Nicci’s in another play. Well, technically they’re calling it a “concert,” but there’s blocking and movement and stuff. I don’t know what “blocking” means, but I heard Nicci use that word before so I figured there’s a 50/50 chance I just used it in the correct context. The actors aren’t standing still and singing. It’s definitely not traditional, though. There are music stands at the front of the stage where actors can consult their notebooks if they want. Whatever you want to call it, it’s one of the more nontraditional theatrical productions I’ve witnessed. The stage is the floor of a small black box, with three small “tiers” of seats with a capacity of roughly 75 seats. At the back of the room, a large band (drums, two keyboardists, strings, horns…there’s like 16 people involved), two small groups of singers flanking the stage (five on each side?) and most of the action occurs near the center of the stage, which is adored with a single chess board on a table. It’s pretty stark, but then again I guess the centerpiece is the music. Hence the “Chess In Concert” moniker.
Chess features lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Bjorn and Benny from ABBA (I’m not on a first-name basis with the ladies). To quote Wikipedia, “The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes…following the pattern of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, a highly successful concept album of Chess was released in 1984.” There have been many, many variations of Chess since it’s first incarnation, but Nicci says that the most relatable to her version is the 2008 Royal Albert Hall production. That one starred Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Clarke Peters, Marti Pellow, Kerry Ellis and David Bedella…so it must have been a big deal because I recognize three of those names!
The show experienced some sound difficulties immediately following its start. The Arbitor (Gil Darnell) had to compete with microphone feedback, a problem Frederick (Blake McIver Ewing) probably would have loved to work with — his microphone wasn’t even working during “What A Scene! What A Joy!” which was also Nicci’s first song. She plays Florence, and she sings a lot during this show. The rest of the first act went off without a hitch. In fact, after those two small snafus at the outset, the show was pretty much flawless. The Russian characters, Gregory North (Molokov) and Peter Welkin (Anatoly) showcased strong accents. North held onto his accent really well while singing, which is something I listen for when I see shows because I don’t know what else I’m supposed to be paying attention to; blame it on my being devastatingly uncultured. There are a lot of recurring melodies throughout the show, so when you hear a reprise or catch a glimpse of familiar tunes it gives you a sense of, “I know this!” that makes being a mildly retarded musical theater audience member (like myself) more enjoyable. The first act concludes with the majority of the cast on stage. Maybe it was where I was seated, or maybe it was an additional technical problem, but when the entire cast sang together it sounded a bit muddled to my ears. There wasn’t much color to the numerous voices singing as one. It was interesting to note the increasing response from the audience as the show progressed. What began as a tepid applause transformed into really positive reactions. Maybe we didn’t know what to expect, but when everything began to come together, it definitely felt like we were seeing something very cool and unique.
The second act begins with the big song from the show, “One Night In Bangkok,” which topped numerous charts across the world when it was released in 1984. It peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Here’s the embarrassingly bad music video for the song. For what it’s worth, Nicci’s show is about 100x better than this garbage:
The second act seems to resolve itself pretty quickly, probably because we have all the information that needs to be processed and they don’t have to introduce any new characters or plot lines. But this show does introduce new characters and plot lines in the second act! Namely, Emily Dykes (Svetlanta) as Anatoly’s wife who he left behind in the Soviet Union when he defected to be with Florence. She received the biggest ovation from the crowd for her song, “Someone Else’s Story,” causing one audience member to utter a rather loud “Wow!” Nicci says she played Sophia on the international tour of Mama Mia!, which also includes ABBA music. Coincidence? I don’t know!
The play ended, as all plays do, and the buzz among the crowd was overwhelmingly positive. Along with Ken and KT, I hung around afterwards to congratulate Nicci and meet some of the cast. They were all incredibly proud of the show and heaped tons of accolades on Nicci. I’m not going to comment other than I thought she did really well, but even I was impressed with how much the other members of the cast complimented her. Good job, Nic.
Lucky for you, Chess continues it’s run this weekend at the MET in Hollywood. It might even be extended because everyone is so happy with it. It’s right by Santa Monica and Western. Tickets might still be available online, just Google it or show up, I don’t know. I can’t be bothered to do all the work for you. I’m not your parent. Apply yourself. Find tickets online and buy them. Actually, don’t do that. I’m afraid one of you readers might really show up to see Nicci, and that thought scares the shit out of me. I don’t want anyone depraved enough to read this website interacting or approaching my girlfriend. Got it? Good.
