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Chess in Concert
Courtesy of the sparkling form of Sebastian Crawford I was, on Tuesday night, to be found merrily ensconced in the Royal Albert Hall enjoying the second and last night of “Chess in Concert“. Anyone who know me will know that it is my personal favourite musical – let’s face facts: Benny and Bjorn of ABBA are the finest tunesmiths ever to grace this earth – and so when faced with the offer to attend it was the moment of but seconds to go “well, duh – yeah!”
It was a night not without its problems for many of the attendees apparently. The Royal Albert Hall, oddly enough, seems to be a difficult venue for sound. I keep hearing reports that most gigs or concerts have dead patches where the acoustics are so bad you just hear an indistinguishable wall of sound, and the two nights of this event were apparently no exception for many of the attendees.
Thankfully I wasn’t one to suffer from this. Apart from some dodgy amplification on Idina Menzel (as Florence) for her first couple of songs, it was all crystal clear and hugely enjoyable from where I was sat and just re-enforced my feeling that it is truly one of the richest scores I know.
For me, Josh Goban as Anatoly and Adam Pascal as Frederick put in what I consider to be the definitive performances of “Anthem” and “Pity the Child” respectively. And David Bedella gave a richly satisfying performance as Molokov, with Idina Menzel and Kerry Ellis putting in a fantastic “I Know Him So Well”. Menzel’s “Heaven Help My Heart” and “Nobody’s Side” were also particularly of note, as was Ellis’ wonderful rendition of “Someone Else’s Story”.
I’m really hoping this gets a West End revival soon. Its about time this cult musical finally made it back in a definitive version after its varied history.
That said, they were filming it so hopefully a DVD release is on the cards which will keep me going in the interim.
Posted on May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Pop Music
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