CHESST H E M A K I N G

O F T H EM U S I C A L

WILLIAM H A R T S T O N

INTRODUCTION BYTIM R I C E

‘CHESS

T H E M A K I N G O F A M U S I C A L

W I L L I A M H A R T S T O N

I N T R O D U C T I O N B Y T I M R I C E

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Text Willi-1| Harmon 1986lnhodudm [3 Tim Rice 1980Lyrics ’f',‘ 3KnightsLid- UnionSongs X984. 85, 86

All nghls reserved. No partof this publicationmaybereproducei slored Inaretrieval s y s l m orinn-titted.inmyformorbymym a n ; cledronkmtd'uniai.photocopying recordingorotherwiie.without the priorpermissionOI lhzcopyright owner.

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lnhodudionby Tim Rice

A C T O N E - T H E O P E N I N G1 TheChessmen 102 The RiceGambit 133 The SwedishVariation 164 The EnglishOpening 19

A C T T W O - THE M I D D L E G A M E5 Strategic Plans 226 PositionalPlay 267 Combinations 298 ExchangingPieces 329 Time‐Trouble 35

A C T T H R E E - T H E E N D G A M E10 Sacrifices 3811 EndgameTechnique 4112 The FinalAttack 4413 Checkmake 47

CHESS vT H E S O NG S 50

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W M M M ‘ O M M

Mywork onCHESShasbeengoingonfor the best part often years to date, and lamstill at it. It has been thedominafingelement of my work for the past four. I used to think that the longer one is in themusical game, the easier and speedierthe writing and production of showswould become.but, alas, this isnot the case. The process bywhichmyearliestefforts such aslosephand the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and IesusChrist Superstar reached recordand stage nowseemetiortlessanduncomplicatedcompared to the sometimes tortuous route taken by CHESS to reachsimilardestinations But in the endwefinally made it and Bill Hartston'sentertaining account of some of the trials and tribulationsrevealsasmuchaswecan without too muchblood-letting.The important thing is that in the end we succeeded in producingamajor hit musical,At the tune of writing it is ared-hot ticket and lookingset to remain that way for along time to come. There were moments during the run-up tothe showwhen l was by no means convinced that this would bethe case. and I find it extraordinary howmany peopleunconnectedWith the project, now that it is doing sowelL are saying (in some cases, criticising usfor i t ! ) that it wasaninevrtablehit from theword go. There isnosuch animal. and thosewho accuse writers of hits ofmanufactanthemto order are. asl believeapopular sayinggoes, out of their tree Anyone who reads Bill's story hereinwill soon discoverthat no success can ever beguaranteed.The principalpleasures of CHESSasfar asI amconcerned have been the people1have worked with. BjornUlvaeusandBenny Anderssonwould have needed to havedonenothingmore than their amazingwork with ABBA from 1973to 1962 to have left amost substaan mark on the history of popularmusic - they have now added the great achievementof the score of ahit musical to their list of credits, They show nosigns whatsoever of losing their great for sophistiatedyet accessiblemusic that touches many generations and nearly all nationalities.On top of this they are delightful, relaxedgentlemen to aeatewith I hope CHESSwill not beour only collaboration I believe that the constant realisationthatl was working with suchdistinguished composers (and Bjorn isalsonomeanEnglish lyricist in what isstill - just - hissecond language)actedasagreat spur to meto come upwith the very best lyrics I couldmuster.From time to time1hadenormous help sud'i asBjorn's ‘nonsence’ lyrics for achorus of O i lNight In Bangkokwhich were so strong thati hadonly to makeminor alterations to produce agripping lyrical hook for what turned out to bethe biggestworldwidehit l have enjoyed to date,

Havinghada few near»misses attempting to work with Trevor Nunnover the past few years. it is a joy to report thatatlong last webecame part of the same learnwith CHESS.This collaboration (which I believeTrevorwas askeen toadmieveu l was) nearly failed to happen this time aroundaswell. but for once the gods relentedandwegot the chanceto co-exist in the samepressure-cooker l will forever begrateful to Trevor for taking controlof adirectorless show justthreemonths beforeasold-out opening - his achievement in bringing together themany and vast elements of theproduction in suchashort time, shaping them in hisown style into acopper-bottomedsmash isperhapsanevengreaterone than are his many directional strokes of genius that distinguish the final productionThenof course there are the singers and actors who havemadesuch agreat contribution. the enthusiastic supportersfrom theworld of real chess (Ray Keeneand BillHartstonhimself in particular). the army of workers, onstage, off stageand backstage. (Whatever the odd geriatric critic may think of big contemporary musicals.hecannot deny that they dotheir hit for the unemployment problem).This isnot meant to beathank you note, but 1do thank themall.Thanksto their efforts. 1amalmost thinking about writing anothermusical some day I hope this book does not discourageothersfrom havuigago too!

T lM KlCELondon.My 1986

S E C T I O N O N E

M A K I N G

T H ECHESSMEN

>»only u r i na l that mmgifted withn 1an.zbn‘rtns will fan-m a mental

r u m w tlLK.’ r ' \ i " l t V \ the highest qualitiesN y m p h ! ) 9

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IN' mo: mi N i s m lttt\\'\\Rl11were on the islandor Cuba. where President kennedy and l’rcmmtxhnrshchei were i‘yehall to eyeball over a lllllt‘unrith about nuclear nirssrles The germ of anidea tor amusical about Fast»West Conlrnnlalrunwas sown in the mind of lyricist Tim Rice. Therewere rust atew problems In findingaway to stag“aplot in which the warm characters never meet

ln N T : the eyes ot the world had shifted theirgaze towards Iceland, where Bobby Fischer andBorisSpassky were eyi‘l‘all to eyeball over a littlemnfliet about chess plcct‘s it was the US versusUSSR all over again. and Tim Rice knew it wouldmake agood idea for amusical. With many otherprojects demanding hrs attention. however. it wasanother eight years before Tim had completed aplot outline and was ready to think about lookingtor someone to w n l e the music

Sothe story really begins in a hotel In Adelaidein 1°30 where l'im Rice first suggested the ideaof achess musrcal to Andrew Lloyd Wehher, Thepair were together for the Australian launch offrirtu. but Andrew was too deeply involved i i i\‘uis (directed by Trevor Nunnl to resume the oldpartnership, so the search began for a new col‑laborator to compose the music for the proposedShow

Over the next year. Tim Rice broached thetopic at CHESS with several composers. but theproject remained firmly stuck to the drawinghoard until the end of 1°51. The next move inthe game was played by New York theatre p r o ‘ducer Richard Vos who provided the introducrtron which was to lead to the whole proreet finallytaking oit.

'At first, I didn’t know what he was talkingabout. Tim Rice explains. 'when he asked me itld heard oi Arthur! I thought it must be somesort of tree But when he mentioned 'Waterloo'and DancingQueen‘ it all became clear ‘

Whether you pronounce them with a long orshort I t , rt was intriguing news that ABBA wereinterested in composing a musical Richard Vos.then Director at Creative Affairs for the Nedt‘frlander Organisation, had heard of their desire towri te for the stage. but the idea of couplingABBA with Rice was an inspiration he later des‑cnhed as‘Minerva flying out of the heavens' Onher return flight, Minerva had company, becauserim Rice for once lost no time in setting OH inStockholm to meet his potential collaborators.Several plates of smorgasbord and dried herringlater the new partnership was forged.

At this stage. CHESS was only one of manypotential subjects for a musicalon which Tim Rice

10

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mun An a i m " r a i n Limits «r thlM i a » . .. the write .. ‘trauma i n "m i t » , m

.4n o n mm“ n o n rainy“.minuaiw i w t wMiami in w:

wanted to worh hul it was the idea hl‘lt'ltmost appealed to Biom Ulvaeus andBenny Andersson Liigicallvcxplaini n g the fascinationof this theme.Tim says. ‘Chessisworideitulbecause it's pollthwrittensmall. ForBiomandBenny theattraction 9was more straightforward “'lt was really weird.’ °InNovember 1982.when ABBA 6came over to England to promote itheir Greatest Hits album. the deal 9wassigned AnewcompanyThreeKnighls 01.Ltd. was formed to handle the CHESS pro- Kred All that remained to bedone was to writethe muSIcal, but that had to wait until other com‑mitments were out of the wayBy this stage Tim Rice was already working

with StephenOliver on Blondrl. Biom and Bennywere still actively involved with ABBAalthough the members of that group had eflec‑tively decided to pursue their solo careers.So 1953 was a hectic year of commuting

between Stockholm and London. writing songsfor CHESS while work had to continue withBlordrl, publicity tours and any ABBA business.The CHESS moves had to be fitted into analready busy timetable. The Three Knights did.however, have time for one excu r s i o n together‐ a trip to Moscow in order to sample the atmo‑sphere of the world’s chess capital.Tirri. Bjorn and Benny. accompanied by their

matdu'naker Richard Vos. set off for Moscow inFebniary. As a tact-finding trip. it was of onlylimitedsuccess,but agooddeal of excellent caviarwas consumed and a good time was had by allAnd they did find out a little more about Soviet

"woprnirixmaveshadbrmmadc

bureaucracy and their taste in mus i cThe problem With the bureaucrats canccmed Tim Rice's tied Timothy uai . “man (0' 4 ' ) and likes to sleep mm.iortably. And With warm [ a t

Astuter guessing that thestandard Russian bed

e was not built with himer in mind. he requested a

Q double bed when making hisfir hotel booking. Either the Russian

0 tourist board suspected his motivest; or they had never before encountered

9 such a bourgeois concept as slnglgoccupancy ofadoublebed.Or do theyonly letBishopsandQueens sleep on the diagonals?

The other clash with authority occurred when3mm and Richard decided to take a walk roundRedSquare.A perfectly normal thing for a touristto do, but Bjorn preferred to avoid the touristsand en j o y the calm of a Russian winter at threeo'clock in themorning.Theair was cold, the snowwas crispunderfoot,all was peaceful. . . until.sud‑denly, armed guards appeared from nowhere asanunexpected threat to the whole CHESS pro‑iect. How does a Swedish musician explain to anangry RUSSIIn policeman that a solitary stroll inRedSquare is in noway athreat to Soviet nationalseeurity7 With great presence of mind. Bjorn pul~led a photo of ABBA from his pocket andpointed himself out, saying 'Abba'. 'Abba.Abba.’replied the policeman. very impressed. lt is theone word of Swedish known to all Russians. Forthe pr ice of an autograph and a big hug all wasforgiven.'Nowhere in the world are we treated assuch

VlPs as in Russia.’ say Bjorn and Benny, It’s likeaget out of jail free card.

