Amanuensis ([info]amanuensis1) wrote,
@ 2009-06-12 06:39:00
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Current mood: *dances*
Current music:The Arbiter's Song. DUH.
Entry tags:chess

Chess In Concert




I am SO EXCITED for this. The original concept album is one of my favorite musical scores in existence. I did see the U.S. version of this years ago and while I didn't hate it, I was open-mouthed "bzuh?" at the changes. And Tim Rice says on this website that this new concert version of this goes back to the original story and score as closely as it's ever likely to (he likes the addition of a few bits that have made it in there over the years, particularly Someone Else's Story).

It's airing on PBS on Wednesday. For those who need more motivation, lookit the cast, guys.

I might just pre-order the DVD unwatched.

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[info]umbralin
2009-06-12 11:26 am UTC (link)
OMG! Chess! I'm definitely going to have to order that DVD. I've been in love with that musical for a very long time. I saw the Swedish version in Stockholm a few years ago and it was amazing.

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:21 am UTC (link)
I wonder what the storyline was for that version?

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[info]umbralin
2009-06-13 11:10 am UTC (link)
It is in my opinion the most coherent version. It is set only in Merano and the whole story takes place over four days. The love story is pretty much the same as in the original version, only there's no year long break in the middle. Florence leaves Freddie for Anatoly and Anatoly decides he needs to leave Russia. The difference is that in this version he doesn't get the chance to. The KGB discovers what he's up to and immediately threatens his family. In the end Anatoly is blackmailed into losing the game and returning to Russia.

The story works better in the Swedish version, because in many ways it's simpler and clearer. But I think the play lost some of it's magic in the translation. The Swedish lyrics are ok, but they just aren't as strong as the English ones.

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 11:35 am UTC (link)
WHOA. Man, Rice was right when he's said he's seen every kind of take on the storyline.

Maybe the slash contingency should write the Russian and the American running off to Bangkok together. (Actually I'm quite sure someone must have done that already. :D )

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[info]umbralin
2009-06-13 12:11 pm UTC (link)
Now that would be an interesting relationship to play with!

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[info]beck_liz
2009-06-12 11:39 am UTC (link)
Oooh, thanks for the heads up! I had heard of this, but was not aware that it was airing in the States so soon.

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:22 am UTC (link)
I'm amused that it's out on DVD a day before it airs!

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[info]isiscolo
2009-06-12 01:35 pm UTC (link)
Eee! I saw the musical in dinner theatre maybe 15 years ago. This is the concert version from last year in London, apparently? Not the full musical?

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:23 am UTC (link)
This aired in May of this year, it's meant to be full-score and conform close to the original version, but a concert version and not a full staged musical (though there's dancing, you can see that in the preview on the site).

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[info]mybrokenlocket
2009-06-12 02:05 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much! I had no idea. I will definately check this out. *has a legitimate reason to use Chess icon, for once*

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:24 am UTC (link)
You have an ACTUAL CHESS ICON. Fantastic. (Here, the closest I have is Lelouch. :D )

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[info]mybrokenlocket
2009-06-13 07:22 pm UTC (link)
Yes! I felt a hankering for a Chess icon one day, went hunting, and found this. Lelouch is certainly a reasonable substitute, though.

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[info]garillama
2009-06-12 02:13 pm UTC (link)
Oh wow oh wow oh wow! I was actually in a community theater production of Chess (the American version) when I was a wee one. I was young Florence, so I had one line and then I got to sit in the green room for the rest of the show being babysat by men in gold-lamé g-strings. And I wonder why I turned out the way I did...

I will most definitely be checking this out! I think PBS might even be one of the two stations I get on my tv ;)

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:25 am UTC (link)
I'm laughing like MAD. Omigod.

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[info]joesther
2009-06-12 03:32 pm UTC (link)
With that cast, what more motivation do you need to watch?? Woah! *sets DVR*

Thanks for letting us know. :)

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:25 am UTC (link)
Figured there'd be a lot of Idina Menzel fans on the flist. :D

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[info]moon_maiden36
2009-06-12 04:01 pm UTC (link)
You had me at Josh Groban. <3

But what's "Chess" about? I'm afraid I've never heard of it before...

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[info]drgaellon
2009-06-12 10:54 pm UTC (link)
Music by the two songwriters from ABBA, lyrics by Tim Rice.

It's set at two World Championships of Chess, the first in the Tyrol Mountains, and the second several years later in Bangkok. It revolves around the complex relationships between the American champion, his female second, the Russian champion, and his KGB-employed second.

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[info]moon_maiden36
2009-06-13 05:14 pm UTC (link)
Ooo... I can haz incessant "checkmake" metaphors? XD

Sounds interesting. Mayhaps I will check it out... <3

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:28 am UTC (link)
Do you know, I've barely heard of the guy? I had to go look him up. ^_^

[info]drgaellon's summarized it well! (It might just be one year between the two championships, but, pretty much, yeah.)

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[info]moon_maiden36
2009-06-13 05:25 pm UTC (link)
WHAT EPISODE IS YOUR AVATAR FROM?!

