I caught the Chess concert with Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, and Josh Groban the other week on PBS, and WOW! FREAKING AMAZING!! How did this show not clean up at the Tony Awards? It boggles my mind to think it only ran for 68 performances on Broadway.
I am undecided which Chess album to get, though, as I understand there are significant differences among them. Do I get 1) the concept album? 2) the Original London Cast Recording (is this even still available - couldn't find it on Amazon), or 3) the Original Broadway cast recording?
It's funny you mentioned the concert with Groban and Menzel. I was actually going to recommend that you go for that one. I don't know where to get it, but definitely go with the September 22, 2003 special at the New Amsterdam Theatre. I think that the aforementioned singers, along with Pascal, Sutton Foster, and Raul Esparza, just really get the concept of the show down alot better than the original Broadway cast.
---- OSCAR FYC: Best Picture - "Up" Best Actor - Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man" Best Actress - Saoirse Ronan, "Lovely Bones" Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, "Basterds" Best Original Screenplay - "Up"
Posts: 1924 | Location: Right behind you. | Registered: December 07, 2007
I was young when "Chess" came out, but I got familiar with the music as a teenager and finally saw a performance in LA right out of college. My understanding is that "Chess" did not do well because it played on Cold War tensions, and made the Russian lead the sympathetic character and the American the a-hole. Anyone who actually sees and appreciates the show knows that the show is much deeper than that shallow analysis, but that's how it was seen in the early '80s. Remember, this is when Reagan was making the Cold War one of the centerpieces of his presidency.
Posts: 832 | Location: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: February 03, 2003
Originally posted by Smileynate: I was young when "Chess" came out, but I got familiar with the music as a teenager and finally saw a performance in LA right out of college. My understanding is that "Chess" did not do well because it played on Cold War tensions, and made the Russian lead the sympathetic character and the American the a-hole. Anyone who actually sees and appreciates the show knows that the show is much deeper than that shallow analysis, but that's how it was seen in the early '80s. Remember, this is when Reagan was making the Cold War one of the centerpieces of his presidency.
That was my understanding as well, that apart from not liking the score, some just didn't agree with its politics. Ugh.
---- OSCAR FYC: Best Picture - "Up" Best Actor - Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man" Best Actress - Saoirse Ronan, "Lovely Bones" Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, "Basterds" Best Original Screenplay - "Up"
Posts: 1924 | Location: Right behind you. | Registered: December 07, 2007