( l l \ l ‘ l l l \ ' £

T H ER I C E GAMB I T“This work has been rurnml ltlri'uxli [n1meeswr Rrri' rr'rtli ll Iriiixrxifu’i'rilpersi 'r 'rrmiu'mid(uurrlgi ' ”I r imr i r i i l l i r i t i ' t i n - k n . ( " m i n i Mu

F \ t A i \ L ‘ l t i A s x u i i m k s I K I i H“ m m hampmn. i m i MiStillati-p phye l i l agem[ t n - d p i . . . but l iapyi Mi

ROCK s um o r i n u N i v u s r t‘l'm not m Ideserve the title ‐ there was nobody frommotherpluiet in the final), Tun Rice would really haveliked to beas ing i ng star or aninternationnlcridbeter He is. in fact, lead s i n g e r of the ‘deservedlyunknown group Whang and the Cheviots. oneof whose recent performances led to a courtiniunction after a complaint about the n o i s eUnable to secure a regular place in the Englandcndiet eleven, he started his own team. TheHeartaches. for whom he still hopes one day toscore a half-century. Talking of his bowling. hequotes 1.M Dame '|bowlsoslowly that ifldon'tlike it i can walk down the pitch and bring it beckaga in before it gets to the batsman?Buthedoeshaveaprettygoodbattingaverage

when it comes to writ ing musicals.Betweenwas and 1975. the names of Tim Rice

and Andrew ond Webber were inseparable.With originality of theme and musical style. andanequally revolutionary marketingmethod. theyrewrote the history of the British musical Theirfirst effort, however, a show called le Likes ofUs, based on the life of Dr Barnardo. was neverproduced Their sights had been set too high. ontheWest Endstage. 50 when loseplrand theAmu ‑i r i g Technicolour Dreamcuat followed. it began lifemodestly asa twenty-minute production at ColetCourt school in Hammersrnith London Fromthese beginnings grew the later West End andBroadway success.[esus Clinst, Superstar was the first musical

which openedWith the RiceGambit In the gameof chess, agambit is a sequence of openingmovesin which a sacrifice of material is made in orderto secure some other advantage. usually a quickattadc Tim's Superstar gambit was exactly theopposite: amethodof slowingdown the open ingin order to minimise the possibility of materialloss. The tnck is to launch the album of the showayear or sobefore it reaches the stage. in this waythe album both creates a demand for the showby whetting the appetite. and serves to test thewater beforeany deCision to dive in with the hugeinvestment needed when g o i n g into the theatre.The album of Superstar sold mo r e than s i x milr

lion copies. in 1971 it was the best-selling albumin the United States. After that. the stage showwas bound to succeed. In fact, it ran for more thaneight years in London. becoming the West End’slongeslvrunningmusical.The same strategy was adopted for Erato. first

the album, then the show. And another hit wasborn There, however. the Rice-Doyd Webberpartnership came to anendasbothmm wa i t the"separate ways Whatever the respective merits oi

l t T ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ ’ 7mud.andm u m , it had hemAndrew Lloyd thher whose insistenre on writing muurall hadsteered Iim Run in the dire-turn Wl‘lltlt was totiring him such i u u e s s

l‘hen ( a r n e RLimlel, wilh Stephen Oliver ash ran 'only‘ a year in the WM‘

End lim still has tarth in the show, which helet-lshe allowed to outgrow its original intention ‘lwas really trying to get back to the [with typeof show I wanted to do something tairly light.not pnirunly intended for the West PM! Asthings turned out it did start its life in the WestEnd, which I thinli in retrospect might have beena slight mistake We would have done better todo what losqui did - to start oft in schools. Nowit’s back in uhonls and provmcial theatres andisprospenng very well '

Havrng dealt With the Bible (twicet, Argentinepollhcs and a mediaeval minstrel, Tim turned forhis next inspiration to the world at Internationalchess ( ' ldon't see why a musicalcan't tackle Vlt'l’uvally any rubied’) An and follower of theintrigue: and polilin of recent matches for theworld championship, Tim is modest about hisown chess abilities [though actually he: a muchIlronger player than hepretends) His mainchewplaying experiences go laacl: to the days whenhe shared a Hat With the pianist John |.ill, whohad the habit ot arrivmg home in the early hoursat the m o r n i n g after a coneert pertnnnance andchallenging his flatrmate to a rhess game Tinirlaims to have lost all but one at the dolens otR a m “ lhey played under iurh nreumilanu-s Butyou do not have to he.i grval play i r r to dpprcuak‑s , W, WWW

r u m p u s " , Whit

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the l r r m n m IllVUlVfd when .m Ainivriianlliallenges a Russian tor a wulld l ltJH‘ipiiiniliipwtiuh the Sum-Ix lu‘.vlivlittnr twenty hve years In in tinl‘iuher Spasshy match ul1972) or when a Russranmeets a delectur fromthe USSR tor the title (M ‘in the Karpov Kn“hniii 1mauhn o! 1978 and 1 9 m ; "'(‘hessissomethirigwhiihl ir ingiotherwiseordinary peuplctogethi-rin East-West confrontation is how ’9Tim Rice explains his view of the politiis '1.at chess as sport This was the idea Wllkll ~sent him commuting between London andStockholm during most at [ 9 5 4 By that time; hehad had the opportunity to add considerably tohis knowledge of chess and chessmasters A tripto see the world championship match in Meranoin [ 9 8 ] prowded much of the material for theopening Tyrolean scene of the musical. Whenworld champion Anataly Karpov Visited Englandin 1952 and 1953, he managed to fit Lotta andBlondzl in to his busy playing schedule Tim haddinner With him after the show on each occasion.Quiteapart from this welcome opportunity to getto know more about the world's strongest chessplayer. these meetings provided an unexpectedbonus in the shape of Vladimir, general tactotumand minder to Karpov During his years asworldchampion] wherever Karpuv went, Vladimir f o llowed, manag ing his affairs and making sure thatthe champion had to concem himsell only withproblems on the chessboard Putting together the

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The firm knight; mm out and miin to pluu

grey, lli-rugli I A V I ‘ I lightened W.4 tin M m m w i i i p r impruden ‑

at my huge ‘xwiet delegation inMirraim ‘1 " . th s t r o n g ulent figun‘

ut Vlmlmm l i i n l i ne nested thed raw l1 ' r ‘ we i u i w see in

Russianu m p in ( ' t lESSthe plot had taken form+

ByesmO \ll“|l iently tor« .mi l ie r lny Ira wurh on the

‘I i n u w tut the songs Their° prim-pal m u m or 1994 woe to be

0 the produxtiun vi a great record0 musical would u v n i e later Working With

Benny. the RiceGambit madegreatsense They have this exquisite skill in the

recording studio They are masters of therewrded sound ' Despite the impressive creden‑tials ofall individualmembersof the CHESS t r i o ,they remained anunknown combination Thougha stage musical remained the final objective. amood of caution still prevailed No further deaSIOI ‘ I ! would be taken until there had been timeto judge the success or othervnse of the albums

In case you are wondering. yes. there is a chessopening known asthe R114! Gambit Invented byProfessor lsaac Leopold Rice ( n o relat ion). i twould never have been played in se r i ous competi‑t i on but for the professor's generous sponsorshipA rich industrialist, he paid the leading playersat his day to meet in 'Rice Gambil’ tournamentsarranged solely to test the validity of his idealThe grandmasters took his money and humouredthe good professor, but alter Ricedied the gambitwas never seen again

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pnlm mm c minpiun iozi .27h “ n i m i H u m i i i i h ( - ( h m i i m i dthe” ll iml m:

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BIORN ULVAEUS is the oneusually wrth the trace ofa Tridrprdfllookof abrand new teddy bear. Benn EChem“has. the more serious expressiony Andamancultivated beard ‐ he too reminds and morelovedbear, but one of the ol one Ofa wru»der and ' ,Braille“ mm B'“"Y “ " 1310m (033123?“ m y0 t :- most successful gmups in the hm?on:

’Y 0popular music . In the teABBA sold more recordsntlfaenallasnOf the 19705.or Ismgle artist. The total sales of has:wn’titen by Benny and Bjornexceeded 250millmg‘ABBaXing performed together since 197] Tl?‑L quartet (Agnetha Faltskog An I '9_yng5tad and the two BS) were little m‘Fnd

side Sweden until their Eurovision sonown OM‑chess in 1974. Their winning song Tsa‘tmrlks‘k203:1; r-liihmber one in almost every Eurjiroo'M d “ radeVictOry gave them instant (mfg:Englflpd s pocpiulanty, but also, particularly ina com to carry the stigma of winninminds :ithitéfipgtrpngly associated inman:

0 music and lyrics. It tarm 000 % ) e rI t :to revedstablish the:but, once having overcome “5131:” 'Pflformers’_‘ ndica 'gigLl? EurOViSion song contest, their cgréitlx;came a lapamlleled success. After Waterloo'(Mimms Mngot' number one hits in England‑'Knowm Miai Fernando', 'Dancing Queen‘Game, grake, Knowmg You’, 'The Name of theTakesitAfl' e a‘Chance on Me“, The Winnerm u “ h ind Super Trouper’. Only the Beatlessuccessaveheaimed a comparable record of grouph“umahisn tAeBlélf‘cthts (tin addition to their chart

. s are wprestige of being Sweden's t3:(cl/2;:

face, \ \

Smup

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earners.By1981,howcye ‘ i’ i ”‘ ” " #*

IhlghlysuccesSfulairfhgough[hagroupwassfiu From a career which had concentrated ontiori various Shains ha: :3”?m u s e ] combim' recorded sound and songs designed to standbonds 3 " " to weaken the" alone, their horizons had to be Widcncd toencompass action on stage and a developing

story-line. All they needed was a lyricist/dramatist to provide the plot.

lust asRichard Vos provided the link in TimRice's case , the go-between for ern and Bennywas Shelley Schulz, of lntemational CreativeManagement, who handled AB BA‘sattain in theUnited States. Between them, Schulz and Voswere the niatchmakers who led to the Rice‑AB BA combination.

5:311and Agnetha were divorced, aswerea Fnda. All were still on good terms,

abut“ elf; perhaps already beginning to thinkhangedsting their own careers outside ABBA.ABBAVS uiilness pressures had also added toon h e ” txpmems, By 1952 the group was putreturn m r‘ at-stage. they all still expected to"my ‘2" 3: orrning and recording together, butwe” fee" 9 need for a break. Bjorn summed upfired ings: The. reason we went in different

ions was that in 1982 wedecided the steamat gone out of the group It was not fresh an. ymore . . ,weall needed something new.’

