(Untitled)

[_will_i]

Title: Endgame
Author: Flying Toe Shoes
Rating: PG
Genre: Angst, drama
Pairing: Anatoly/Svetlana, Anatoly/Florence
Disclaimer: Still poor with medical bills, don't sue. Based off of characterizations and history from War Is Coming on Insanejournal. What happened in Bangkok via Svetlana. Pulled from another rendition of Deal No Deal for a later

Comments

[zedille]

Oh, this was very nice! You did a great job taking the song lyrics and placing them in a story. The show and its stagings are kind of vague about what exactly is going on between Svetlana and Anatoly (especially in Endgame!), but I really like how you fleshed it out and added all these layers of subtext and history to the two of them. And the lyrics were paraphrased very well - they're recognizably the lyrics but not so literally rhymed that it would seem odd coming out of the characters' mouths in context here

[_will_i]

Aww, thank you! That was the sweetest comment to wake up to. Its mostly based off the Chess in Concert version, which I forgot to mention. But yes

[zedille]

I first started watching Chess (my first version was also the 2008 RAH concert!) because Kerry Ellis was in it, so I was always aware that Anatoly was married. That rather affected my opinions towards the Anatoly/Florence pair, and I've always thought of her as a full character instead of the Act II "oh we need to cause some plot/relationship drama so let's bring in the wife! except we have to keep Florence and Anatoly sympathetic so the wife can't actually do anything" sort of thing she's been turned into. Like her attitude in I Know Him So Well -- she's practically falling over herself to forgive Florence, so she's not even angry a little bit that Florence induced Anatoly to defect? how much sway Florence actually had in that decision is of course a matter to debate, as you point out in your story, but she must have had something to do with it. It's especially galling in the London versions where it's specifically stated she has children (Broadway and Sydney she doesn't) -- she's responsible for the children too, and it is

[_will_i]

You and I are very much alike then XD The Freddie in War was always wanting an Anatoly or Florence so she uploaded some videos of Freddie being, well, Freddie. Which included the end of Deal. And that was what hooked me. Because not only did I love the song (I have a thing about songs where you don't know who you can trust. Case in point? The Riddle from The Scarlet Pimpernel) but KERRY ELLIS. Who I saw in We Will Rock You and fell in love with. So I listened to everything and was all OMFGKERRYELLISSVETLANAWHYSOHEARTBREAKING. (I mean, I also am one of those weird theatre kids who doesn't worship the ground Idina Menzel walks on and don't really like her all that much)

She's clearly a full character to me. A lot is telling just in the things she says (Even in the US version of You and I). Someone Else's Story (I legit raged when I learned it was originally a Florence song and then you have people saying it should still be her song why do we need to flesh out Svetlana?) Her verse in I Know Him So Well about how no one is ever truly on