the Coliseum production, this "concert" version decided not to put the music and lyrics centrestage and instead, muddled the evening with overwrought and often silly projections and, in this instance, choreography that was woefully out of place. Were we supposed to be in Merano, Bangkok or Las Vegas? Less would have been a lot more if they just toned down the production elements and allowed the music space to breathe.

The two male leads were both sensational. Both "Anthem" and "Pity The Child" were worth the price of admission alone. But Samantha Barks brought nothing to Florence that we didn't already get from Idina Menzel. I would have killed to see a powerhouse like Rachel Tucker tackle this role. The less I say about the actress who played Svetlana the better, but if you want to see that role conveyed like someone auditioning to be a Disney princess, here is your chance.

The orchestra and choir were sensational though the mix was a bit off and a fair number of lyrics were inaubible - not suprising for a first run of any show but by the final show tonight it will likely be better.

Certainly glad I saw it, but I wish there had been less distraction and more focus on that glorious score.

[scarpia]

Aug 2, 2022 2:42:01 GMT inthenose said:

I think this is very, very generous.

I'll admit I was trying to be! I don't think this was anywhere near as bad (in terms of the delivery of the production, but not in terms of the material) as the Ally Pally Sunset.

Like the Coliseum production, this "concert" version decided not to put the music and lyrics centrestage and instead, muddled the evening with overwrought and often silly projections and, in this instance, choreography that was woefully out of place.

I forgot about that awful choreography. It was horribly distracting at times and looked like something out of Mr Motivator's aerobics classes. In the programme notes, the director/choreographer says he wanted to put it in because Michael Bennett would have had emphasis on choreography had he got to realise his vision for the original. But this choreography is nothing like what Bennett would have done. Bennett's would have told a story. This was just...random and out of place.

And yes the score was played very fast. At times the orchestrations were not right. 'I Know Him So Well' both felt rushed but also very, very bright and weirdly almost happy. 

[fiyerorocher]

Aug 2, 2022 7:47:57 GMT shownut said:

choreography that was woefully out of place

I definitely concur with this. At times it did feel like the entire audience was just sat awkwardly waiting for the ensemble to get the dance sequence over with.

[richey]

Oh dear. Seeing this tonight and not looking forward to it now.
I did wonder last night about the running time- I was walking down the Strand about 10pm and passed several people carrying programmes from the show so guessed it had finished fairly early. I've heard they've not included Merano or the Merchandiser song?

[robertb213]

Finished about 9.55pm last night and that's with starting about 5 minutes late.

I thought Samantha was a significant improvement on Idina who just shouted everything. Joel, Hadley and Samantha were all great, but Frances jarred with me, she was the only one who felt like she was just singing in a concert rather than playing a character.

The choreography was a bit weird, I agree.

Definitely an enjoyable night, and for me Samantha was the standout, I thought she showed real power rather than just being the pretty voice that she used to be known for.

[dazzlair]

It was a bit of a hot mess. It may be a minority opinion, but I much preferred the Coliseum and Craig Revel-Horwood versions, and definitely the Union Theatre production. It was so rushed that if you weren't familiar with the material, the whole thing would have made no sense.

Hadley Fraser was great - I think if he had done it instead of Michael Ball (who got his timings for Anthem wrong when I watched it), the Coliseum production would have been a whole lot better. Strong of voice and for me, the only one who attempted to act. Sam Barks sings well but stirred no emotion in me. Nobody's Side should be searing, her version was...fine. Joel seemed to be chewing his words at times, Ako was horribly muffled (maybe vocal issues?) and Frances made no impact whatsoever as Svetlena.

I didn't mind the choreography. Kudos to the choir though - they brought the gravitas and power when required.

I was so looking forward to it as it's possibly my favourite score of all time, even while acknowledging the problems with the book. I hope those who are going get more pleasure out of it than I did.

PS. I hope this is allowed but if not let know and I'll remove: I've posted a short video on that famous video sharing website - just shots of the theatre, stage and curtain call.

