Sweevil wrote:
> 4. CHESS (with the world premiere of a NEW BOOK by RIchard Maltby,
> Jr.)
>
> The last is particularly exciting. I would call CHESS the finest rock/
> pop score ever written for the theatre, but it's always been hampered
> by Richard Nelson's turgid book (also by Tim Rice's awkward, mopey,
> self-indulgent lyrics).
Not *always*, given that the Nelson version is not performed outside
North America. The London production, the UK tour, the Danish
production, the first Sydney production and the Stockholm production
bore little resemblance to the Nelson version, which I agree has an
absolutely dreadful book (come to that, most of those productions I
listed bore little resemblance to each other - "Chess" is up there with
"Candide" as having one of the most convoluted production histories
ever, I think largely because people can't resist the glorious music).
Nelson's book reads like warmed-over Le Carré, the songs are bombastic
pop opera, and the score is terrific but the two don't go together (some
of Nelson's dialogue, also, is truly atrocious, and his song cues often
suck out loud). In London, the show was nearly sung through, with very
little dialogue; it wasn't perfect (a better lyric in "The Deal" would
have helped), but stylistically it was more of a piece.
I'd be curious to know whether and/or how much Maltby's new book hews to
the massive revisions made for the (hit) Stockholm production, which -
on the evidence of the cast recording and DVD - is the most dramatically
viable version of the piece so far.
--
Stephen
Dolly: Didn't you do any religion at school?
Twinkle: Can't remember. No. I think I did tiling.
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