So last friday night I had the fortunate opportunity to be drafted into seeing a production of the musical Chess. It was good to see it, but the vocals were too quiet. They could have stood to raise the sliders on all the mikes another 3-4 notches. Maybe it’s because we were close to the pit, or maybe it’s because it was the 7th night of the performance. All in all, it looked like they’d put a lot of work into the acting values, and were making a really good effort on the singing, but had neglected a bit on the production side.
And they did the other second half. A lot of people don’t know it, but there are two different second acts. I’m more familiar with the one they didn’t do, so I missed some of the songs that are normally in the second act. Still, I suppose it depends on which recording you buy. *grin*
For those of you who are interested in hearing the soundtrack, follow the radio link above.
And oddly enough, today I stumbled across a link to rather concise discussion of Bobby Fischer, his rise to fame, and his (still continuing) spiral descent, where he manages to alienate almost everyone. Given his remarks on 9/11/01, it’s no wonder the ches world and the US are now almost as ashamed of him as they were proud of him in the late 60’s and early 70’s. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/chun.htm
And of course, now I’m really disappointed that the proposed run of All The King’s Men fell through. Must try again next semester.