Bennybut w

a n l t ' l u l t ' l l i w U r . e rr i m s - n ; mil. lhr mew 4 " ”u» whmdl""“‘m - m u M m

F‘" Blom and Benn um lL'lnllninW‘, y, the idea of collaborating ' W4 rim MM“ ' i . , vonamusrcal was just the challenge they needed. Muelhlhlalhflnflful“ ag r i p onthe whole proiect. Weare very familiar

When the collaboration began. the idea of analbum to be released before the show had animmediate appeal to 3mm and Benny. 'For Biomand myself Benny explained, ‘we wanted to have

, . . . i ' l i i m a n n i n g m i m - . , , . , i , i u i ii t Jll r i m i v i l u u i i nut. , lcqiull» .lltilillul in l lu i r , w . ” um .n ‘:rriurilini; \ttlillil llvt'll i» . . i : i l tslr l t ’ . m . y‘ion

0t itic n i u s i t the» m o i . m i t t “ .lll‘ltlli ..n.i Zl t i tllu‘ ~hrm llh'iilmpiht‘h Ithisl that It n J Imluuildevelopment oi the work thm hail t ‘ l t ‘ l l Jump,tor ABBA l Im Rm- «llktl mn l r sscs to J tor llll);at some guilt on hearing the m u m “m i t . “

wn i icn I'nr CHESS ’All through Mu lliurn andBenny wrote the principal themes, sending metapes containing tunes which tuuld easily hau‑become number one hits for Abba, making meacutely aware that l was helpingto extinguish oneof the world's most popular groups '

The m u S i c which Biorn and Benny providedwas the result of long sessions With Tim in whichthe plot was worked out in more detail and it wasdecided where the principal songs should occurin the story and what emotions and plot develop‑ment they were intended to convey Biom andBenny would then wri te music to tollow the con ‑tours of mood and character which had beenagreed As is normal in such collaborations, thecomposers would also prOVide dummy lyrics toemphasise the rhythmic patterns, But in this case,Tim Rice found Bjom's dummy lyrics sometimesembarrassingly good Perhaps the most famousline of the whole album, ’One night in Bangkokmakes a hard man humble'. came straight fromthe pen of the Swedish composer, unchanged bythe English lyricist. And when Murray Headcamelater to record ‘Pity the Child', he admitted thatit was the i m a g e r y of Biom’soriginal lyrics whichconveyed to him the poignant emotions of thesong Biom's 'l’ ity the Child’ was the tale of aboy‘s attachment to aDresden china doll. MurrayHead's m o v i n g hrstvnight performance of TimRice's ‘Pity the Child' on the stage of the PrinceEdwardTheatre still owed much to that china doll.

Quite apart From the ABBA expertise in therecording studio, another bonus of producmg analbum first was the greater choice of possibleartists. Singers of the highest calibre could beinterested in performing even the smaller partswhich they might never have considered doingon stage. lndeed, both Barbara Dicksonand DenisQuilley agreed to appear on the album, thoughneither had any intention to take their respectiverole on to the stage. 'A t no time did l ever wantto be in the stage vemon,’ Barbara Dickson laterexplained. 'l’d have had only a tiny role in morethan three hours of action and l didn’t want tobe stuck in a theatre for six months . . I like tobedoing lots of different things'

17 ‘

" ( ' d e , 9 “ a v ' - ~' 1 ' 7 '“ m u n ” . v a I H t ; w ’ l l

w i t h «a . . .4 'mu ' r r 45 '1 'W Th: u n h t m a ' r r

l u r k ! : - "KN ” ' ”w 4 m a n d »M u [ y d - 0 d man d n . ABBA, ‘a n d u rh- m..dmxi ‘m l m m ; u m M n .a . “ I luv ABBA by "w awow '

0 » , :5. ma». Synwmy ”Did-urn Ind thr Ambrouan W ? " "‘a r e ! “ that zantnbutm m luv-dun All ‘canpark. from vocals to rhythm m t m , tramrod that to ooh nun-mumm- mm lddodn chdm [hung thn buy pound hm hem a m a - M m S l r x i h ‘ h " m o d e m :I n ! "Mn u m d t n g

Ninth" odvmtng: at the Anglofiwn‘lbh cooprutmn m- thr nddatml (hour: at Handingm m ; Home Page. Bub." Drluan. M a n y:7:e r l nfrom Bntun w t " [ a n d

a m i M u mtot-men mSwldtn y K m ”bum lopP " .

Whm MIN“ tnxrthfl [he dvfiermt r Alion. to Iurh anIlbum. It n nogreat Jamha" annrdmtn Inmdrd mhmdon More theungmadd thrlr vows InStockholm. but It wa rnWm «munthat HAITI! Pageand Barb-n [ ) l eI o n up; that duct \fpuatrly Whrn 'I KnuwHim 30 e r l ’ cm to br I’n’urdfll the buwK‘l‘tdultl at both ladin dud not l u v ! than tvn

"mutnmil/my mut a r r y l‘v hum-1Mm:an . I m ( m u m h m undl'lun I la-Ln” I . "

‘. u, W. «W mm PM»; 9.w u m k d f « . 1Huh.“ may.» \ ill?

. 1 ” l‘rm‘p: n n u « I V ‐ g m . » n , ” ml,A r u m » M M » . tho m y , ” V,

mummy, mum " M y 'rlntaruv- twtwror. thou

‘ n r w x a t r » man I.. M y , [1)40pnth'lyr’r‘h',

o Shortly In?! tho Albumi m u r l u w mthrrndut 1954

Q mummuant ni n g l e r ind m I0 [ t i n tmtudr Hmley, «mungu x t M

(a um mthhulavmly KrththmQ \hn-p lnglmd. he uyu. 1m ntwny‘ be".

‘ mymltuul home’, adding, '1Mr the Idun!gmng In the Henley regatta In I straw h ‘ t 'Mm u h t : n tht bogxnnlng of 1905, had you

Asked anyone (ovum-ted with ABBA whetherthry would prrtofm togethtr man, the replwould have b i n 1 firm 'of ( m r ‘ c ' B y the I'll:at W66, howrvrr. with all haying m a m aw.from thr group, wuth the two men :plnt betthStockholmand London,and CI l ESSlooking llktMAng mans-m; dande an that time them a r haddwmdlrd to l hnitanl ’perlupa' I

In Math 1980, when ( ‘ tat that m m ! hutK, and tnhmcal mthat hnght. 310m Ulvarun Ihnoll hIPIand. ’No one Inhn nght mlnd would untied-laa thmg llkr thn' Then he quit-Hy addtd, 'Mlndyou. whrn I t don all ( 0 1 1 1 ! togdhfl. a musicalIlkt t t h hu to bc the ultnmatc in cntcrtammrnt.’

t i »

1E55 rrhnmh‘wm

I

T H E E N G L I S HO P E N I N G

“ ( h r “ : : 1[Wm H ! 'lu' m m m ' l l l , undo] t lv[ m u n 1:. V I I ! " u . . 1m m I ha» m u r m l ,( h r [iluw‘h a n ' nulung. I r u n . r m n l a uh

u h ! " luv ' (u l l l ‘ luv/nu ”

A l l ' r \ ‘ < t t l F A l l ) I t | ‘ u t H l l l ‘ u l l ‘ l 3lulnhnlfld

W m h t ' t m m p ‘ u n " M M ? 0 .[ I n - 4 Mutt-Ion!" I w .

n c m m n w I I I PA n d N I . u l n mph i n I ‘ ‑n g . W M I : -g u i l t t ob u t u - I ‐ fid . w M 3hr m d b u t w[M n (W .m- HA nd '01-!R m d u I 11-04 M w- 1 5 . w a l l HW on n M Jun It - IM M( m M m i l dm m I nbu“:plat-1d with anmead-and«nor-nt a uz m m n u d t h m m w "m InSuva-n W i t tht M at 0hr L u l a !My Oran-urn, A nxtr u m “ ! I ' ‑Anbrmun Wt a l l Al tho a i r ‐ t o M. n w m w . m w w l w w flbran wen H o w I

' t h o u Sad) n o m 1 h a w don: I ,apt-nod Tn h r : ’Wc w fl d to h r ! "‑round pedonnrd InnM a nAnm, but INmot wruld hive barn t o o mud: Yo u m ’ t maltymall: m a r - ( y not a t tounng unin- you'n A o n :man bando ryou u p l a y ” V r g n ’

In tad when SuhSuma had b u n Wby 5 p m U l u n n Ind Bonny And-mom thrywrre drudy tnrmuhtmg plan to! the Inndt ofthe" new “ 1 , t h 900011.1th Io 1hr CHESS( m m : taut mud m m l ! with the" plan m dthey wm Imprnu-dwith the A BBA w n n r x t mChmter Skog'brtg, m u n - g u n “ d l rn tm ot S‘nbrUKl n u l y explumd hn rwnpanyi mthuuum'Whm than two ( o m : u pwith m t h m ‘ , I t ' ‑uunlly unuhonal.‘

The ( m l of the tour wu hug: Even If " t r yl n m e r t m . mld out 4 . : undrtd thry w e " ) thcIon would be amund £425,000 hw thu mvn tm m t , the I p n m o n hoprd that lhnr n u x ‘ i t h o nwuuld help to mnturu- S u b " up marl-rt I m n g rWpth bub t a n and S a m : trudu uwd tot I“transportation to and [ m m ttw m n r c r h . And Withrm uthcv a n p a n y adverlnlng m the puny-mm:their prcwnu- wu :lmngly vmblr Atr a h \ r n u eImt n ImportAnl. huwevrr. wn the opportunityto I m p r n s lhr three or four hundred Lhmh andcaptams ol mdmtry who w e " b u b " mutedg u n k at each ( u n w e d and at the ‘ t u studdedrecephmu atterwudu And It mmt luv:- bom ddtnrult n u l to be Impmswd. to! the v e n u u w e nall topic-Ian cumvrt halls. tho-tn tor ( o m t o r t .9w t “ u acumtlrx

The first slap on this hectic European tou r nu( I n Saturdny 27 Oclubrr NM at the Bart-«mCentrr In London On bundn'y they would perform In l ‘nm At [A Salk Phytel beta" m o mon to the Cancertgebouw. Amstrrdan CCHHumbng and endmg at the Brrwddhnllen InStockholm

From thr “ a r t at "he-rub. It Mame undu‑

ill:3:233:32}?$331,353“W mm“ary ()pt'talton TheHenry Wiiud Hall in Wandsworlh. normally thevenue for restrained rehearsals ot’ the [ 5 0 , founditself augmented by an extra generator outsideto prowde the power needed for the n vwensemble When Swedish condurtor and Englishsymphony tirrhestra mined tunes, tht-ri- wrrvother a r e “ of darn-parity in working pmt‘llu‘xOnly when the nnhcstra stopped suddi-iily I I I theHuddle at a plllau‘ did the Londuttiir nut-w thatu n i o n rules entitled them to a ti-a~bri-al< .it llhllmoment But. mostly, rt‘ht‘dluls wr-iit sinmitlilyThe probka ( I ' M with the m o w int i i tltl’ umum hallNothing like l l ! “ had ever happened lit-low i i i

