Chess

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Tim Rice’s imagination knows no limits. The idea of writing a musical surrounding the Cold War grabbed hold of him. Big subject. Ensconcing it within a game of chess between an American and a Russian narrowed the field opening the possibilities. Approaching his once upon a time musical collaborator, Andrew Lloyd Webber, he discovered Webber was up to his ears in other projects. This took him to Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba fame and the idea grabbed them as well. First performed in 1984, the stunning intelligent demanding musical went through several changes. Not too ironic that politics would play a part in a musical wrapping itself around the Cold War.

Joel Sutliffe and the female ensemble of Chess performing “One Night in Bangkok.”

A gigantic musical with complicated intricate music and demanding lyrics requiring voices with wide-ranges and singers who can dance and act with intensity is no small trick.

Chess requires space to move with grace and dignity.

Chess requires an exquisite versatile cast. No exceptions.

Chess requires sensitive, astute, intelligent direction.

Chess requires a strong in rhythm live musical combo to add to the power, strength and wisdom of the production.

Chess gets precisely what it wants and needs with Next Stage now playing at the Phoenix Theatre.

Whatever you do, do not miss this awesome production.

Directed by Gene Kato who has been collecting chess sets since he was a child, it seems the Universe has been preparing him for this task for sometime.

Garnering the musical expertise of Amanda Farnsworth, the creativity of choreographer Lindsey Hanahan, and a magnificent cast of 22 actors/singers/dancers, Kato set about staging Chess on the Phoenix Theatre stage. Designing the set to resemble a chessboard, he not only made it work, but he made it look as though it belongs there.

Chess is not only played directly off the board through deliberate moves and choreography, it is played throughout the play by the characters as they jostle for position in power, money and love requiring the ultimate spy game, second guessing, one-upsmanship, who can outsmart who, and above and beyond all else winning.

It begins with a beautiful ballad in Budapest, Hungary in 1956 as Gregor (Tyler Collins) sings to his young daughter, Florence (Rebekah Kincannon) The Story of Chess.

Because the combo composed of Farnsworth on the keyboard, Mitch Jarvis on the guitar, Robert Dixon on the synth 2, Austin Hein on the bass, and Jason Hoke with the percussion, is situated on the stage directly to the audience’s left, and the two actors are centered upstage, listening with attention is important so not to miss the words. After the first song, the combo and singers even out. It is a tender moment between father and daughter providing young Florence a glimpse of her life to come.

Before the Berlin Wall fell, there is a World Class Championship Chess match scheduled in Merano, a Tirolean town in North Italy orchestrated between an American, Freddie Trumper, played with arrogant eyes, an arrogant smile, and arrogant shoulders by Joel Sutliffe who wraps himself in Trumper and throws him to the four winds. He eats, sleeps, and breathes chess. He’s the greatest and he knows it. How dare anyone give even the slightest indication he isn’t going to win this match. He makes this quite clear in his entrance and the song Freddie’s Entrance, followed by Press Conference accompanied by his American Aide, Florence, and the reporters. Somewhere behind Florence’s strong demeanor and astonishing voice range and power is Janelle Kato who will knock your socks off, put them back on, and then knock them off again.

The Russian protagonist, Anatoly Serglevsky is played with quiet reassurance by Brian Hutchinson. Flanked by a conniving spy inherent strategist, Molokov wonderfully played by David Fletcher, Anatoly can allow a signature aspect of vulnerability to shine through his veneer. He has secrets to shield. Although he hides his secrets, he displays the shield.

Personality distances are established early with Argument sung by Freddie and Florence. She plays her professional position and her heartstrings as intricately as Farnsworth rolls with the keyboard.

Politics play across the chessboard intertwined with the strategizing of the support team. Molokov makes several moves involving Walter deliciously portrayed by David Kincannon. When the tournament begins The Arbiter sets the scene. Played by Michael Emmitt, he commands all eyes on him with directness, determination and piercing eyes that bore holes through anything and anyone they spot. Emmitt’s eyes hold a chorographical spotlight and musical note all their own.

Everyone plays his/her games. Everyone makes his/her move, and always the unexpected. Florence and Anatoly meet eyeball-to-eyeball and fall in love, complicating the tournament, which complicates the political arrangements constantly under surveillance and change, which complicates the gnawing love because Anatoly is married to Svetlana so beautifully projected and played by Michelle Merz. No he doesn’t love her. Yes, it was a marriage of convenience, but there is more to that situation than meets the eye.

The chess game becomes more than just a chess game. Lives are at stake. Political emotions tear at the core, threats become more stunning than just a game piece across a board, and lives are twisted and torn from competing emotions.

With intricate music, demanding notes, and competing emotions, the cast takes the audience for a jaw-dropping breath-taking ride. The songs: “You Want To Lose Your Only Friend,” “Someone Else’s Story,” “Florence Quits,” “Nobody’s Side,” “Heaven Help My Heart,” “Pity the Child,” “Father’s Lullaby” flirt with beauty, depth, perception and heart on the sleeve disquieting emotion.

The themes squirreling their way throughout the lives of the characters remain eternal. The struggle for power and authority nation against nation, person against person, triangle against triangle remains as relevant today as it was when first produced. Chess is an astonishing piece of work.

The cast is so magnificent with their characterizations, their deliberate moves, their defining choreography, their dig deep heart on their sleeves probing lyrics, there is never any question who is doing what to whom and why. The subtleties are underscored with definition.

Because of a situation beyond Next Stage’s control, a wall defining a terrace had to be moved to the left side of the stage blocking visions for the wheelchairs. Just be prepared. It only happens for a few moments. Although the actors are momentarily blocked, the voices are crystal clear.

Under no circumstances should this production be missed. Words fail to capture the essence, the value, the worth, and the experience Next Stage’s production of Chess supplies. They have pulled off a checkmate that sets the bar high on excellence.