Threaded Order Chronological Order
| The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 10:40 am EST 01/08/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 10:38 am EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| "Directed by Tony Award® winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening) with a new book by Emmy® and Golden Globe Award®–winning writer Danny Strong (Empire, The Butler, Game Change), Chess stars Raúl Esparza (Company, the Kennedy Center’s Sunday in the Park with George, Merrily We Roll Along) as American chess champion Freddie; Ramin Karimloo (Anastasia) as rival Russian chess star Anatoly Sergievsky; Tony Award® winner Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I, Here Lies Love) as Anatoly’s wife, Svetlana; and Tony Award® winner Karen Olivo (West Side Story, In the Heights) as Florence, a remarkable Hungarian refugee who becomes the center of their emotional triangle. Joining them are Bradley Dean (Dear Evan Hansen) as Ivan Molokov, Sean Allan Krill (Honeymoon in Vegas) as Walter Anderson, and Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) as the Arbiter." What happened to the Richard Nelson book? By happened I mean: has he been contractually excised, albeit temporarily? Isn't it still licensed with him? I'm guessing this is somewhat like the "Side Show" model for revision, as Condon joined Bill Russell and shared book credit. But Danny Strong is being given sole authorship here. To my thinking, Strong is an unusual choice. He has no theater/playwriting credentials. If this is a project re-built from the ground up, the book could impact lyric changes (to state the obvious). It's a show that always worked best without a book, in my opinion. The Nelson text was smart but leaden. In some ways, it just repeated the ideas in the original libretto. Perhaps baked in issue in concept album shows that are later re-tooled? But damn, this is an exciting cast. |
|
| Link | Broadway Center Stage: Chess |
| reply to this message | |
| re: The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) | |
| Posted by: JohnPopa 11:22 am EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) - Delvino 10:38 am EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| I thought the Groban/Menzel/Pascal version was Rice's final swipe at trying to fix it and that would be the standard version going forward, although I'm sure there's some licensing rights issues as it relates to Nelson. That version felt as close as they were going to get. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:56 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: re: The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) - JohnPopa 11:22 am EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| "I thought the Groban/Menzel/Pascal version was Rice's final swipe at trying to fix it and that would be the standard version going forward, although I'm sure there's some licensing rights issues as it relates to Nelson. " I had the same thought, but I seem to remember that Rice introduced that concert with a comment along the lines of, "We have been rewriting this show for ____ years and I think maybe we're finally starting to get it right!" I got the impression he was half joking. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi | |
| Posted by: Ann 10:53 am EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: The Kennedy Center "Chess" workshop next month (not news, but questions) - Delvino 10:38 am EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi | |
| Posted by: Seth Christenfeld (tabula-rasa@verizon.net) 12:13 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi - Ann 10:53 am EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| I don't believe it is a workshop--more like an Encores!-style staged concert. Seth, who just can't fit it in, alas |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi | |
| Posted by: Delvino 12:58 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi - Seth Christenfeld 12:13 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| If I used workshop, my apologies. It's an Encores thing. But with a brand new book, they will be holding scripts. Minimal staging. Concert. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi | |
| Posted by: Thom915 01:02 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I bought a ticket as soon as I heard about it, but didn't realize it is a workshop nmi - Delvino 12:58 pm EST 01/08/18 | |
|
|
|
| Not a workshop? Oh, okay but isn't it connected to the plans to bring "Chess" back to Broadway late in the year? | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.021096 seconds.