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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 17:38:57 GMT
Am I the only one really excited about old Murray being in this?  No, I've always loved him in the concept albums for this and JCSS. He's the most exciting member of the cast for me (though that's not saying that much). Hope he can still sing. |
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Post by richey on Feb 19, 2018 17:46:09 GMT
Am I the only one really excited about old Murray being in this? No, I've always loved him in the concept albums for this and JCSS. He's the most exciting member of the cast for me (though that's not saying that much). Hope he can still sing. He can't be any worse than Pellow's atrocious efforts in the RAH performance |
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Chess
Feb 19, 2018 23:18:30 GMT
Post by sf on Feb 19, 2018 23:18:30 GMT
Admittedly I'm not a regular attendee but it's hardly news that ENO charge high prices is it? Their prices have always been (for the top ones, they've also always had a few bargains) at the top end of the scale. Running that building and the losses they make on a lot of the productions keeps them 'up there' I'd imagine. My current dilemma is that I can't afford a trip to London. And yet I am a sucker for both Chess and the Balls. It's not news that the ENO charge high prices, but the high prices seem to have spread a little. For Sunset Boulevard I sat in the dress circle way off to the side at the end of a row (F-59 to be precise), and that seat was significantly cheaper, though still not cheap, than a seat closer to the centre in the same row. The dress circle in the Coliseum is almost semicircular, and a seat at the very end of a row isn't worth the same price as one ten or twenty seats further in, but for Chess, just like for Carousel last year, there's no difference in price between that seat and one dead-centre in the same row. (There are, however, some excellent bargains for Opera North's upcoming transfer of Kiss Me, Kate.) Hamilton pulled a similar trick when they booted the prices up for the second booking period. The issue is less that the top price increased a little, and more that seats at the rear and sides of some sections are now being sold at the same - higher - price as seats with a significantly better view. Again, my £57.50 seat for Hamilton three weeks ago - and in June, because I'm seeing it again in the same price band, though not the same seat - is the same price in the next booking period as a seat dead-centre in the same section, even though the view from there (J-4 in that case) cuts off part of the side of one side of the stage. The price I paid was absolutely fair, but it isn't worth the same money as a seat 15 seats further in, which would have a completely unobstructed view of the stage. |
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Chess
Feb 19, 2018 23:25:29 GMT
Post by sf on Feb 19, 2018 23:25:29 GMT
True. But the sheer greed motive is now pushing up tickets into the100-175 pounds bracket elsewhere too. While Central London is attracting people with plenty of money, and tourists with, brexit inflated, spending power, we are going to see normal humans facing mega prices all over the place - from Hamilton to Chicago.. One reaon this may have so many empty premium seats, while the nearby, just expensive, seats are taken, is that its not got a Glenn Close to appeal to the international audience, or justify the price for whats essentially a standard cast, sans sets, and with more musicians. I don’t have a problem with expensive tickets. I go the theatre once or twice a week and rarely pay more than 25 pounds. We all know how to get cheaper tickets. Most don’t plus it’s still much much cheaper than seeing a Broadway show. It is - but it's worth noting that prices elsewhere in the West End have increased very sharply in the past couple of years, to a degree that far outstrips the rate of inflation. The seat that cost me £49 for Gypsy at the Savoy is £75 for Dreamgirls, for example. And it's also worth noting, as I said somewhere else, that some seats in the Coliseum are now in a higher price bracket than they were a couple of years ago, and a seat at the far right of one section where the sightlines significantly clip the view of one side of the stage is not worth the same amount of money as a seat dead centre with a completely unobstructed view. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 20, 2018 0:36:03 GMT
I don’t have a problem with expensive tickets. I go the theatre once or twice a week and rarely pay more than 25 pounds. We all know how to get cheaper tickets. Most don’t plus it’s still much much cheaper than seeing a Broadway show. Do we? Go on... indulge us. How do you get cheap tickets? |
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Chess
Feb 20, 2018 16:09:52 GMT
Post by theatreian on Feb 20, 2018 16:09:52 GMT
"The board will be made in Sweden, non-aligned wood." #chessthemusical Tickets available for the 5 week only London run at www.eno.org/whats-on/chess/ #bennyandersson #bjornulvaeus #ABBA 10:08 am - 19 Feb 2018 Not sure how interesting this is but hey! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2018 16:48:00 GMT
"The board will be made in Sweden, non-aligned wood." #chessthemusical Tickets available for the 5 week only London run at www.eno.org/whats-on/chess/ #bennyandersson #bjornulvaeus #ABBA 10:08 am - 19 Feb 2018 Not sure how interesting this is but hey! And here it is...!  Linnea, who currently works for IKEA, says that she’s been working on it for months, and all her hard work has finally paid off. It will even tilt towards the audience if lifted, although she can’t guarantee that all the pieces will stay on. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2018 18:14:44 GMT
"The board will be made in Sweden, non-aligned wood." #chessthemusical Tickets available for the 5 week only London run at www.eno.org/whats-on/chess/ #bennyandersson #bjornulvaeus #ABBA 10:08 am - 19 Feb 2018 Not sure how interesting this is but hey! Gosh, what with the chess board and Ms Burke on the stage they'd better hope someone doesn't strike a match nearby, with all that wood the whole place will go up in smoke. Although one of Miss Ball's jackets could probably be used to stamp out any blaze by itself. |
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Chess
Feb 20, 2018 20:04:16 GMT
Post by ali973 on Feb 20, 2018 20:04:16 GMT
With a full credit going to a video designer, something tells me this will be heavy with projections.