20

the Barbican There “ i s uarul. morn « I n

the stage to ht orchestra and Chair anda proposal to remove the s i n g c nafter a choral item had to beabandoned as logisticallyImpossible. The alloca‑t ion of dressing‐roomsbecame another matterof contention. only partlysolved by the deCIsion that athe female section of the Am‑brosian singers would change inthe lavatory Manoeu v nng all the ' 5participantsaroundwas Finallysolvedonly 'lbyarmingateamWithwallue-talkiesandsyn» Kchronisingmovements around the buildingThese and all other problems had to besolved

by tou i promoter Mick Cater, to whom tell allthe most difficult tasks such astelling maior starsthat they could not have their lyrics on autocue.or telling m i n o r stars that there were no dressing‑rooms available, o r, worst of all, telling Saab thattheir car would have to beleft outside.This last headache began with a request from

the sponsors that a Saab QOOO be put on displayin the foyer of the Barbican Centre. Unfortu‑natcly. the door was 5 feet 0 inches wide whilethe car measured 5 feet bl inches. Various othermethods were examined to get the car inside, butnothing met With the approval of the Barbicanmanagement When the cost of removmg andrupturing a window was estimated at £30,000,Mick Cater finally decided that the sponsorswould have to bedisappomted. He put through

a «allbwrdcriudelwertheapolngtf‘ Then w e " i n !

Peoplethfoyer W'a t . when Tim that.

priatrthri rugs otmg tur tK

Andersoofinmtontothlstageto l u n c h t t h

a M CHESS UnaccomP‘"led. they sang these y

no from the p i e¢

0 Whether you improarnhOrmuldnotmrtaaWeanherrtotellyou

V Wenrrliereinsellyourhex'The merchandising oi CHESS had begun ‐ midthey were still fighting for tickets when the Hinterval cameAfter the triumphant debut at the concert t om

at the Barbicanl there were only comparativelyminor hitches at the other locations When thetrucks ca r r y i n g the musical instniments weredelayed en route to Paris by m i s s i n g the cross‑channel terry. the concert sunply had to proceedWithout the luxury of apreliminary soundThe Amsterdam schedules were also a littlestrained when it became clear that the Saab girldrivers hadbeenpicked for their looks rather thantheir drivmgor map-readingl abilitiesA week after it had all begun, the concert tour

was over. The album had been launched with abang and there was a chance at last to relax andawait the verdict of critics and public

When the Kings an nomy in the r a i l " or i lu tin-it.uer all the pieces have at least teen luv-flit intv phy. it

is t ime for the Mm to bout

WHEN nM RK‘E WROTE the plots of [a hm Christ and Evita, his task was to turn osmsfolrii‘:

STRATEGICPLANS

“ Chi»til-avers are sensiblepeopleandhill" the itmwiimity Inzmrk itfllhcir

Iti'llu'ikitvnew the hunt, sothat lllh' "llthcunt harmony in nih'among them. Sill‘ll

is not Mr case. J!0: Mat m a y 19.“

\ I h k t l b l l l l b [ l l \ \ E . B O R N I ‘ l l ]

Priill'ssdr ii Mathemalim“or ld ChessDumpiim1035.37i‘midenioi HDE writ‐mout Mi suit o n . ‑

i

~a.a

stury into a stage musical. Even wuthfigure of doubtful historical authenticifyanfh: awas anestablished legend on which to base til.eplot. CHESS. however, has been a new ex 6ence for the libretlist, because the characterspfampare fictihon. But. despite the oddness of the char:a ers w 0 appear on stage, this is fictiofirmly in fact. The history of chess is it tii‘lemdafk:many social misfits, eccentrics and iust lainloonies that the main characters in CHESSParetotally credible to anyone who has encounter dthe real-life world champions. 9Evenbeforeofficialcontests for the world title

there were some strange characters who were thebest players of their age. There was HowardStaunton. anEnglish Shakespearean scholar whowas amaster of the art of making excuses for los~mg. If heis to believed. hemight never have lostaSinglegame had it not been for his frail health 5There was Paul Morphy. the American genius

and boy prodigy, who at the age of twentyonedefeated all Europe's greatest players. Then 'ustassuddenly ashe had appeared on the scene] hegave up chess, disillusioned with the waeverybody else seemed to take it so much mor:seriously than hedid. Later in life,hesuffered fromparanOid-delusions. includingabelief that barbersmistrymg tokill him. Now hefeatures incase‑.heo 1:: freudian psydiiatry in support of theto acrhyessaPIEH-Oedipus complex is of advantage

dallflihfle: Morphy retired from chess, the unoffivAdo" A": strongest active player reverted tob M erssen, the German soundly defeateddy Iglrphy. Anderssen was such a gentle andlee soul that hehad been seen laughing withii:at his own helplessness when playing the'0 (Engapi‘t‘lewas certainly far too pleasantaman

etitle ofworld cha 'Wilhelm St ' mplon'man H einitz, however, was not apleasant

bu! A“; }not only claimed the right to the title,"If fad betad officially won it, heemphasized""0": b yw ack-datmg his tenure of the chesscom lainid :nty years. Steinitz it was who firsta this!” dz out the colour of the squares onsmmh ar provtded for his use. And it was' who always made a oint f 11'

With the arbit P o quar'm mgSkim” Wh eis at tournaments. And it wasopponents 0 was accused of spitting at his

"‘03:: l:ame Dr .Emanuel lasker, kind anddcmmdmyhrcputation, but very stubborn inthe boarng "Eh fees before hewould appear at

Vas er is the only world champion to

new:‘lilimlimn" “ w i l l Mvflamri‘uhlLawton/mi t .mu tillemwelimit.anR“mum..mmm .4[urinal tun-lthM m .Swulv .mlham

‘7

have been accused of practismg witchcraft toensure his victories, but he is not alone in beingaccused of smoking 'execrablecigars’ in adeliber‑ate attempt to disturb his opponents.Laskcr was champion for twenty-seven years

beforefinally beingdethronedby Capablanca, theCuban genius to whom chess seemed effortless.Like all great rivals for the world title. Lasher andCapablancawere for longperiodsnot on speakingterms because of various petty squabbles. Theirnegotiations were marked by nide letters full ofreal and imagined insults.But Lasker and Capablanca were bosom bud‑

dies compared with Capablanca and Alekhine.The great Russian champion Alexander Alekhinefound it more than hecould bear even to sit atthe same board as Capablanca He was the firstman to bring undisgmsed venom to the chess‑board. He loved alcohol and several timesappeared drunk at the board. once reputedlyrelieving himself on stage in full V i e w of theaudience. He lost his title to the sane and logicalDutchman Dr Max Euwet then sobered up andregained it two years laterWhen Alekhine died in 1940. the world cham‑

pionship title became vacant, Until that time, ithad been decided by a rather haphazard system

of challenges Now it was taken over by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) who institutedatonnal series of qualifying contests to findanewchampion and official challengers.During the war yeais, however, the S o t h

chess machine had been advancing Chess hadbecome part of the grand communist design.Massive state support hadensured that the gamewas studied and practised as never before In1939. the United States had been considered thestrongest chess nat ion in 1945, the young teamfrom the USSR inflicted amassive 15,44! defeaton the Americans The balance of power hadshifted and the achievement was hailed fromMoscow to the BaringStraitsBetween 1948 and 1972. the World Chess

Championship became part of Moscow'sheritage, a jewel in the Kremlin's crown. Botvtn‑nik. Smyslav. Tal, Petrosian and Spassky tookturns in upholding the honour of the USSR. Butthencame Bobby Fischer.Herewas agrandmasterof pure genius, a one-man factory of chess ideaswhich could outperform the Soviet machine Fis‑cher usheredin adecade which transformedworlddiess from aquiet game into amajor media sport.Let us look more closely at the recent history ofthe game, with Tim Rice's lyrics ascommentary.Themagic ingredient whidi Fischer brought to

chess was politics.When aRussian playedaRus‑sian nobody was interested. when anAmericanplayed aRussian. it was news, particularly if theAmerican seemed to bemakingoutrageous finan‑cial demands. (liit's Easl»Westand thl money'sskyhigh, they all come.) The showdown came in Reyk‑javik in 1972 ; Boris Spassky, the cultured andurbane Russian champion. challenged by the kidfromBrooklynwho complained about everythingfrom the colour of the squares on the chessboardto the fact that somebody in lceland had abiggercar than the one he had been given. Fischer‑Spassky madeheadline news Fischer did not turnup for the scheduled start of the match Mediainterest doubled. When Fischer finally amved ( i ttook a 'phone call from Henry Kissinger to helplure him into the open) he seemed pleased thatthe world was finally taking notice of him. ( M a l linstem! lNhat amy!What a lovely sight V t h mygame is the big smsatian.) But by this time the ke‑landic crowd were cheering for Spassky Theywere annoyedby theAmerican's supposed insultsto the organisers with his constant demands forbetter conditions and more money (They instwant toset lithen i c r guy heats the bum]Fischer lost the first game of the match, 11 , . “

helost the second by default when he refused toplay in front of cameras But when Bobby came

23

M I O W W y M H I M W , & ¢“ M e i r - g a s h Suddenlythedieenwe ‘F i sd ie r 'F i sche r ' tM thyxomwwMMthtmdSpassky 'scon-pmnwnM e n d FndiermpedhcmetobemtheH M m e o d d d i - n p i o n

mkumwmmummdfwehnwmM a r a u q u Thn'smwmlamg.)Spunky had impressed wuth ht! behawoulanddigityAllthewoddlovodhnnasigoodlom1W0»!slight blennshonhii tecord whenhchadmdthatthe playm'dianmdlight htWhexrrlyedfortlectrmkdewcnivhchmightb e t hhimin toplayingbadly) Butthe Rusuam had not come to Reykuwlt to he

Wm set their mxhine into Kipention AgainThoseynnotmmhadletilgnmmity Theirplayeis would have to be toughened up a g a i nwith m o t e competition {at those who wanted toemery the prmlege nl Inps lo the West It WM ‘the western Visits Whtl‘h hadmade them mentally

l

lt

iloved Theyweretherelowm TheSOVietChess f

l

l

that til this new Russian regime u n i e muthe:ms to lake the plate of Spanky asdump-on

