A thousand variations to be played

May 24, 2008 18:06

Last weekend, I saw the BLOC production of Chess at the Theatre Royal. Chess is one of my all time favourite musicals, and this was the first time I had seen it on stage, even as community theatre.

Spoilers )

musicals, chess

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Comments 9

eidolontree May 24 2008, 10:23:08 UTC
Whoa. You know, I've never known anyone who also knew of 'Chess'. I've owned an album of 'Chess' on cassette since I was older than twelve. I can't count the number of times I've listened to the songs, without knowing what the play was about. All I know of the play, I learned from wiki.

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meteordust May 27 2008, 15:34:33 UTC
Hey, cool! I don't think I've ever come across anyone else who was a Chess fan either, except for people I've told about it. And it was pure chance that I came across it myself. But yeah, even without knowing the story, the songs are pretty arresting.

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eidolontree May 27 2008, 16:33:13 UTC
Well, where I was at, the information wasn't really available to me to locate 'Chess'. I didn't even know it was a real play, for at least three years. I listened to the tape daily, it was one of my mighty three cassettes of the day (Nirvana "Bleach", Best Hits of Beethoven, and Chess). Even my music teacher hadn't ever heard of it. Being a dramatic child, I naturally loved it deeply and immediately.

I don't think I'd known anything of it, at all, until just this year. This winter, in fact. I also downloaded a torrent of 3 versions of the soundtrack, but none of them were my 'original' version, which I miss.

I had to do a lot of inventing of story-lines, back then. It was a strange thrill to see real information online, I'd gotten very used to none existing at all.

And now, I speak to someone who's seen the play, knows about it. This and Swordspoint. You may never be rid of me.

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meteordust May 31 2008, 16:25:28 UTC
Heh. Well, I'm not going anywhere either.

Just curious, which was the original version you heard? Mine was the concept album, but I'm interested in all the other versions out there.

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strangevisitor7 May 25 2008, 02:54:19 UTC
I love Chess - One of my all-time favorites - Own both the US and UK soundtracks. About 10 years ago, I actually flew to Houston Texas to see it because I knew it would most likely never be staged any where near me (ohio). It was a blend of the UK with a few songs from the failed US version and was incredible. COnfirmed everything I loved about the soundtrack

I have never met anyone else who'd even heard of the musical let alone liked it as much as I do. But then again it was a failure on Broadway in the states

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meteordust May 27 2008, 15:39:00 UTC
Yay, another Chess fan! That's great you got to go see it - it seems like it's staged so rarely compared to other shows. It really deserves more attention. There's some kind of special concert performance being held in London this year, so hopefully it will spark more interest.

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strangevisitor7 May 27 2008, 22:40:20 UTC
I would see it again in an instant. I wish they'd revive it. It really deserves to be noticed!

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