Cast: Josh Groban (Anatoly Sergievsky), Adam Pascal (Frederick Trumper), Idina Menzel (Florence Vassy), Kerry Ellis (Svetlana Sergievsky)
For complete info, see IMDb's Chess in Concert page.
As a huge fan of the musical Chess (and a firm believer that the potential in the show has never been realized in a full production), I was really excited about the new concert version. Sir Tim Rice was involved in this production and said he wanted it to be the definitive version.
This version of Chess has gotten some very harsh reviews and I definitely see many of their points. The graphics in the show are pathetic, there's a huge flaw in the only real set piece, and cheerleaders for merchandise? Ridiculous! However, I think they did a very good job for the most part. I knew they would change a lot of the lyrics and many other aspects of Chess. Most of the horrible reviews seemed to want everything exactly as it was in the original concept album. Not only is that unrealistic, but there are some changes that really improved on that concept album.
Some of the lines being changed from one character to another really helped the show. Clearly, a lot of the changes in the lyrics were not for the better. However, a lot of the changes in the show were for the better - even some of those made to the lyrics. Some of them make a little bit more sense now. I'm so glad they finally had Svetlana sing Someone Else's Story (my best friend and I always thought it would make more sense for Svetlana than Florence). Enjoy the latest version of this great show. It's difficult to hear new lyrics to songs we know so well, but I think they did a very good job with this one. If you like the musical Chess, give this version a chance.
The only problem I had with the cast of this show is that they chose three people with musical theatre backgrounds (Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel, & Kerry Ellis) and one who's a singer and has never acted (Josh Groban) as the main four characters. The rest of the cast also seemed to have acting experience. I think with some acting lessons Josh Groban could have done a good job with the acting needed for Chess. However, since he didn't seem to have the time for lessons and hasn't really acted in the past, Groban ended up looking like he didn't belong in a musical theatre cast. If you can get past his lack of acting skills, the cast is wonderful and the story of Chess is better than ever.
Grade: A-
Labels: 2009, Adam Pascal, chess, concert, dancing, drama, Idina Menzel, Josh Groban, Kerry Ellis, musical, romance, sports, theatre, Tim Rice, TV
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:00 PM show | 4 screams
I hadn't heard too much of Josh Groban's music before. Of course, I'd heard You Raise Me Up and I heard him sing The Prayer with Charlotte Church in the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Other than that, I didn't know much about his music, but the ads at the Honda Center sounded good and I decided it would be a good idea to check out the concert. I'm so glad I did.
Josh Groban is a wonderful singer and a great show person. He put on an amazing show! I was surprised to see that he had video screens and a piano that appeared for a few songs where he played and sang. I didn't realize that Josh Groban played piano in addition to having a great voice. He played piano and vocoder on a few of his songs.
During So she Dances, there was a beautiful video of a woman dancing on the screen. It really enhanced the performance of the song well. Josh Groban has a great personality and a wonderful way of relating to the audience. I was surprised when he actually took some time to sit on the edge of the stage and sign some autographs during the concert, but clearly he does this all the time, since the Grobanites (as his fan club seems to be called, they were referenced several times during the concert) ran up to the stage before he got to the point where he sat down. Groban even lifted a young girl up to sit next to him and asked her to sign her share of the autographs. It was very cute.
Groban told a story of how he wanted to be in musical theatre and idolized Stephen Sondheim (as so many of us theatre geeks do). When he mentioned Sweeney Todd, I thought he might sing Johanna, but instead he sang another great song from the show (Not While I'm Around). It was good to hear someone sing one of the songs from Sweeney Todd that's not performed as often.
I thoroughly enjoyed Josh Groban's concert. His music is beautiful. He's a wonderful composer and performer. I hope to be able to see him in concert again. It's amazing to me that he's only 26 and has already done so much with his music. I look forward to seeing him again and I will definitely need to get at least one of his CDs. If you have a chance to catch Josh Groban in concert, I highly recommend it.
Grade: A
Labels: 2007, concert, Josh Groban, musical
Reviewed by Kat at the 3:24 PM show | 0 screams