.53“ Anaton Katpov, a thin ynunx man:39! d u p l t h t nthe point o fHume“1 310m 5015 at the (hes-hoard whim

determinath Ind faultless technique had i l fTIr i lhim straight to the top When Karpoi‘ earned lhrall to challenge Fischer in 1975, the A m e n q u"r not want to play Unable to agree ternn In:

defence at his title. he lost it wi|huut rum-mgapawn llidndhehadnot playrdaiingleiemuiw .mneehas r u n agatmt Spauliy in N ' . ‘M world in" m m . tu- M u n tn the

In fungi.and the UmlnlStates i‘hei: 2 6 ) t hhad treble-d when Finche- too:With Kupov m the thnine, the the“

boom Kenn! humid to end l l u play M a i:npresuveM h .but hel-ided the thansnu utmwhaevmlllchamdahwy l l u t

i world flayed in lad h u m harp“ ~MW.50‘ m 197: timed out to beVlktoc lit-uhM m “ , let hum manhunt" who had mentl

lo the West I‘m. was better even Hui. veninAtm'AJRIh-magwndetn«.mehioiebdlient talhtiveandnn

I‘I‘fllflit I l l - M a t attended W0‘ lo! the mold: m . " ‑

Anatoly Karpov turd Vikior Kovdcioi n thelam“mumatEngineCity ( lh‘ twubu‘v. ’ “ M i t t - a w n i n g “s W ‐ orI I I K h u - - or“drug,‐allupkr|‘l‘heuoticvaltellmed‘t:

.kfi

( " H I " G C e i i i t t i happeningi l i e u mon ‑than in Revkni'ik the Iiiumalntx hada great deal to write al-iut otherthan the rhess Theie w» itinvitemius Russmi Dilukhar who sat everyday in one tit the hunt .m i n t and was Axuied ‘lw hunhiioi t i l hem ahivpniitist planted there Instare him In l i isulimisimn Therewas kupsw i hlue yogurt « m m !M being a m k a “ides! messagelhere was even a hKh hoard lt‘fl‘h‘hlh' 5wide! the table to p i e iml the playen linni \assaulting one smith" below the uthual battleground And then- were the orange ilail gurus l"the Anandii Marga sect who m i m e tn meditateunKiirihnul's hehall tlt Wis 71"Il'l‘liw ii! the hintat thine that t u n e wen m Hit i n ! dummy gamew t h r h i l e null t-uti hum-outs i m p - m list:not in hat I Frum anapparently hopeless iituatniii.knnhnui fought tuck in the match and lookedliliely tnhnngallanImf‘inuhlf Victory With hislast gasp however. aneiluusted looking kaqxwwon a line game to retain his title For that lastgame the mysterious Dr lukhar hail reappeamll i i i n i his exile in the liacli row to stave a g a i n a ttum hum tmm a tiirwanl position In the i i p im i i nat many bemused iinlniiliers the wlmle m l ‘ hhadnot been in muih a Victory luv harp-w u v e i

ki‘fl'hfll‘tl‘ asa w i n tm lhe hypnotiit agamst ther s o t e r u i , t h t l d l , hysteria

lhree y e a n latei karpuv and Kul'l'hflfll aga inmet tor the world championship this time at the

I

'3

m u l e - t e s i t h i m i i W ( I .s m u t H m . » M b l H l M

w a l k i i m m - d l m m mmiabl. lhe km ( . 9 w‑

r i i n i e W m t i n a n d .try the hiss-1W M M

n a h - A h a d e

5 m m l o m M mo h u h i m d u v m m l y N d ! “

c . m m i M M i h m H W ”O .apimeituthtlr

y- Nmehsdiei shine W a d i - h y m nWunwrit ten { t h ! " at worldnuiihei. lul l is surely as they an m l i l othe plot at CHESS Even when w I “ .kaspami In Mouvv : in fl a t tbs mmbetween two good Smiet n h a e m M m t .a dash tit peniinalilies I i i ! uh lime! p e n a lnvalrv that the pol-Imam hat! t i i be (M IiAlter aneihausting and apparently Wcontest, during whish a 5 4 ‘ lend I\ n d . to!hat-[xiv had “radially been whittled M to 5-1.the President tit FIDE steflml Ii to (J the Mthing 0" and order a ivy-lay He had I t . Mto save the mntestanti h i m their state d m‑mllapie Fi~en alter knpan i i w n n the refiay HIarguments uintmued ahiul W i l d ) who it i n .Wh“ needed s u i n g What II M . “ W.isthat it gave Tim Rm M a u l to! ninth-v v e l ‑ul the Arhiln'i Sting: (Inn-did th I ‘ h . I“ll lawn-Ilith q u d )

A t m e u r w w ‘ h d

cnrss mconcsnrhadbmanundoubted ,ucrcess. Everyseat had been sold, the s p a n k , “ Were l \well satisfied the audience enra tured \‘stage of the whole venture, thepsucce‘ssA IP mosttotheinusicotBennyandBiorn.A ""performance can at the best of times animal ...., “gm-{‘23

P L AY

‘ exullaritly received in the UnitedStatV > es. Nrwsda Mpraised the originality of score which ‘breaks new:lground in symphonic pop’. Time magazme was ’fi' W:linpr by the versatility of the score aswellta; conlcepft of the plot which had g i v e n r ise I'umn‘lm

‘ . .i o e i s him [Tim Rice]acontemporary h wsetting {or his favourite theme: the pernicious lure " l Iof stardom, whether biblical, political or intellec~ P’ ”tual. Andersson and Ulvaeus’ score ransacks 'rsnuellodic styles from plainsong to Gilbert andh lawn. to Richard Rodgers to Phil Spector to

i p ‐ op in a rock symphonic synthesis ripe Withmagicationand hummable tunes '

y. it was the Eiglish critics who t :1themselves somewhat out at step, thh thttfglll LIenthusiastic response strangely muted by anapparent unwillingness to acknowledge the ori ‑inalin ot the score The London Times referregdxhthe opening Tyrolean chorus, straight out of

ite Horse lnn . the sub-Albinoni adagio .some sub-Lloyd Webber, a capable operatic:quartet (Schumann with a dash at Bach) anda380d deal that Liherace might look at.‘ I VIh t?" reViewers were convineed they heardT uence of Novella, Sousa, Rodrigo, Cluckhe ovsky, Pachelbel and Fauré. The most(S'stile voice was that of the Guardian whoseI .

>I: wrote The London Symphony Orchestra ruin... amml '4“""wasting its time with most o f the score t " ‘ h * “ ‘ " “ " ‘

,n n-m

slifihalrmaigejr't.the barest im ression of the .' - ~ “ ' " ' " ‘P story line into Whlcl‘ WE ‘ as .I

t the songs are interwoven In this ca " r . N iI - See-vent 5- ‘ ‐ t . . 'i - story-line was still only askeleton but the mill: L: .- ‘ " “Jo-"3:

was easily strong enough to a I 7r.._:.l"'_~s~ K. ‘ . ‘ o '“I sensed behind "11‘ lltl' support nfmy Without any plot The millions whorllateteb Ska: ,‘F-«W

. u'httlt‘tKltHllW, Ihrrrirrnfmirgnu-mine"! Singles of 'One Night in Bangkok' and '1Eng I mfi lc= ls;l andour party, andahiiiii'all that daily care Him SoWell' were enioying two more hits 30w 3:“ “tutti?”2 :4 .ii u‘hli’hyou, iiiirgrmtli'adcr, hiizetakelmiid the ABBA mum machme They neither knom w r i t . "3“. "I ’ 4

still tiikr, l0 raise l t l mipri'i‘cilrtitrdheights n o t cared that Murra H d - (w "n-Lmu-TJ \‘t r. . . I Iy ea was playing the ,0]? "Us asnap - n. N b “ i nuurxmlt mutlirrland, ” of a deposed world chess champion watchin his 39134 ; . “ :4 " ::-.7“‘

M M Ballt'ltlml 7[ m m in telrxrdm tosummla m ,pm “ W ” fi8"““8 ‘0’ the title, and though iii mm = 1':[ m u s t Nitlllllxhilmmmo who purchased ’I Know Him So Well’ must [any 51:“. :m m”

MHUML M O I S t Y E V I C H idenhtied with the sihiations sung about tve Wrflrfiman TV I N N i K, n o r m i i i i i could have realised the full dramatic intent"w m: ‘SCDH

Wm“ .mhgmnzaiM I N behindaduet inwhich Barbara DicksonandHilton: ymw' on5 ' :I I kmmumm“I'w‘rw In} Puss W's, lhout the same man without {mthe film ~l5¢=§=I t a l n e r and mentor oi Karpm and Kaspam " m a " °"8|Mlly Intended) coming lace to face 3:;I themselves. z i h g a 3 ; :$1.Onthe whole the critics were also hillat ’ "ti-'3‘: $5111."!

,0, ,h . Praise .. u .‐ - www.5‑, emusic Concerts and album attracted rave ‘" "" m "w ' 5 'renews throughout Europe; the album was 53:" "- t" ‘

n u l l

‘ Sores RCAHittot Larger ‘Chwi‘ Project

iB'angkokgrin Chartslust PM

.mai tn 4-

ll

i4 .“pry-mm. i n “‘ my m ~‘ 0‘ B.\\inqto‘

" “ m ' m m r i v ‘ ‘tr“ m u m - i u m " ‘ $2,. ‘ v C 865. m um nailriinl r-mv-‘I ., i t . y " o r , aw a... ism-neat.“ , 73m...“ fit thisrrrur- l l “I‘M 4 H i t . «i, n. ,h :1} ‘ “urh‘i t . a n . . mar . u ' i ' , n . . . ... t ;“it”. ... pita‐mm-‘gtigtn‘ru‘ in?“ .v-M‘s“ ‘

r “ ' . i ' “ “A ..s‑t. ' pk“ " 1 t . n i - ‑

which is heavy with Flatuh'nt orchestral writing.cinematic schmalt: and second-rate Lloyd Web‑ber recitativc‘ Perhapshi:was sitting too near thewind section.