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19,696 posts
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Chess
Feb 20, 2018 20:07:56 GMT
Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 20, 2018 20:07:56 GMT
Anyone else received their tix yet? Love the chessboard design!
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Chess
Feb 20, 2018 20:35:14 GMT
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Post by shady23 on Feb 20, 2018 20:35:14 GMT
Got mine a couple of days after booking when originally went on sale. Just the usual pink background ticket for me.
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Chess
Feb 20, 2018 21:06:45 GMT
Post by sf on Feb 20, 2018 21:06:45 GMT
The seat that cost me £49 for Gypsy at the Savoy is £75 for Dreamgirls If it was the end stalls, then you have to take into account that Gypsy had a false proscenium* and that did affect sightlines in one scene. Dreamgirls has unrestricted views from all stalls seats. *I think it helped her get the job as she was able to say it was her gimmick... It was in the end stalls, but far enough back that that wasn't an issue. In any case, in the same theatre, the 'restricted view' seat I bought for Dreamgirls last year for £20 is now on sale for £49.50. £20 was a bargain (side dress circle, it's restricted view because there are safety bars in the way). £49.50 is too much, and that's a very sharp increase in price from last June. |
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Chess
Feb 21, 2018 15:14:22 GMT
Post by theatreian on Feb 21, 2018 15:14:22 GMT
Anyone else received their tix yet? Love the chessboard design! How very dare you get special Chess tickets. Just the normal ENO tickets here. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 21, 2018 16:23:31 GMT
Haha I was just teasing  |
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Chess
Feb 21, 2018 18:06:03 GMT
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Post by danb on Feb 21, 2018 18:06:03 GMT
When I printed out my ticket, it was "black and white." Black ink, white paper. Clever. Not always neccessary to say out loud the things you’re thinking monkey... 😘 |
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Chess
Feb 21, 2018 18:36:40 GMT
Post by longinthetooth on Feb 21, 2018 18:36:40 GMT
I'll be glad when this is all over. I keep misreading 'chessboard' for 'cheeseboard'. Not having seen the show before, my imagination is going into overdrive!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2018 18:41:15 GMT
^ I can imagine, monkey...   |
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Chess
Feb 21, 2018 19:12:45 GMT
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Post by danb on Feb 21, 2018 19:12:45 GMT
I love a good cheeseboard...a bit of stinking bishop and a nice gooey brie, Hovis crackers and too much butter. Yum.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2018 19:22:17 GMT
We can do both...  Now we’re all happy. Aren’t we? |
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Post by theatreian on Feb 25, 2018 22:08:33 GMT
A little more information on Chess.
London
On 26 April the English National Opera (ENO) will present the first West End production of CHESS for over thirty years at The London Coliseum.
The ENO’s award winning orchestra and chorus will be joined by Michael Ball as Anatoly, Alexandra Burke as Svetlana, Tim Howar as Freddie and Cassidy Janson as Florence.
Murray Head, who played Freddie Trumper in the original London production and scored an international hit in 1984 with the single, One Night In Bangkok, from the CHESS concept album, returns to the musical in the role of The Arbiter.
Benny has told us that although the precise format of the ENO production has not yet been agreed, it will be predominantly based on the Swedish concert version with a little from the 1986 London production added in.
“Maybe there will be costumes and some sets,” he said, “I’m not entirely sure, but probably not a full staging,” he concluded.
All the musical arrangements and orchestration, which Benny hopes will include the song He’s A Man, He’s A Child, written for Chess på Svenska in 2002 and therefore not previously performed in the West End, is being undertaken by Anders Eljas.
Tickets for the production, which will run for a limited five week period until 2 June 2018, are available now on the ENO’s official website
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Chess
Feb 26, 2018 0:29:52 GMT
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Post by Brian on Feb 26, 2018 0:29:52 GMT
^Thanks for sharing. I hope there are costumes and at least some staging; otherwise it will just be a concert!
Do we think ‘Someone Else’s Story’ will be sung by Florence or Svetlana? In more recent productions, it seems to be Svetlana’s solo?
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Chess
Feb 26, 2018 6:27:17 GMT
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Post by Scswp on Feb 26, 2018 6:27:17 GMT
^Thanks for sharing. I hope there are costumes and at least some staging; otherwise it will just be a concert! Do we think ‘Someone Else’s Story’ will be sung by Florence or Svetlana? In more recent productions, it seems to be Svetlana’s solo? I would imagine it will be sung by Svetlana - otherwise, Burke’s role will be reduced to virtually nothing. |
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Post by karloscar on Feb 26, 2018 9:44:02 GMT
Benny wants to include He is a Man, He is a Child apparently, in which case Florence would get back Someone Else's Story in Act One. (Or it gets cut completely!!!)
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Chess
Feb 26, 2018 12:32:42 GMT
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Post by Scswp on Feb 26, 2018 12:32:42 GMT
Benny wants to include He is a Man, He is a Child apparently, in which case Florence would get back Someone Else's Story in Act One. (Or it gets cut completely!!!) Ok, I wasn’t aware of this. I don’t know this song TBH, so I assume it’s sung by Svetlana? I will have to search for it in the Swedish production on YouTube. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2018 12:52:06 GMT
^ Just had a listen to this on YouTube. Mmmm, okay... The last thing Chess needs is another song, I'd have thought as it's chock-full of cracking tunes as it is. This one sounds as if it belongs more in Kristina från Duvemåla. Can't see what it would add to the show. So just to recap on what we know of the the production so far: it's on at the ENO, their orchestra will be playing, some of the lead cast members will be singing, the precise format of the production has not been agreed, maybe there will be some set and costumes and it will feature a song we're not familiar with. Sounds like it's all fully under control. |
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