Back in the 1990s, when I was a teen, my brother and I had a friend who was (for a time) REALLY into chess. Which meant that I got dragged in to a bunch of games, and even ended up being transport for some tournaments my brother played in. (He was the one actually good a chess - I never had the patience to practice and learn the openings and tactics. I kind of remember how to do endgames, and can explain the basic theory of openings, but darned if I can actually recall enough to actually get through those first ten moves accurately.)
Part of being immersed in that world was learning about the personalities, past and present. These were the days when Gary Kasparov was the king of chess, taking on - and for a while defeating - the best computers they could throw at him.
Interestingly, Kasparov has had a subsequent career in political activism, against ex-KGB thug Vladimir Putin.
Which, come to think of it, is a lot less icky than the political trajectory of the best-known American chess champion, Bobby Fischer. Which, coincidentally, is the person who inspired one of the central characters in Chess.
I mention this chess experience because some of the lines in the musical make more sense if you know some of the terminology. For example, the reference to the “King’s Indian” - a modern defense for black that my friend liked to play, particularly against opponents of limited experience, at least if they opened with D4. (Bobby Fischer and Kasparov had success with this opening.) He preferred the Sicilian Defense against E4.
Yeah, sorry, nerdy for a bit there. I can’t help it.
And likewise, I was silly enough to try to see if the actors were playing any actual chess. Unfortunately, no, but even grandmasters are unlikely to be able to sing while playing…
Anyway, I really was not familiar with Chess at all. And it was my wife who particularly wanted to go see it (not that I ever have an objection to going out to a musical with her.) This was a bit of a surprise to me, because 80s music is more a thing me and my eldest kid are into, not my wife.
Interestingly, this was literally the first time Chess has been done here in Bakersfield. The director, Hal Friedman, grew up with the concept album that led to the musical, and had this as a bucket list show he wanted to do.
The primary draw, I must admit, for us, was that Shawn Rader was in it. He’s just unfairly good at whatever he does on stage, whether portraying Seurat, or camping it up in drag. Since he was playing the “Bobby Fischer” character, we knew we would get a show.
I’m always interested in the scores for musicals, having played a number myself over the years, and being a musician interested in music. Chess is interesting because it combines that 80s rock sound with some surprising avant garde composing techniques. There are a lot of unexpected modulations, unusual chords, and ambiguous unresolved song endings. This makes it challenging to sing.
The lyrics are also not the easiest. Most of the show is sung, rather than spoken, so more like a opera than a typical show.
Speaking of which, there are actually two rather different versions of this musical. The first is the British version, which opened on the West End. Later, there was an American version on Broadway, with a completely different song order, and a reworked plot.
We got the British version, which I personally think is better, both because the plot makes more sense as historical fiction and because we get “One Night in Bangkok” to open the second act, rather than buried in the middle of the first act.
The story is very loosely based - or maybe “inspired” by goings on in the chess world back in the 1970s.
The cold war was always intertwined with the international chess scene. Most of the best players then (and often now as well) were Russian (or Soviet), and when Fischer took down Spassky in 1972, it felt like the moon landing, or the 1980 Olympic hockey match. It was a classic underdog story and a triumph of American democracy over Soviet totalitarianism.
Well, kind of. By the 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s belligerent approach to statecraft was wearing a bit thin, and the “good versus evil” narrative was increasingly looking all too simplistic. Vietnam tore the scab off and revealed a United States that had its own issues with moral depravity and cynical disregard of the citizens of the third world.
Chess is firmly in the “cynical” camp here. Everyone is playing a game, heedless of the people that get hurt.
So, the two main chess characters are based on Bobby Fischer (Fredrick) and Viktor Korchnoi (Anatoly). But the central chess showdown was very loosely based on Fischer’s decision to forfeit his match against Anatoly Karpov. In addition, the character of Florence appears to be drawn from Fischer’s Hungarian mistress, Zita Rajcsányi, who was a grandmaster herself.
Other than that, well, the story is fictional, and takes many of the usual stage musical turns. You have the love triangle between Fredrick, Anatoly, and Florence. You have the bitter first wife of Anatoly.
