Chess The Musical In Concert - TR Drury Lane

Saw this yesterday afternoon.
Have seen this production in its many forms over the years including the iconic original London I thought this one was decent.
It’s always a thrill to hear the chorus and orchestra go for it in this one and I thought the LMTO delivered. Didn’t notice any rushing as previous posters had mentioned.. Endgame is always a hair on the back of the neck moment and this was no exception.
Thought the cast were great bar two who did t seem to get the ‘-acting through song’ memo.
The two male leads were in fine voice Anthem the highlight, if Hadley Fraser lacked a bit of charisma on the acting front. Joel Harper Jackson was a fun Freddie but needed a bit more oomph in Pity the Child for me, I like my Trumpers a bit more overwrought in that song with less riffing on the end note but I enjoyed his performance. Murray Head retains the crown.
The Arbiter was frankly a wasted opportunity. The character needed an injection of fun. We didn’t need another male lead trolling portentously about the stage. His diction was atrocious and if I didn’t know the score inside out I would’ve struggled to know what was going on. McCann as Svetlana another puzzlement. I can only conclude she’s the IT girl of the moment but she looked like a small child playing with the grown ups. Molotov (excellent) had just told her things would get bad for her and her children in Russia. Why was she smiling her way through the worst moments of her life? Didn’t like her wild ‘pop’ gesturing with her arms when singing either and her accent? Just pick one? She and the arbiter opted for park and bark concert style while the rest of the cast were clearly putting in the effort acting wise. They both just looked awkward.
I can’t tell you how much I hated the distracting let’s add a hand gesture for every word choreography going on in the back of some of the most beautiful music. I eventually learned to tune them out from my peripheral vision and focus on the action. Please I beg of you if this gets a second life like Bonnie and Clyde ditch the pointless windmill arms choreo. At the very least dress them in black AND white to depict the chess board if they are representing the chess moves which looked like what they were aiming for. When they started clumping around in their really noisy boots at the start I wanted to push them all off the mountain.The only time where I felt the choreo was well placed and made some sense was Soviet Machine, the rest...
On the subjects of shoes both female leads either needed smaller heels or the staging needed to be lower. Both struggled up and down the stairs the choreo forced them to traverse up snd down in every song (the late great Dick Emery sprang to mind in the graceful stakes and I genuinely feared for both of them)
The less said about the projections the better. Looked like they’d been put together for a year 6 project.
A ‘cracked screen’ on the words ‘and now the cracks begin to show’ a crying child in ‘pity the child’ you get the idea. And as for the bloody shooting star in Mountain Duet 🙄
Added absolutely nothing.
Samatha Barks the only person to touch Florence since iconic Elaine her singing was just effortless. Stunning vocals.
3 out of 5 for me. The score will always make up for the book. Potential for 5 with the casting and choreo fixed. I’d pay to see a full production in a heartbeat. Pull in Lucie Jones or Laura Pitt Pulford for Svetlana and anyone else for the arbiter and you have my money.
There were lots of offers on the tickets but it was fantastic to see so many young people there who were buzzing about it.

 I kind of concur. Great singer but rather bland. Shona White, Cassidy Janson, Sarah Galbraith and Rebecca Storm were far superior (alas I wasn't around for the original production) - injecting that fire and fury with powerhouse vocals.

Rebecca Storm was stunning in the role. Wish I had seen Jacqui Scott as Florence too, but most of that tour got cancelled due to poor ticket sales, I think.

I liked her too, but she was just a touch too shouty when I saw her. She really did go full Elaine Paige at times. Daniel Fox (?) who played Freddie gave a really turgid, lethargic performance until he suddenly smashed “Pity the Child” out of the park with a phenomenal energy. Then reverted immediately back to looking bored and uncomfortable. Clearly, sometimes, just auditioning the main solo isn’t enough…

I thought all the principals were very good yesterday evening with Samantha Barks, Hadley Fraser and Joel Harper Jackson being highlights. I only really knew I Know Him So Well and Anthem going into the show and wasn’t sure how the first was going to fit into the show after listening to the first half and when those first few bars started playing, I’m not sure if it does. The story didn’t really make sense to me as I couldn’t make out much of the ensemble parts and I’m not sure how much of the book was cut. Still I found the orchestra very enjoyable and the leads to be brilliant so was happy to join in the standing ovation in the end.

Hello Chess Fans!

I saw this on Monday and overall, I thought it was top notch.

Samantha Barks was thrilling, though i thought she was a bit shouty in places. Nobody's Side was the first big number that people were waiting for and she delivered. It was a real goosebumps moment for me and she got huge applause, much deserved.

Hadley Fraser (and his thick Russian accent) was wonderful and Anthem showed how exciting his voice can be. I wish they had let him sing it on a less crowded stage, because he deserved to be center stage and I wished there was cheesy star cloth twinkling behind him. Cliched maybe, but i don't care.

Joel Harper-Jackson played heavily into the usual cocaine addict tropes but without any of the energy that might come with it. It was a choice. Maybe one that tries to explain why he behaves the way he does, but it didn't land for me. He can certainly hit those notes with ease, and I thought Pity The Child easily his best number, but it was a bit pretty sounding, I missed the edgier, rocky sound of previous Freddie's, Zubin Varla being the top of the pack.

Frances Mayli McCann. (played the Russian wife with an American Accent)I don't get it. She seemed all a bit manic and smiley and at one point delusional towards Anatoly. Someone Else's Story was raced through and lost any kind of nuance.

Ako Mitchell. Initially I was getting 'Che' in Evita vibes, but then he started singing and I was embarrassed for him. I felt he improved later on, but I was still nervous for him when he sang. Why not lower the key or find someone who can sing it as originally intended.

I can understand why some of the cuts were made and what story they wanted to focus on, but i don't think they were all successful. I missed Commie Newspapers. I liked that Svetlana was introduced in the first half, but now the end of Act 1 seemed all a bit top heavy with big numbers, but big numbers is the only thing Chess has. As others have stated, it was the clearest presented story out of any of the productions i've seen. The ensemble were over choreographed for such a tight space. I understood the moves relating to specific chess piece at the start of the show and thought it was clever, but it was too fast and overused by the end of it.

I do wonder if Chess could be really stripped back, take out some of the more bombastic endings and be presented in a smaller chamber style show. I'd love to see someone try it.

Have just come across a video of a previous production in Umeda Arts Theatre in Japan also with Hadley and Samantha. It looks like this heavily influenced the Drury Lane production as the distracting choreography looks very similar!

They cut that? I'm glad I didn't go then, as that's one of my favourite numbers & I would have been very disappointed not to hear it.

I thought Daniel Koek's Anthem was phenomenal. He repeated "my heart" at the end with a soaring note (sorry, not musically trained so I don't know to describe it properly - but there are recordings on that video sharing site)

my mistake, it was Ramin. Oops.

According to the programme, they were left out as part of the decision to focus on the love stories.
As for Florence reprising Anthem, that was in both the RAH and Craig Revel Horwood versions if I recall correctly