Whatever the resen>ations ot the Britishreviewers. their criticisms were to be firmlyanswered by the public response to the releaseof thi- CHESS double album and the singleswhich followed,

When the album from the very outset sold tas‑tcr even than had that of Evita, it began to lookincreasingly probable that CHESSwould indeedreach the stage. By the time two at the singleswere number one hits in awhole collection at dil‑

terent countries the i n c r e a s i n g momentum o l thewhole pmiect was last making the show acertainty ln tact ‘One Night in snatch: sungby Murray Head.reached the top at the hit paradein West Germany. Austria, Israel, South AfricaAustralia. Sweden. Denmark and Holland.World‑wtde it sold over three million copies Two ver‑s ions of the song were hits in the United Statnone reaching the top ten. And evenNight in Bangkok’ had been banned in Bangkokitself. because it was thought to protect the wrongsort of image of Thailand, it continued to beplayed in the c i t y. in the ban and the Wparlours, it not the temples.

after 'One

Again it was Britain which refused to join inthe general triumph, with 'One Night in But;‑kokf reaching 'only' number twelve in the charts.Any feeling of disappointment. however. wasquickly overtaken by the elation o‘ the successfor Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige of '1 KnowHim SoWell’. That song gave Tim Rice his firstBritish number one hit since lulie Covrngton hadbeen there with 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina‘way back in 1977. By remaining four weeks ontap at the charts, 'I Know Him 50 Well' becameTim Rice's most successhrl Bntishsingle ever. For810m and Benny. the experience was equallypleasant, though less unusual It was already theirtenth British number one

Asco-author at The Guinness Book of Hit Str‘le’Tim Rice naturally also noted the other recordsbmken by 'I Know Him So Well’ in the UK tutparade. Paige and Dickson had become the firstchart-topping temale duo S i n c e Althia and Donnain 1975, and the disc the bestselling female duoof all time in Great Britain They were also theoldest female duo ever to appear in the charts.and Elaine Paige was the shortest adult numberone S i n c e 1976.

During this period, the only m o v e Tim Ricewould have liked to beable to take back was thedeasion to launch the single ol 'Nobody's Side'at the same time as'Bangkok’ It made no impres‑s i o n on the charts. but he feels that it might wellhave been very suci'esstul it saved asan Iml’ht'dl‑ate follow-up to ‘1Know Him So Well' ‘But it‘sternny easy to be w i s e alter the event wrthsingles,‘ says Tim.

The two hit singles and the album began toaccumulate Silver and gold discs in recognitionof their outstanding sales figures and. in Februarywas, One Night in Bangkok added to the nophy cupboard an award (or the best British Videoof a male solo single At a reception to celebratesome of these successes. the guests were treatedto campes displayed in a chessboard array . the

27

white squares were toppedWith smokedsalmon the black squares with caViar.DelightedWith his first number

one hit for eight years, TimRicedeclared that recordswere lust asimportantastheatre 'After all. 0records mean far more i i i 1more people than theatre don'tbut the momentum for a stage 6productionwas now unstoppable. .The question was already not whether,but when CHESSwould besecnmm." .theatre. There was still, however, ama j o r n’piecemissing from the CHESSboard The ‘\show hadasyet nodirector.The initial success of the album had aroused

very strong interest across the Atlantic. Thepowerful Shubert Organisation wanted to pro‑duce the show on Broadway Their President,Bernard lacobst had been impressed enough topraise the mus i c in no uncertain terms; ’Very fewscores prior to production have excited me asmuchasthis one. Nonein fact sinceMy FairLudw.’Some thought was even given to the possibilityof a Broadway opening before London’s WestEndsaw the show With bothsides of the Atlanticso eager to see CHESS on stage, the choice ofadirector becameeven more urgent All that wasneeded was an internationally celebrated figure.lwith:‘r‘bdnl'liarri'tléecord of stage successes behindi m . e to be read to dro evand w i n the CHESSset. y p “ ) 4 t h

25

First tobeapproachedwasTrevorNunn,butdespitegreat enthusiasm for the proiect hiscommitments to the Royal Shakes.peare Company, the filming ofLady lime and the staging of (esMiSérrililes were keepinghim too busy to let himQ, play CHESS aswell. It

a seemed that the show( wouldhavetowaituntil1087if

9 it was to be directed by Trevor9 Nunnr The approach to Trevor

0 Nunn had been made in March 1985.9 The following month Michael Bennett

flew in to London to discuss the job ofdirecting CHESS. He had conceived, choreo‑graphed and directed A Chrian Lme. which hadwon seven Tony awards and aPulitzer prize fordrama, he had followed it with another hit inDream Girls; now Michael Bennett was availableand wanted to work with Tim, Bjorn and Benny.Heamvcd at Tim's Shaftesbury Avenue office inLondon and bounced into the meeting singing alyric from A Chums Line. 'I really need this job;pleaseGod. I need this job'.Michael Bennett's infectious humour. energy,

enthusiasm and appetite for work soon spread toeveryone in the office. Papers relating to plot,characters. lyrics and music were spread overdesk tables and floor, and were shuffled aroundaseverybody approached the task of turning asuccesshil album into a hit musical, CHESS hadfound its director,

y.

The rlrllirix phib! .ii thexumr was ms! ingmmux

mCOMBINATIONS

“Chess is llli’ r u n s t h quustfur letteraini'c'pls, u lii'Ili’r plan, the mas! pnuerfulmoves, the discovery iifi’iim'mlrd, rlrver

V A S H Y V A S I L Y E V I C H S M V S l 0 \ ' ,

ways Inachii'iieaxoiil, ”

B O R N l 9 2 lOpera s i nge randmm (uandmas t e rrailed ludlt lofl lur Bolshoi« p m 195i

wi ir td ( h e ‘ l l rhampmn M 7 4Still a li l l l ‘ candidate in l ieu

M I CHML I r N N r r r brouth t o the prim-ct notonly his own talents, but those of many of theproduction team with whom hehad worked onA Chorus Lin: and Dmimgirls In particularassistant director and co-dioreographer BobAVian and designer Robin Wagner were enlistedto iorn the CHESS team New York quicklyjoined LondonandStodsholmasregular stops onthe itinerary of CHESS commuters Tim , 310mand Benny, and what had started asan Anglo‑Swedishcompany now began to look likeamulti‑national. The task of co-ordinating the businessside of the enteran tell to Judy Craymer. whohad grown from being Tim Rice's personalassistant i n t o his general manager and was nowthe fourth director of Three Knights Ltd andExecutive Producer of CHESS While MichaelBennett was thinking about ar rang ing the dance‑steps, Judy choreographed the contracts With acast of lawyers.For aproject of this complexity, a single com

tract lawyer is not enough. There was anotherlawyer to handle matters specific to the album:there was aspeaalist lawyer for the stage show.afourth legalbrainwas neededfor clauses relatingto any future film that might bemadeof the showThen there was Tim‘s lawyer and Biom's lawyerand Benny's lawyer (and should we be talking totheir Swedish lawyers or their English lawyers'h.And Michael Bennett's lawyer and a lawyer forthe Shubert organisation. Even the simplest busirness decrsion seemed sometimes to turn in to thenightmare of a legal symposium, with the 28‑year-old Miss Craymer in the chair.'Until now, ’ said ludy Craymer in February

I956 , 'the only people to have made any moneyout of ttu's show have been the lawyers‘ At theend of that same month, however. the CHESSalbum moved into profit for RCA The originaladvance of 5] I ruillion had been recouped inunder eighteen months. Most importantly forThree Knights Ltd. that money had prowded theworking capital needed to continue their effortsto stage the show Without yet having to seekother investors.When Michael Bennett amved in London in

April 1955‘ there was a huge amount of work tobe done before the show could reach the stage.The plot had by now been worked out in detail.thoughmost of the linkingmaterial. some spokendialogue, some sung still remained to be wntten.For the time being‘ however. Tim, Bjorn andBenny could relax a little and share the back seatas consultants while Michael Bennett assumedoverall control of the next phase of operations.As Tim Rice had already said s i x months earlier:

29

T o r t h ottrunberonemncemwastuMammrdltwillbethediredor'siobto make it a great show ‘

T h e d e 1965 wasatrrneofconstantamvuty as the set and cast for the musical werepot-nth m b l e d . The choue of theatre hadsettled on the Prince Edward, where Evita was nolonger making worthwhile profits after eighthahly successful years. One show with lyrics byTim Rice was to be taken off to make room foranother. asEvita moved on to further success inManchester

The bulk of the auditions took place betweenAugust and October 1985, at the Prince of Walesand Lync theatres in London.During that period.over mo hopeful applicants were g i v e n theirchance to impress MichaelBennett during a seriesof almost 1,300 auditions. The procedure waslong and painstaking, with artistes called backfour or five times asnumbers were reduced. Thesingers had to be able to dance, the dancers hadto sing, and everyone tired of hearing Don't Cryfor Me. Argentina‘, 1 Don't Know How to LoveHim' and, lessappropriately, ’Memory'.The threewriters of the show dropped in occasionally, par‑ticularly when the major roles were being dis‑cussed. but they usually found excuses to leaveearly as the relentless march-past of singers anddancers continued hour after hour and day afterday.

Only one role had definitely been cast: asonthe album, Elaine Paige would play the part ofFlorence. Murray Head and Tommy Korbergwere also front runners for the roles they hadplayed on the album, but at this stage neither wascertain. From the hundreds of applicants. aroundforty had to be found to join Elaine Paige in thecast.

As each performer left the audition stage.Michael Bennett and Bob AVIan went into abriefhuddle, with Bennett doing most of the talking.'Great voice, good range. but she's too tall. Thinkof her standing next to EIaine.’ . . . 'He has a nicecharacter, fine actor, fun to work with, but hisv a i c e doesn't have the range. Never mind, 'l’llcancel the score? Bob Avian took detailed notesto help decide who would beinvited back for thefinal rounds of auditions.

Three months later, asthe exhausting processreached its end, only the irrepressible MichaelBennett still seemed full of energy. While waitingfor the next performer to appear on stage, hewasable to dance between the rows of stalls at thePrince of Wales, s ing ing ' l Know Him 50 Well‘,and demonstrating how he might stage it as aminuet Then he would concentrate on the next

50

act. 'Her timing‘s wrong but it's no real problem.She'll just need abashon the head.’

The finalstage on the very last day of auditionswas a last assessment of those already selectedfor parts in the singing chonis to judge whetherthey might besuitable to understudy the leadingroles. 1'd like to explore his opera range becausehemight beaWalter'. . 'l’m hanging onto thisguy ‐ hemay beaMolokov.’

As they prepared to leave the Prince of Walesfor the last time. Bjom complained from the backof the stalls: ’Why didn’t I get auditioned‘l'

The cast was complete.The only thing that hadbeen left to chance was that nobody had remem‑bered to check that the men could whistle.Merano would not be the same without thewhistling.

The chosen cast could now relax. October1955 was nearly over and rehearsals werescheduled to beginearly in February. In the mean»time there was still a great deal of work to bedone before the show could take its final shape.

