Published on Sep 3, 1999
Everyone knows Tim Rice. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lyricist, Disney,
Elton John, yadda yadda yadda, wrote brilliant lyrics for most of
the major theatrical programs of the last twenty years. And to be
fair, he’s the rare combination of famous and justly so. He writes
well. But even he has odd little side projects that you may have
never heard of.
Chess is one of them, and it’s sadly overlooked; people who
actually discover this musical tend to be fanatically devoted to
it.
Chess is a collaborative work between Tim Rice and Benny
Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba. Yes, I said Abba. Stop
twitching. It was originally envisioned in the early eighties.
After three years of work, a ‘concept album’ was recorded in 1984
using the show’s music. That’s the “Black Chess”, the album we’re
reviewing today. After its London stage debut in 1986, it was
optioned to Broadway, where it was
butchered, based on the belief that American theatre-goers
wouldn’t go to a musical where the American was a villain. (There
is an American cast recording, the “White Chess” album. Avoid it
like you would ebola.) This butchering has continued; there are now
six
definitive versions of the libretto, and six arrangements of
the music, all of which are an attempt to update the musical to the
common day.
First question:
WHY
? The plot of Chess revolves around an international chess
championship between an American and a Russian at the height of the
Cold War, and the love triangle that destroys them both. Why update
it at all? No one moves
South Pacific to the Vietnam War. Because this mismanagement
and idiocy has obscured one central fact; the music itself to
Chess as recorded on the 1984 CD is utterly and simply
beautiful.
The performers are exemplary; Murray Head as The American, Tommy
Korberg as The Russian, and Elaine Page as Florence, the central
point in the love story. Head and Paige are well known to
theatre-goers; Head was Jesus in the original
Jesus Christ Superstar, Paige was Grizabella in the original
Cats. And the songs…
American audiences were only treated to “One Night In Bangkok”,
and it’s little more than a novelty tune, though it has its
moments. The real meat is the powerful rock opera of “Nobody’s
Side” and “The Deal”; the interwoven, Gilbert and Sullivan-like
vocals of “Quartet (A Model Of Decorum And Tranquility)” and
“Embassy Lament”; the emotion of “Mountain Duet”; and the simple,
arching female voices on “Heaven Help My Heart” and “I Know Him So
Well”.
The single most powerful moment, though, has to be Murray Head’s
“Pity The Child” – a song where you can FEEL the anger and
bitterness, a song for every child who was every ignored or
abused.
There are moments where
Chess drags, though they’re brief. However, I can close this
review in no better way than by echoing the sentiment I saw on
several web pages while I was researching dates for this review:
Broadway, get it together. Straighten out the contracts, find one
version of
Chess, and put it on stage. It is a powerful musical that
deserves a chance. Meanwhile, go find the soundtrack.