Broadway Rant: Chess

Remember when they made a movie about the game Battleship, but it turned out it was really about aliens? That was weird, right?

So you'd think that a musical about chess would be equally weird. But there were no aliens. Only communists.

Chess is another one of those shows that I know about because a taping of it aired on PBS, much like Les Miz, Love Never Dies (stay tuned for a rant on that one), Sunday in the Park with George, and Company (a subject for another post). It was actually done more like a concert, so the staging was mostly done with a projector.

The lyrics written by Tim Rice, who was the lyricist for composers like Alan Menken (Aladdin), Elton John (Aida, Lion King), and Andrew Lloyd Webber (Evita). The score was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, of ABBA. Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a fabulous musical?

Chess is set during the Cold War, so it features your basic American vs. Russian plot that was such a big thing in that era. The American, played by Adam Pascal, is the cocky and imbalanced reigning world champion of chess (based loosely on Bobby Fischer). The Russian, played by Josh Groban (yes, that Josh Groban) is the humble challenger. It was billed as a love triangle, as the American's girlfriend, played by Idina Menzel (Elphaba! Rachel's mom on Glee!) ends up with the Russian before the end of the first act. It could also be considered a love trapezoid, as the Soviet is actually married to another woman.

But, at its heart, it is about the Cold War. I think. The truth is, the plot is a little convoluted, and I had to keep referring to the show's Wikipedia page to understand what was going on. Apparently, that is one of the reasons Chess was never more popular. The nice thing about this concert was that there was a giant screen behind the stage, and when there was a change of time or place, it showed up on that screen. Even at that, it was a little hard to follow.

But, let's be honest, it was really about hearing Idina, Adam, and Josh. Menzel and Pascal both have sort of rock-and-roll kinds of voices. You wouldn't think those would go well with the almost operatic, certainly easy-listening stylings of Josh Groban, but they were fun to hear. The different voices fit the music very well. There were times when it felt like a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, and other times where it felt like Mamma Mia. The songs Josh Groban sings tend to have heavy Eastern European influences, while Adam Pascal's songs were mostly introduced with an electric guitar. I am a huge fan of Showtune Saturday Nights, a program on a local station where they play Broadway songs for five hours. I have often heard Josh Groban's voice singing what sounded like another country's national anthem, and never knew what it was from. Turns out it was a song called "Anthem" from this recording of Chess.

Also from Chess is the song, "One Night in Bangkok," which I always thought was a weird song. It really has nothing to do with the plot, but it was a pretty awesome number, with Thai dancers and Adam Pascal in a white suit. However, the showstoppers are songs like Groban's "Anthem," Menzel's "Nobody's Side," and "Heaven Help My Heart," and "Someone Else's Story," by Kerry Ellis, who I had never heard of before, but who also played Elphaba in Wicked.

One of the interesting things about the book is that it emphasizes how life, despite human emotion and complications, is really more like chess, that people make moves, and other people respond, and in the end, you try to act like it was all intentional. As the play goes along, it becomes clearer that the players are also pawns. I found it incredibly interesting how they portrayed good and evil. The American is unlikeable until he starts to talk about his childhood. The Russian is a "nice guy" until you realize he's been cheating on his wife for years. I don't know that I would push people over to see a production of Chess, but I am a huge fan of this concert version, and I've been listening to the songs in my car for weeks.

If you happen to see it on TV, don't skip over it.