Playbill.com: A U.K. touring production of the rock musical Chess — featuring a company of actor-musicians playing their own accompaniment — plays Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre Sept. 24-Oct. 30 prior to a run in London's West End.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
U.K. Chess, With a Cast of Actor-Musicians, Makes a Move to Toronto Sept. 24
Playbill.com: A U.K. touring production of the rock musical Chess — featuring a company of actor-musicians playing their own accompaniment — plays Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre Sept. 24-Oct. 30 prior to a run in London's West End.
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6 comments:
I always think it is interesting to have actors also act as the musical accompaniment in shows. I would be interested to know how many of the cast played instruments prior to being cast and how many had to learn. I have worked on a musical where several of the actors took music lessons for a year and had never played instruments before. There were also some people in the show that already knew how to play and it was interesting to see the differences between them all. Ultimately it really worked for this show but I am beyond curious to see how it turns out for Chess.
After seeing the actor-musician version of Sweeney Todd, I'm very interested to see it play out in what seems to be a much smaller show from the picture, both physically and cast-wise. I think Chess would actually be a great show to get this treatment - it works equally well in the grand scale or in an intimate chamber performance.
My questions about this production lie more with the history of the Chess book - in this, the most recent large production of Chess, will they present the London version (with the Russian winning) or the American version (with the American winning)? Both choices have dramaturgical implications, and I'd be interested to know which they chose.
Being introduced to the works of John Doyle and actors performing their own accompaniment this summer through "Ten Cents a Dance" at Williamstown, seeing "Chess" and how the two components interact would be a great comparison. The story has an interesting concept of a chess game and the interaction between the two players and a lady. Seeing the development of "Chess" compared to "Ten Cents a Dance" would be something I would love compare. As Brian said, the scale to which they take the production also will be a key factor in how the audience interacts with the performers and would definitely affect my view on the two shows.
I wonder if the instrumentals correspond to each character. Or if through playing the orchestrations the cast is responding to each other as in a chess match. I liked the version of Company with the cast playing their own instruments specifically because it added to each character to see which instrument represented them. They were also able to have dialogue not only with words and in song, but in music. I've seen a great production of Chess and I don't really see how this will enhance it, but I'm curious.
First off- I love this show. I think the music is wonderful. So there for my next question is . . . WHY? I saw this concept for Company and it was clever but... I do not think it enhances the singing OR the music. I feel like it is asking your football team to play offence AND defense. They can do it but it decrease the quality of both. Maybe I am a fuddy duddy and actors playing instrument IS just absurd as actors singing their inner thoughts to 500 people watching but... at this point of theatrical theatre development. I still feel this is strange.
This sounds very strange. I am constantly amused by the strange subject matter musicals are written about (consider Sweeney Todd, Avenue Q, and Cats) so I suppose a musical about chess opponents isn't really that bizarre.
The actors playing instruments sounds like its another interesting dimension, but I fear that this is going to become cliche soon, since there was a recent Sweeney production and I believe the 2006 Broadway revival of Company used that as well.
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