And, because of the Cold War, you have political skullduggery. Anatoly (like Korchnoi) defects, and offers Florence information about her long-lost father as well as some state secrets. (purely fictional)
How will Anatoly decide? Will he stay with Florence, or return to his wife? Can he exchange information for the return of Florence’s father? Will he throw the match, or choose to win because he respects the purity of the game?
All of this can be a bit confusing at first, in no small part because so much of the exposition is sung, and the lyrics aren’t always direct. It is rewarding, however, to let the music itself tell much of the emotional story.
A bit about this production is in order. When I first saw the set, I immediately thought of Q*Bert, that 1980s staple of arcades and home consoles. It turns out that the set designer also had that in mind. Children of the 80s! Anyway, it was both a great nod to the chess board and also to the constantly changing game everyone is playing. You can’t stop moving, you just keep jumping from one square to another, and hope you win in the end.
I thought this production was also notable for having multiple male characters with outstanding voices. Shawn Rader, of course, was excellent. At times, his voice was on the ragged edge, particularly on the high notes - but this actually fit perfectly with his slightly unhinged, coked up character.
Jesse Magdaleno, as The Arbiter (and occasional narrator) was excellent. He is a friend of one of my kids, and watching him grow as a performer over the last several years has been fun. He’s become a reliably solid actor and singer in a wide variety of roles.
Finally, Dylan Struck as Anatoly. What an amazing voice he has - it can go from operatic to quietly powerful, and has such a silky tone. He had to play the straight man in this musical, and opposite the manic Rader, this was a definite contrast. He brought it all night, and it felt like he could even have hit even higher “money notes” had the score called for it. A very enjoyable performance.
Christina Friedman played Florence, and I thought she acted the part well. She had a few pitch struggles early on, but settled in. As I said, it is a challenging score to sing, and she often got the more difficult modulations.
Those are the performances that most stood out, but top to bottom, good singing and dancing. Given the small space and cast, the overall vision worked well.
I’ll end by mentioning a few lyrics that were particularly interesting to me. Obviously, “One Night in Bangkok” is a classic - and the lyrics make more sense in context. Fischer, I mean Fredrick, has decided to sit the tournament in Bangkok out, instead providing color commentary and generally promoting himself as usual. And Rader was stunning for this song - I could have watched that performance over and over.
A couple of other songs though, also stood out. First is “Pity the Child.” This is where the Bobby Fischer connection is particularly poignant. Fischer had a difficult relationship with his mother. She raised him and his sister as a single parent, after she fled Europe to the US due to antisemitism. She was homeless when he was born, although she eventually found financial stability. Most likely, Fischer suffered from mental illness, which, despite his mother’s efforts, was never properly diagnosed. So, the situation is complicated to say the least. Fischer’s difficulties with his mother may have been a significant factor in his eventual rejection of Jewish identity and embrace of antisemitism later in life.
The song is clearly from Fredrick’s point of view, and one wonders what his mother’s perspective would have been. As one who has a difficult relationship with my own mother, some of this resonated.
When I was nine I learned survival
Taught myself not to care
I was my single good companion
Taking my comfort there
He never asked "Did I cause your distress?"
Just in case they said yes
I took the road of least resistance
I had my game to play
I had the skill, and more -- the hunger
Easy to get away
Pity the child with no such weapons
No defense, no escape from the ties that bind
Always a step behind
Pity the child but not forever
Not if he stays that way
He can get all he ever wanted
If he's prepared to pay
Pity instead the careless mother
What she missed
What she lost when she let me go
And I wonder does she know…
As I said, interesting perspective.
The other is the cynical “Nobody’s Side.” It actually feels more accurate now than it did when the musical came out. (Which is why the news monitors in this production played a clip of Trump’s ambush of Zelinskky during the reprise…nice touch.) It makes one nostalgic for the Cold War days. You know, when we didn’t have a Russian asset in the White House…
Everybody's playing the game
But nobody's rules are the same
Nobody's on nobody's side
Better learn to go it alone
Recognize you're out on your own
Nobody's on nobody's side
And that, right there, is the core of the musical. Everyone is playing a game, and poor Florence finds herself just a pawn. Expendable, exploitable, and ultimately just one move in everyone’s bigger games.
This show runs one more weekend, at Ovation.
No comments:
Post a Comment