Chess

Adlington Music and Arts Society’s latest production was the musical "Chess" which has music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson  of Abba fame with lyrics by Tim Rice. There have been many versions of this musical throughout its’ history, the original London version is very different from the less popular Broadway version and these different versions do change the setting, time, and song order but according to information available the London version appears to be preferred by fans.

 The story revolves around the consequences of a politically driven chess tournament during the Cold War period which takes place in Italy between two Chess Grandmasters one a very awkward American and the other a serious and focused Russian, who plans on defecting to the West. They form a love triangle with the Hungarian-American female chess second, who arrives at the match with the American champion but falls in love with the Russian who is already married, his wife being at home in Russia.

Directed by Connor O'Beirne and with Diane Simmons as co-director this was an outstanding production with a very talented cast who produced some excellent singing dancing and acting in this very demanding musical which is mostly sung with very little spoken dialogue. The cast included Jack Corrigan as the American Grandmaster Freddie Trumper, who gave a very good interpretation of this complex character and Jonny Cunliffe as the Russian Grandmaster Anatoly Sergievsky sang and acted excellently, I enjoyed his performance of the song Anthem very much. There was a very strong and admirably sung performance by Rebecca Dixon in the vocally demanding role of Florence Vassy, Freddie’s Second and Anatoly’s lover while Louisa Watson as Svetlana Sergievsky Anatoly's wife portrayed well the hurt and despair her character felt when abandoned by Anatoly. she also gave a beautiful rendition of the song "Someone Else's Story". John Matthias as the Russian political manipulator Alexander Molokov had a lovely rich smooth tone to his voice with Chris Higson as his opposite number the American Walter de Courcey, both producing very good performances and showing the devious games they were both playing very well. The Arbiter who was the match referee and also introduced the show, giving some narration was played by Amelia Atherton who performed with authority singing very well. There were no weak links in this cast. The chorus who were assisted by a choir of singers sung excellently and supported the principal cast strongly with lots of energy, working together as a team.

There was lively dynamic choreography by Heather Hodgson that was just right for the production and was executed very well by the cast who appeared to be enjoying themselves. The orchestra led by Musical Director Paul Stanley supported the cast securely and played very well, however just a constructive comment they were a little loud on a few occasions but this did not spoil my enjoyment of the show.

The scenery, props and technical input was once again first class so congratulations to Stephen Pilkington, the stage crew, set builders and technical crew, who  must have worked hard both before and during the performance and who along with well thought out costumes which were just right added to the feel and success of the production.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this outstanding production including front of house and other behind the scenes workers. Thank you for inviting us we had a wonderful evening.

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