[dazzlair]

Aug 2, 2022 8:58:28 GMT richey said:

Oh dear. Seeing this tonight and not looking forward to it now.
I did wonder last night about the running time- I was walking down the Strand about 10pm and passed several people carrying programmes from the show so guessed it had finished fairly early. I've heard they've not included Merano or the Merchandiser song?

Neither song is in it which is a shame.

[justsaying113]

Well, I go right back to the launch concert at The Barbican and have seen many productions and reincarnations (including in Sweden) and - one or two reservation aside - I thought this was excellent, for a concert, presumably put together in a short space of time and with limited rehearsal.

I'm not naming individual performers (negatively) but one just did not work and was a totally missed opportunity for a bit of fun, and another was just vocally dull and really disappointing. The most irritating element of the whole evening was the ridiculous and distracting background choreography - a prime example of "less is more".

SB certainly sang it (IMHO) better than anyone since the peerless - in this role anyway - Elaine Paige (and Siobhan McCarthy) but could have reigned it in slightly at times. I pity anyone following in the footsteps of Tommy Korberg but I thought HF did a fine job. And I liked JH-J. He missed clarity in certain lyrics but I felt his 'Pity the Child' was well-delivered if maybe too understated for fans of Murray Head's original.

I do agree though about some of the cuts and, given it went a such a pace, there was scope to have included things like 'Merano' without 'Chess' becoming, as it can sometimes be, long and lumbering.

And I loved seeing the 'Anthem' reprise back, although including the brief dialogue between Molokov and Florence that preceded it in the original text would have made the finale more powerful.

'Chess' remains a flawed masterpiece that won't go away and I, for one, am not complaining.

[Steve]

Saw the final Tuesday night show, and absolutely loved it, though the book still needs work, and this was a broad brush large scale rousing concert performance that failed to find any hidden intimacies.

It was all about Hadley Fraser and Samantha Barks for me.

The infamous book that not even Trevor Nunn could fix is clarified in this production: it's basically all about two Alphas cuckolding two Betas, or, Romeo and Juliet for Adults, with disenfranchised partners and added cold war.

Although the projections are mostly background for me, the background animation of Fraser's introductory "I want" song, "Where I want to be" was marvellously Hitchcockian and very effective: with hypnotic black and white Chess spirals and Fraser's character walking the walls and ceiling, and then Vertigo-like plunging into a sinking abyss, as Fraser's powerful voice and mournful ambiguity ruled everything!

Barks, in her innocent white but macho alpha American suit, was almost equally powerful, in her "I want" song, "Nobody's Side," yin which she does in fact switch sides, and dons a dark overcoat to prove it!

And then these two Alphas come together in Benny and Bjorn's most Dolly Parton - Kenny Rogers type duet, "Mountain Duet," which had a Hitchcockian starlit backdrop, with the wondrous Mountain obstacle in the middle, and a shooting star as Fraser triumphantly declared his love and betrayal of his home country all at once.

The cuck songs, "Pity the Child" and "Someone Else's Story" were adequate, but couldn't match the passion of Fraser and Barks, though Joel Harper-Jackson was almost as effective in his high pitched misery of "Pity the Child" as Fraser and Barks were in their full throated throws of glory in "Mountain Duet."

Fraser confirmed himself Alpha man of the match, with "Anthem."

It almost didn't matter that Ako Mitchell wasn't in full voice. Great Alpha love needs no arbiter.

If the theme of the first half was the Triumph of the Alphas, the theme of the second half was Revenge of the Betas.

Joel Harper-Jackson really raised his game, in the second half, becoming electrically impish as Freddie Trumper, gleefully relishing his needling of Fraser's Anatoly with his high-pitched rock trill in "One Night in Bangkok," and even more so in "The Interview," Fraser playing off this beautifully, looking increasingly irritated, as if Harper-Jackson's mosquito was successfully bleeding him dry.