A n o n Wnlmmi puma.atmam»a m .m m ” : M i n i n o

m a i n am [apartmentsmillatdesign an the MI shill

mm i i i owBoom inn-Mna _Swedish mania/windy (Winm i n .Ml [alrfinil-rArum“ m i n i mRim-I

. y i t . “ o n in!m m5...W” 3.4... “WH. our"

in collaboration with Robin WagnerMichaelBennett hadcreated sets Whlfhwould provide some stunning Visualeffects. Six hydraulic lifts wouldbe needed to power themovements of stage andother elements of theset A video-wall ofsixty-four monitors would bdominate the back of thestage, while two more Video‑walls of thirty-two monitors eachwould be available at the side of 5the stage. The Videos for these walls ‘1'would be pre-recorded on laser disc. The Kwhole operation. expanding images to cover asmany of the 128 saeens asrequired, would becontrolled by computer. This part of the showwould be a triumph of video technology if

in else."Dir/hegn the different sets and scene changes hadbeen worked out in detail, a model was madeunder Robin Wagner's supervision in New Yorkand flown over to London. It must have been themost impressive dolls' house in the world. In factit was £40,000 worth of miniature set, with allmoving parts, including a stage which could liftand rotate. Every detail was there, down to cut‑out fumiture, including chess table, and scalemodels of the actors. The show was taking tnilyimpressive shape. Perhaps this ought not to besurprising; since MichaelBennett hadamvedctheprojected budget for CHESS in London had r i senfrom £2 million to £4 million.

Win. 5:." seemed to bem (antral. but was his own King'smumrrully is m]: m .2i m o n

The final monthof [ 0 5 5 was Wt working inthe basement of mo Shitesbury Avenue

inherethe modelset was installed Everya c i m n t o take place i n the show was

first tried out in miniature Eventhe lighting changes could

be accommodated on+ this wondrous toy But

“ there was still nofinalscript‘ Early in December. Tun Rice

9 hadleft for atriptotheFuhstand0 Australia where hewould performin

0 Tim RiceandFnends'.acheerful reView9 of songs with his lyrics The opportwuty

v was too good to miss, even though hemightbemissedin London.It evengave himthechance

to s i n g 'One Night in Bangkok’ to anAustralianaudience. His only worry was the occasmnalexasperated telegram or telex message fro:Michael Bennett, pleading for a script so that hecould complete his work on the staging of t ehow.

5 In the middle of December, Michael BennettFlew back to the United States forChnstmas. tnthe previous six months of frenetic actiyity, hehad assembled a cast and taken the desrgn andstaging of the show asfar aspossible. When heleft, a silence descended on the ShaftesburyAvenue office such asit had not experienced foralong time. The chill would havebeen far greate:if anyone had thought it possible that Michaewould not return.

m “d W" m mLondon during the first week of lanuary loan

E X C H A N G I N GP I E C E S

“ I t hm zt‘.‘ i l l l t ' t ' i l , mi tlii‘ stuyi’, we a t »t ' , ’ . ’ \ f r \ I'lii' I‘ll/ll ilifli'ri'm‘i' 1‘Hull i‘lu'ss

tlih II~ r u m spi t mi lirmi tun vitiirs’i'lfiiri'Ihvuwilmsi‘r ivt'tlii‘ si-iig', viiiiari'llu'

i l l l x t ' l , and mmo n " llu‘iritic. D\ t t k t l \ | l \ l k t l l \ l \ l \ l t ' l l T A I

t n i n t u t ! ‑i. . i r n ! i . . . me In mm. glari‑

i i n u u it». m t i n n i n g mum\ h i r l d t hampinn NM! h l

When he said he would be delayed, nohtid 'suspected that anything might be wrong rm).Rice. armed now with a full script, was happy tnfly out to New York for a weekend's work onthe show Everything still seemed to be in orderwhen he returned. but shortly afterwards camethe devastating news: Michael was seriously tllwith heart trouble His doctors insisted that heremain in New YorlL first for tests. later for com‑pleterest followmgadiagnosis of angina pectonsThere was no possibility of his being fit enoughto cope with the strenuous period of rehearsalswhich awaited him in London l

When news of Michael Bennett's withdrawalbecame public, there was much press speculationthat ’artistic differences had arisen between Ben‑nett and Rice or between Bennett and ElainePaige, that the illness was iust an excuse to backout. But Tim reported that he and Michael hadnot had one cross word since day one, andMichael had only met Elaine briefly twice, onneitheroccasion discussing the show in any detail

The mood at Three Knights Ltd was one ofgrief, worry and panic In about equal measuresThe anxiety was partly for Michael's healthpartly for the future of the whole project. The taskwas not simply to find anew director. but to findone who could take on ashow which had alreadybeen fully cast and of which the designs werealmost complete. Not only that, but rehearsalswere scheduled to begin on 3 February whichwas less than three weeks away. '

Tim Biom and Benny were back where theyhad beenalmost ayear before. looking for adire-(7tor. A s o n the prevrous o c c a s i o n , the first manthey approached was Trevor Nunn. but the situa‑tron had changed Before, they had needed s o m eone to oversee the whole show over a period ofa year Now the task was to complete the stagingof the musical in four months of intense workI By aremarkable coincidence, Tim Rice had metTrevor Nunn on Concorde when flying to NewYork to deliver the final script to Michael BennettTrevor had been on his way to see Bernie Jacobsabout staging Niiliulirs Nutlelry in Los AngelcsThey talked about CHESS on the flight, neverdreaming that within days they would be work if ‘ 7 7

mg on it together,

directing CHESS. Trevor Nunn had de'himself ‘absolutely bowled over' by thescore Only his other commitments had preyewted him n e p t i n g the lob Now h ewas a g a i n freeenough to do so After two long days with Tim.

mu Antiwar-u- i t » .When he had first considered the prospett of “ ‘" ‘ “ m ” m" \ W '

- . . u m . . » . . . m . . t .‘-\\41«m at the Prim: fluvrd 'i m w \ w . Vl~nlmlu “tin. l i n ' wh t " hm»: sw- with u».l u M

‘ JBium. Benny and a piano in Shaftesbury Avenue.and further consultationsabout dcsrgnwithRobinWagner in New York Trevor Nunn was readyto take charge

In purely practical terms, the essential changeswere that the rehearsal period was delayed by amonth and “ i t from thirteen to n i n e weeks. and

V ’ ‑the number of previews was also redured fromm m , 4 . . . . In luur ter 'n But the date at the firstwin timid t t ' V n d l n u m hanged a s H May I t hadtn be ( t i e r L i t million of tiekets had alreadybeen sold

In artistic terms there were more modificationsThe staging of the show would have less techno‑logical wiurdry and spectal effects than had beenenvisaged In Michael Bennett's venion Plentywould r a n a i n , including the 125 Video s c a n s ,but five of the s i x hydraulic l i f t , designed topermit dramatx movement of stage and sets.would bedispensed with Those whose rub it wasto worry about the ( 0 s t of staging the extrava‑ganza breathed a sigh of relief. but a very smallsigh The costs were still astronomical

The technxal changes were explained byTrevor Nunn to a meeting of the whole produc»tion team. excluding the cast, on 6 February 1956.three days after rehearsals should have begun.The mood was less than totally relaxed. withmany of the team feeling fnistrated after amonthspent thumbdwiddlihg. wai t ing to discover whatthe new director would require of them Therewas a tension at the start, as if adoptive childrenwere being introduced to their new step-fatherTrevor Nunn himself saw it asa different sort ofrelationship ’We have been shotgunertogether.’ Over a long evening. he explained hisV i e w of the plot of CHESS asa show about conv

\ Hid, between IdQOlOgICS, nations and indiVidualsWlth4 at i ts centre. a romance as unlikely and

77/)dc‘ltgtttfulasNinotdika.Sung atthe beginning asa prologue to the dramatic tale. the 'Story ofChess would establish the metaphor of a chessgame to depict the theme of (onflrct The o p e n i n glines would recur right at the end to complete thefine geometry of the whole show

With the aid of Robin Wagner and the moddset the n e w director went through the plam forthe whole show, scene by scene , with particularreference to the technical requirements for thoubuilding the sets. The whole performance was atour de force which lasted considerably longerthan the show itself B y the end o f the e v e n i n gthe new CHESS family knew more or less wherethey were all g o i n g , though some who had been

of Bennett s n e w on several preVious shows,felt the t r a n s i t h to adifferent diredor. even oneof Trevor Nunn's calibre, was bound to presentteething troubles

The next day, Trevor Nunn began a three‑week Caribbean holiday It was the lad of hiscommitments before he could g i v e himself fullyto CHESS Not only was the holiday a promisewhich he was umble to break. but he felt it was

.t 3

" W m (u “ a n “Julium n u i i v vi-uiiir “ k i n - i i » h - « m i Ir r N u u ' nrnml 1 "mm» i m ~~nwh w ‑

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I u buiim-ss I n his final adilrcn I i i Illa u l l ' n p l n ylrevui Nunn hrgan willi lhi- Ward; 1 mny haveg i v r n you the imprrninn Ihal l lmnw what I'mdoing l‘il lllie l i i mrrr i l Ihal I n i p i r u i o n ’ B ylhr end of his spen'h, however, (' | l FSS wn wellon i t : way lo lmoming ll'l‘VOr Nunnk ‘lmw l l l )lliomugli uullinr ol llio «aging In lm l i i im ludxurrwded in mininuniuling In I l l ! ( 1 3 ! .1«IntV i e w ol their fi l m s ll was to bl‘ a show l lu l hadto lw laken wrioiisly‘ Ycl ll had In appeal In ’amarhluad o! (hos: playcn from Hastings or athanbam lriim Wigan who have m-vvr playedanylhing hul darls.’ Thu ban: bones of " I ! showwere ccrtainly there, but a great deal of flmhing( l u l remained to bedone,

I

TIME-TROUBLE“ I n i M i u " l . w u o. n n - 4\ l e , on ly

( N M . 7 HIV! i r i i l i g h l . i mii~l h lmxnirim! m i n i HI I m u m : in H

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r 'VOII " o u r l h fl l hm hm o u ry d u l b m o m p m ! 4 m m i n M m " , 5. .y‐ lo “ m u M Vin-r I i i - M u u r i c l u l u " alwuilml I i i r i i i i l i - anp n - huh ( a n h : gL? I: my mm A M . mung-dim)" [ h etuned by ihr‘Hlo-lu [ a h

p h y r u d a d a n . only while I ! l l h i : h i m I nm Th: I 'M-hon on thinking l i m e u nut a“ d u d fl a w “ : i n : each move hul annlluflrdnumbfl oi m o i / n In atm l o v . weal!arm-terminals!lullhoun Butnplayevl m a n n i n g - d cM y ” oncmovcillwwuMMluhvoho-Anonlophyclicmn-mnnsvmwuluflan‑

h a i l Often, bawdflucanpklitwolthcw.a«m-mplyb«nudnhcflindcnuvr‑unto-valuat th willhlvUhmflnaflflnottulorfunlwgmhmmmmhmn lininwdilimrluv-Mr flu ! I m a m ma mm!Wmmwmlddunwmnhpconrm , - x h a n d q u o r c u m p k u tmare-bk WI and wall Ihlnll noth ing 0 ‘Irmmwnhodyammemlwolovadamant-autumn O‘hnldfendthrnlndlumlonHI-‘dvnllnfllquwkdcawm‘MymdlwnllolvoudhlvmgtodowHaFmflrmdm.CHESSkhmw~drank- Inhabi t Themovc from Mirhulw t o T m o r N a m had ( “ M I d e N W “Wmmhomflul’mllloflfd 11 “nutmawumdmlwdlurdmuulpenodd e - l - u l i r u d w m c ,but nobody could have pndwtcd the Inhmul