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 05:32 pm UTC (link)
Ah ha ha ha ha! It's from the extra thingy that included the funeral of...that character. Here that portion is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcvIxTVafkM

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[info]moon_maiden36
2009-06-13 05:42 pm UTC (link)
ARGH. It was frusterating me so that I couldn't find it--!

By extra, do you mean "Death Note Rewrite 1?" (In any case, thankies for the linkage! :D)

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 06:32 pm UTC (link)
To be honest, I dunno! It might be that this was supposed to be the end of episode 25, or that they made this as an alternate version. Maybe it was rewrite 1, too! I guess I'm waiting to see if it's part of this.

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[info]moon_maiden36
2009-06-13 07:34 pm UTC (link)
Well, that's Re-Write One, so if it is... (Who's releasing that? Will it be dubbed? Either way, I WANT! XD)

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[info]son_of_darkness
2009-06-12 04:09 pm UTC (link)
Josh Groban ♥

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:29 am UTC (link)
*giggles* Meanwhile, I've barely heard of the guy. I had to go look him up to figure out who he was.

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[info]oceaxe
2009-06-12 05:46 pm UTC (link)
AWESOME!!! Time was when I had this entire musical memorized. Even now, when I go to Target and see their label "Merona," I burst into song. "Once in a while all the gods will smile on little old Merona!" Yeah, people look at me as though they're about to call security.

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[info]drgaellon
2009-06-12 10:55 pm UTC (link)
Except the town in the musical is "Merano".

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:30 am UTC (link)
They'll never understand. They are not COOL. :D

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[info]heinous_bitca
2009-06-12 06:01 pm UTC (link)
DUDE.

DUDE.

*makes note to set DVR*

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-24 11:12 am UTC (link)
Didja like? :D

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[info]heinous_bitca
2009-06-24 01:57 pm UTC (link)
I did!

We watched it on Monday after I got back from the hospital. I was surprised at some of the new songs (I just have the original recording too) and changes in when some songs were sung and who got to sing them (Florence having a "Pity the Child" bit? It fit, but very surprising!).

I was also wondering where I had seen this warning to DVR it, and I would totally have missed that it was you. I'm so glad you responded to my comment as now I can thank you properly!

The husband bought the CD for me while I was in the hospital too, even though we hadn't seen it yet. He liked it as well, though he's not the fan that I am of the concept album. :)

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-25 10:38 am UTC (link)
I'm so glad you liked it! I did too. I thought nearly all of the changes worked for me, and that's a big deal. I'm pretty sure I'm getting the DVD!

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[info]pinkfinity
2009-06-12 06:45 pm UTC (link)
I have been catching bits of this on youtube since last year but the sound quality is terrible and the visuals suck and to be able to watch this and to own this makes the part of me that fell in love from the first moment I heard One Night in Bangkok, even though I can't listen to it anymore because OMG all the other songs are so much better, is glee-inducing. And how much do I now want this on broadway where Kris Allen and Adam Lambert trade the lead roles from night to night, or week to week?

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[info]drgaellon
2009-06-12 10:52 pm UTC (link)
Nooooo.... Adam has to be the American, and Kris the Russian. Because Adam has to sing "I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you!"

Ooooh, I may actually want to see that MORE than Adam as Judas and Kris as Jesus in Superstar.

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Yes, of *course*!
[info]pinkfinity
2009-06-12 11:11 pm UTC (link)
I used to think that my ideal Broadway revival casting dream was John Barrowman and Neil Patrick Harris in City of Angels, but Kradam In Chess would definitely knock that out of first place.

Edited at 2009-06-12 11:11 pm UTC

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:31 am UTC (link)
One Night in Bangkok is one pop song that never got old for me and I'm still not sure how that happened, given how much it's been radio-played!

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[info]drgaellon
2009-06-12 10:51 pm UTC (link)
*IZ STRUCK DUMB BY TEH AWESOME*

Quick, where's the remote for the Tivo?!?!?

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:31 am UTC (link)
SO MUCH AWESOME.

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[info]dmlpacker
2009-06-12 11:20 pm UTC (link)
Josh Groban? SOLD SOLD SOLD UTTERLY SOLD!

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:32 am UTC (link)
*sheepish* I've been confessing to everyone that I didn't even know who the guy was before I learned he was in this.

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[info]emmagrant01
2009-06-13 02:34 am UTC (link)
*flails at the cast*

*flails at all of it*

I love the original Chess album so much!!!

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 10:34 am UTC (link)
SO. MUCH. My story is that I was actually in England when the album had just been released and not a soul knew what it was in the U.S. until months after I'd brought it home, played it to death, and hooked friends on it. I ARE TRENDSETTER. :D

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[info]moon_child02
2009-06-13 05:42 pm UTC (link)
DUDE this was one of those ones that i always wanted to hear, *thinks she must look into the soundtrack*

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[info]amanuensis1
2009-06-13 06:32 pm UTC (link)
YES YOU MUST. The original studio version!

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