I loved "I Know Him so well," which started with the more dominant alpha-female, Samantha Barks's Florence on the raised stairs at the upper left with Frances Mayli McCann's beta female seated in a chair, submissive and central. But as McCann's Svetlana begins to get to Florence, needling her in a mirror image of the way Freddie needled Anatoly, Barks descended the stairs to the ground level, reduced, and Mayli McCann stood up, raised up, and the two women faced off as equals in a beautiful duet (this was Mayli McCann at her best, providing a worthy foil for Barks).

There was a very retro-Bondian kind of feel to the conclusion of the song, with the two women competing at the lowest most submissive level of the stage for the affections of the great master alpha male, Anatoly, complete with retro Bondian flashlight lighting effects lol.

During the final Chess match, the plaintive music coupled with Fraser's Anatoly's resigned yet dominant attitude, conjured all the nostalgic retro pleasure of a Hamlet cigar commercial lol.

Despite the machinations of the weak book, when Barks reprised "Anthem," she raised her character up again to the stature of Anatoly, and although he was departing, she sang as though their love was timeless and would last forever, absolutely reminiscent of Elaine Paige back in the day.

Although the book still needs work, and this concert lacked the clarity and intimacy of the Union Theatre version, and although I preferred the gaudy wackiness of the Bangkok at the Coliseum, as far as the two central characters were concerned, they were the biggest and the best and the most transporting of the versions I've seen.

4 and a half stars from me.

[alison]

Aug 2, 2022 17:04:38 GMT justsaying113 said:

Well, I go right back to the launch concert at The Barbican and have seen many productions and reincarnations (including in Sweden) and - one or two reservation aside - I thought this was excellent, for a concert, presumably put together in a short space of time and with limited rehearsal.

I'm not naming individual performers (negatively) but one just did not work and was a totally missed opportunity for a bit of fun, and another was just vocally dull and really disappointing. The most irritating element of the whole evening was the ridiculous and distracting background choreography - a prime example of "less is more".

SB certainly sang it (IMHO) better than anyone since the peerless - in this role anyway - Elaine Paige (and Siobhan McCarthy) but could have reigned it in slightly at times. I pity anyone following in the footsteps of Tommy Korberg but I thought HF did a fine job. And I liked JH-J. He missed clarity in certain lyrics but I felt his 'Pity the Child' was well-delivered if maybe too understated for fans of Murray Head's original.

I do agree though about some of the cuts and, given it went a such a pace, there was scope to have included things like 'Merano' without 'Chess' becoming, as it can sometimes be, long and lumbering.

And I loved seeing the 'Anthem' reprise back, although including the brief dialogue between Molokov and Florence that preceded it in the original text would have made the finale more powerful.

'Chess' remains a flawed masterpiece that won't go away and I, for one, am not complaining.

I was there this afternoon, and I was going to type up my thoughts but honestly this sums up my feelings pretty well.

I did think that the plot (such as it is) was the most coherent today than in any version I've seen either live or on film, and it's the first time I've been quite so impressed with all three leads both from a singing and acting point of view.

[richey]

I really enjoyed this evening...well,most of it.
Thought the first few songs were a bit ropey, particularly where the Arbiter was involved. Ako wasn't great,I struggled to make out a lot of the lyrics. In fact I thought even Marti Pellow's performance at RAH was better. However I enjoyed it from the first Chess game onwards (though that was spoiled by the totally unnecessary choreography going on around them)
As has been already said it was worth the ticket just to hear Hadley's Anthem but Samantha's reprise was equally as good. Frances was ok, but she grinned through most of her songs. I thought the placement of Someone Else's Story was strange, it seem randomly dropped it, we hadn't really been introduced to Anatoly's wife then suddenly she's there singing. I don't think I've seen a version where it appears that early.
All in all glad I came down to see this, it was really worth it to hear it with the choir and orchestra.

[thistimetomorrow]

I was a bit underwhelmed at this. I thought Hadley and Sam were both very very good and I did enjoy Joel's Freddy, but the rest of the cast left me feeling a little disappointed. I don't know if Ako was ill or just this role wasn't suited to him? I do love the music to the show so at least that was enjoyable.