Post by Scswp on Nov 4, 2018 7:15:40 GMT
Not sure if anyone else has seen this, but I managed to catch a production of Chess (in Swedish!) in Helsinki a few nights ago. Great music and great performances (including the Arbiter played by a female). It was, however, the strangest version of the score/story I have encountered.
As far as I could tell, the entire thing was set in Merano and was all about the Russian/American match (which the American - Freddy Trumper - won). Usually, this match only forms Act I, doesn’t it? I seem to recall in Act II, the Russian plays somebody else, with Trumper as a sort of commentator? This was how it was in London, wasn’t it? Also, because it was all centred around one match in Merano, there was no Bangkok setting at all - therefore, instead of cutting the song ‘One Night in Bangkok’, a couple of verses only were staged as Freddy singing the number at a karaoke bar on a drunken night out in Merano - very bizarre!!!!
In addition, the performers were changed for certain songs. Florence sang ‘Someone Else’s Story’ (now usually sing by Svetlana), the parts in ‘I Know Him So Well’ were completely reversed (so Svetlana sang all of the Elaine Paige parts and Florence the Barbara Dickson parts) and ‘Argument’ was sung by Florence and the American (not the Russian), with Florence singing all the lines originally sung by the Russian and the American singing the parts where Florence originally sang!!!! ‘Embassy Lament’ was only orchestral and was not in an embassy as such (unless it was at an embassy, well-to-do social event - didn’t understand that part!!!)
All in all, I enjoyed it because the music is great and the cast were good, but it was a very alien version to me!!! Completely, completely different to any other version I’ve seen.
As far as I could tell, the entire thing was set in Merano and was all about the Russian/American match (which the American - Freddy Trumper - won). Usually, this match only forms Act I, doesn’t it? I seem to recall in Act II, the Russian plays somebody else, with Trumper as a sort of commentator? This was how it was in London, wasn’t it? Also, because it was all centred around one match in Merano, there was no Bangkok setting at all - therefore, instead of cutting the song ‘One Night in Bangkok’, a couple of verses only were staged as Freddy singing the number at a karaoke bar on a drunken night out in Merano - very bizarre!!!!
In addition, the performers were changed for certain songs. Florence sang ‘Someone Else’s Story’ (now usually sing by Svetlana), the parts in ‘I Know Him So Well’ were completely reversed (so Svetlana sang all of the Elaine Paige parts and Florence the Barbara Dickson parts) and ‘Argument’ was sung by Florence and the American (not the Russian), with Florence singing all the lines originally sung by the Russian and the American singing the parts where Florence originally sang!!!! ‘Embassy Lament’ was only orchestral and was not in an embassy as such (unless it was at an embassy, well-to-do social event - didn’t understand that part!!!)
All in all, I enjoyed it because the music is great and the cast were good, but it was a very alien version to me!!! Completely, completely different to any other version I’ve seen.
