Songs, performances, design work help Manatee Players score with 'Chess'
"Chess" was a hit on record, and as a rock opera in London. It was pretty much a flop when it was transformed into a Broadway musical.
Now local audiences are getting a chance to see "Chess," and the reasons for its success and its failure are apparent.
It's packed with smart, gorgeous songs, with music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of Abba, and lyrics by Tim Rice, who has collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John.
The music is marvelous from start to finish, and it shows off an impressive range of musical styles, but people who come expecting prototypical Abba-ish songs with effervescent melodies might be put off by the complex compositions and often brooding lyrics.
The book by Richard Nelson, introduced for the Broadway version, is a liability. It meanders from one story line to another and never makes it clear which is the central plot and which are the subplots.
The bulk of the action orbits around a Cold War-era international chess match between a brash American named Freddie Trumper, obviously modeled after Bobby Fischer, and a more staid Russian named Anatoly Sergievsky.
Trumper's friend, Florence, falls in love with Sergievsky, who loves her too, but he's married. Trumper feels betrayed.
Government officials from Russia and America pretend to be someone else while they negotiate deals. A summit meeting involving the two countries is going on in the same city at the same time as the chess match.
Sergievsky decides he wants to defect to the United States. His wife, Svetlana, finds out about his relationship with Florence and she's heartbroken.
The Russian government starts making life difficult for Sergievsky's family back at home. He has to decide whether to stay with Florence and live in America or return to Russia with his wife.
And, he still has to finish the chess match the whole world is watching.
Florence and his wife meet and bond. Oh, and the Russians help Florence reunite with her father, whom she has not seen since she was small child (in the show's first scene) and whom she has assumed was dead.
That's an awful lot of plot, especially when it's doled out in two-minute snippets in the gaps between 31 musical numbers. And none of it is emotionally involving.
The songs are, though, and the Manatee Players cast, directed by Rick Kerby, performs them very, very well. Diane Dawson delivers a powerful and heart-rending performance as Florence. One of the evening's highlights is her beautiful duet with Sarah Cassidy as Svetlana on "I Know Him So Well," one of the show's best-known songs. The relationship between Florence and Svetlana is the most complex and emotionally compelling in the show, but it's treated as a side dish.
Cory Woomert is appropriately repugnant as Trumper, but then delivers a deeply moving song called "Pity the Child" that explains in a couple of minutes why he is the way he is. It's one of Rice's best lyrics ever, and Woomert performs it beautifully, aided by clever design work
Omar Montes is equally engaging as Sergievsky. He and Woomert have gorgeous voices.
Just as striking as the work of the cast is the design work by Ken Mooney (sets) Joseph P. Oshry (lights) and Becky Evans (costumes).
Mooney's set consists mostly of translucent towers that move and rotate to create spaces and provide backdrops. Oshry has lighted them from the inside to create a variety of effects. One of the most fun parts of the evening is watching the towers dance around the stage, guided by people invisible to the audience, in a precise, intricate and graceful choreography.
"Chess" is not a musical many people have seen, though most people know it songs, "One Night in Bangkok," and "I Know Him So Well." A lot of theater lovers have been eager to see it for years. It's a treat to get to see it here in Bradenton. Few people will be disappointed with the show, and no one will be disappointed with the Manatee Players production. During the nonmusical segments, you find yourself just wishing the cast would, as the Dixie Chicks say, Shut up and sing.
Details: Feb. 11-28, Stone Hall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $27-$37. Information: 941-748-5875, manateeperformingartscenter.com.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Songs, performances, design work help Manatee Players score with 'Chess' ."