Chess the musical, review
CHESS: a game of strategic skill for two players, played on a chequered board on which each playing piece is moved according to precise rules.
The object is to put the opponent's king under a direct attack from which escape is impossible (Checkmate).
We are all familiar with the black and white chequered board game and the calved playing pieces that sit neatly on their set positions on the black and white squares, but we all may not be so familiar with the game. The abstract strategy game that has absolutely no elements of chance.
As I am of Hungarian heritage. I was a little familiar with the game growing up in my early childhood, as my father played it often and he showed me the different moves that each piece could make on the board. I was however only very young at the time and didn't really understand the strategy of the game, so I soon lost interest.
Chess the musical is based around real-life events during the cold war.
The musical begins with USA and USSR, an American and a Russian, two of the world's greatest chess masters going to battle it out in the world championships, where the superpowers also try to manipulate the event for political means, which enhanced the passion for greed and this in turn threatened to destroy lives.
In the midst of their fight the American and Russian are charmed by a Hungarian refugee and get caught in the grips of romance, of the one woman they both love, which becomes a torrid triangulated mess.
Some footage of past competitive players in championships over the centuries was also displayed on the big screen.
The stage was set as expected in black and white, as were the performers. The American cast were in white, whereas the Russian cast were in black but had a contrast of scarlet red, that prominently stood out to be noticed. They all played their parts well and sang to the familiar hit singles 'One night in Bangkok' and 'I know him so well'.
Not having a great knowledge of what was happening, it was not a show that I could get my head around very easily at the start. The first half of the program I somehow still found I was struggling to understand, but the second half I seemed to pick up without difficulty and found that it had torn at my heart strings and moved me emotionally, bringing me to tears. Finely coming to the conclusion that I did in fact enjoy the show.
By Gingy Murphy