Chess!

[yendi]

Chess! In concert! With Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Kerry Ellis, and lots of other good folks. It's also got a bad case of Josh Groban, but a little suffering is often necessary to enjoy good art. It's airing next month on PBS. Trailer's below (note that the first forty seconds or so are essentially content-free, but you get musical stuff after that).

Comments

[eustaciavye.livejournal.com]

When I am king I will nuke Josh Groban from orbit.

[yendi]

I hereby nominate you for king.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

i ushered at NSMT for the new england premiere of this show (with jodi benson as florence vassy). had no idea what this was about beyond chess, and that it was a notorious broadway flop overshadowed only by carrie. it was awesome.

(though hearing it now, i'm struck by how much of this sounds like abba if abba appealed to me more. yes, i know the abba guys wrote the music.)

[yendi]

I adore Jodi Benson! Saw her in the original cast of Crazy For You, and I so wish she'd ended up the huge star she should have been.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

she was really good, too -- even though she looked cute, she had a dry sense of humor that suited the character well. [/rubbingitin]

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

Also? I think the production I saw was one of Rob Marshall's first directorial jobs.

[e-scapism101.livejournal.com]

OMG. I was just talking to a coworker about this the other day, all while (badly) singing snippets for him. I was singing it this morning, while I drove my kid to school. Must. Watch.

[yendi]

:-) Yeah, I'm unbelievable psyched for this one. It remains my favorite of the Big Overblown British Musicals of the '80s.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweet! *bouncebounce* Since I'm not getting the video on my machine, is it closer to the London original, or the hatchet job they performed on it when they brought it over to Broadway?

[yendi]

According to Wikipedia, neither of the above. Rice is calling this the "official" version. That said, since ONIB opens act 2, it sounds closer to the British.

[slipstreamsurfr.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Rice wants to sell another vesion of the soundtrack... And being the fan I am, I'll buy it like the other two...

Still, nifty!! Thanks for sharing it!

[nevacaruso.livejournal.com]

I love this musical so much and am sad that I will probably miss it!

*wanders off humming "Nobody's Side"*

Woo!

[avivasedai.livejournal.com]

Is Josh Groban some sort of American Idol dude? I know not of him. I am WAY PSYCHED to see/hear this! I frankly love the show, Cold War whatnot and all, and it looks amazing, even as only a concert. I'll have to look up listing info and put it on my schedule... or get someone to TiVo it for me; even better.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Curse my lack of TiVo!

[wishiwasnt.livejournal.com]

Whoo! I love Chess. jetliwannabe and I used to wander around singing it.

Also, I can't hate Josh Groban solely because of his cameo in "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck." I accept that this is a minority view.

[cscottd.livejournal.com]

Yay Chess!

Thanks for the heads-up on this.

[ultra-lilac.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

[mortuus.livejournal.com]

I must remember to watch this! I was obsessed with Chess in college.