M would l u v : to be fatedPdddwlogxykflbyMid’iulendHud

hnaIfluhrdwur lor I IhowthI ly dcpcndtm« I t h todnology Dave Chili and Cli'flW M W A h o l o g n m o l L o r d O l i v mn u m b - n CHESSludtvnyfiung else ' l lwr !m k l fl v u k o m m , w h x fi c a d d d n p h yh e r m o l a d m o n d a g c u fl u l g e o l p n ‑m d l d l o b m e r h d d e u g n e d - I t m eM c m n l d l l l J o t - l c n r d t d l a l u A d I m m g l r- I o b c a c o n v i n d n g mulnnande I t was t ohr W m A druboard p m t r n of 64" ( m e d i a l wludi cculdbcundcdlhwhlte.Mammhddmwouldallbtuxflrolkdb y w m p u m Anotlrvcoi-npinawualdbcprovWm sperm the hyduu l iu for th : com»plot my movement- A Hind I ‘ d lourthW e ! wodd conirol K r n e d u n g u l i d“I ' l l And “ w e l u v - A r c w e e n - wouldm y d m h r r c o m w e r

A l l o a i u i n l l h n d d o n d l t t h c l ’ m

Edwardtheatre. the desrgners andbuildersmovedm to Mm the massive reconstruction workwhreh the new show demanded The stage areaw” M l y fl y gutted in order to install them i n im for the new set, What had beenatightschedule even under the Bennett regime becametighter still with the delays and “M ‘mm l ycausedbyachangeof director.The buildingworkprogressedmore slowly than hadbeenhoped, thecomputers always seemed uncooPem'Vei andconstruction of the sets took longer than anti»cipated Rehearsals had originally been plannedto move into the theatre in the first week of April1086. Gradually this date became later and later.But delays in construction were completely insig‑nificant when it became clear what amaior prob»lem the computers were going to cause.Meanwhile, back in Cricklewood (the Bennett

loyalists still followed his lead and called itCnnklewood), all was going much moresmoothly. Whether through his natural inclina»tron or becauseof anInherent distrust of the tech‑nology. Trevor Nunn was putting together ashow whichwould becormderably less reliant onthe mechanical gadgetry than had at first seemedlikely. His quietly spoken, calm and authoritativea i r had a way of drawing the very best out ofevery member of the cast Like him, they wereall taking the plot and characters seriously andthis produced real dramatic efiect in therr actingand singing, Tim, Btom and Benny were usuallypresent at rehearsals, modifying or adding tomusic and lyrics whenever it was thought necessvary. Anders Eliasand lohnOwen Edwards sharedthe tasks of musicaldirection. conducting, arrang‑ing and the tedious chore of producing new ver‑s ions of the score each time any modificationwasmade.Throughout the fiveweeks‘ rehearsal ‘

Cocklewood, the mood was Optlmlsth,P:;Cof‘:fl:land highly motivated The only negative factorwas that Haine Paige kept having her car stolenOn the very first day of rehearsals her Porschedisappeared from the car park opposite the Pro‑duction Village. The following day came thegood news fromStoke Newingtonpolice that thecar had been found and could bepicked up froma street near their station. Miss Paige went toStoke Newinglon, but the Porsche had beenstolren aga‘iiin bhy the time she arrived.I owar s t e end of the schedule '

(FYICHEWOOd rehearsals, the cast was'fegdgifiiroaffirst run-through of the entire show. Althou hlines were often forgotten and sometimes evgnnot yet written. everything was beginning to fittogether Evenon the bareboardsof the rehearsal

36

rooms it was starting to look good, and it w . “clear that Trevor Nunnhaddevised ashow whichcould work without heavy dependence on ih~elaborate and expensive special effects whichwere still causing headaches and depression backin the theatre.There was, however, one aspect of the stagin

which was beginning to add to the problem?Trevor Nunn is a director who likes to keep his.options openandwho also paysmeticulousalter»hon todetail. tn the matter of stage furniture thisresulted in a different design of chair for almostevery scene. There were, in fact, eighty differentchairs waiting to add to the clutter of props andscenery backstageat the theatre. Some of the castwere even beginning to call the show ’Chairs'instead of ‘Chess'. When the show eventuallymoved from rehearsal rooms into the theatrenineteen chairs, among other items of furnitureand scenery, had to beabandoned simply to leaveenough room to move backstage.in t e second week of April. the cast a

their bags and saidgoodbye toCricklewooilfThgfirst prevrewwas scheduled for 30April, and therewas already little enough time to adapt the les‑sons learnt in rehearsal rooms to a performanceonthe stage itself.Within a few days, however, they were back

again in Cricklewood. or at the Old Vic, or any

PM“m i n i m uma t[he limit:Lhaimlmll i lidruulr’ andnit-[tutuWar

other London rehearsal room which could he L

obtained at short notice The technicalproblems in the theatre had becomemm and mm s u m prirblcmswere «trotting tht- ttltltptltl'rWhth was meant to tipt-ialithe stage llttlt’ morethan a lurch had beensuccessfully a c u i n iplished in weeks of patientprogramming Attur several.illrnight sessions working onthe computer, a ‘maior cornypatibility problem‘ was diagnosed 9Nobody seemed to know why, but the “Ircomputer did not want to talk to the ishydraulicsExperts in the computer system flew in from

Germany tor more all-night programming ses‑s i o n s to try to coax co-opcration from the beast.Days went by With no apparent progress as the30 April deadline approached Without thehydraulics working. it was imposSIble to conductthe all-important technical rehearsals for scenechanges, lighting and everything else which con‑tributes to the smooth runningofa performance.All this time, With the situation in the

theatre getting ever more desperate andnerves growmg ever more frayed. thepublicity machine for the show continuedto gainmomentum.Somereportsappearedabout ’problemswithacomputer’ but onlythose involvedWith the show fully appren‑ated the seriousness of those problems.

y.

' \ t . “ likely that “ I !It was looking inereasmgishow would he m i t t , i n . in April. but

preview tnkcls men wi l l out and the“ tuna preview i t . “ mm a.

t o b ea royal t h l l t ) p c r t u mNobody wanted even toconsider tame-Italian of

+ any performance unless6 there was really no altema

* tis-e Urgent meetings were5 held each even i n g . With producer

9 Robert Fox discussing the state at0 play with Iudy Craymer and Trevor

9 Nunn Robert Fox hadhad the difiimlt robthroughout the whole enterprise of c 0 <

animating the efiorts of all those involved insetting up the staging of the musical, on bothsides of the Atlantic Now the final decision tocancel previews had to be hisOn Saturday Zo April, Trevor Nunn gave an

ultimatum to the computer programmers Theywould be g i ven another twenty»fnur hours to getthe stage working tf there was still no t o y . theywould revert to old- fashioned manual operationand work out a way to run the show without the

computer The cast applauded their direc‑tor when he announced an end to theirtours of the rehearsal rooms of London.The unending technical problems hadwrecked their plans ‐ 'But fromMonday, we fight back.’Realistically. though, there was n owno hope of things being ready in timefor 30April Some consideration wasg i v e n to the suggestion of a concertperformance of the show for the earlypreviews, but such a limp solutionwould have only added furtherproblems to the rehearsal

_ ‘ _ ‐ = schedules. With great regret. theE P ‐ first four p r e i ' i ews were can‑, , ‐_ celled The ticket office made

valiant attempts to contactall who had bought seats,but inevitably a crowd ofdisappointed customersturned up to learn that therewas no show Cancella‑

‘llir WAri/ire tlf mutmnl i l l " ,errm l int !(o r tlu mi u/our: p m n t.» rum llitirtlitilt

trons had earned five moredays of rehearsal timeThere was still no guaran‑tee that it would beenough.

‐ i n n ‐ W ” M“ m m i . a . . . ”a nwider which the stage hydrauliu m4 . W M m h u e r ‘ O ‘ M 0'been granted adivorce from the ( a m p u t g , """" " \ Wm YT,“ ' a t h f f dirtem‘t [Mewnaqwd‘k‘dyficrxw . . . “ g . 4 n i n s l l \ . ~ “ M y “ u p mm” " m m H o m e “ , h a " , nornt |i . m m o f w e ; and the-..r "windings no I - ‘ '7

I intended to operate them The next computer in y, _ ,

S A C R I F I C E S h d u n , " kbch‘wou’hauhmm' "(K-'fmfnuastx and Iv t h e » unnmmianu inwhich controlled the Vidiwall ‘ngm J a m m y . “ W W ” ma d " IOm m ” . m,I The ‘Id'w‘u "m w“ d's'XF'd '0 b" ' “ “ " P rv‘r'essmri of “ fi n ? worldwide media m m “ .orated into the set ofCHESS ISthe last mm :qif“, h u m p s , gash-dying“! m a t h in

Havana and Bangkok There were also to befl'tt‘rdfd sequences of the last Serpevakyr‘. iigand game to fill the screens during theFndgame sequence in Act 2.and amore romanticmontage m"scenes from the past lives of Florenceand m ctlana as they reminisceabout their happier

l times with Anaton in 'l Know Him 50WellAttcr t w o days working in a studio in Wand‑

morth the film crew flew to Innsbruck thenceto go by road to Merano In Italy illir spa m (M

i n u i w i i r tit spas would mos t to complete the record‑\ i n g s Producer Nick Maingay. directors Davrd

Hlll)€r and KenWarwick.adozen filmtechniciansand canieramen and three actors would all playll’tl‘ll’ parts to bring back awhifi of the therapeutict i n of Merano to the London stage, And not onlyxii-rune Wfor the exotic plants in the grounds ofthe Grand Hotel in Merano were also enlisted to

i provide asetting for the Bangkok newscasts- and1 the old town of Merano gave a fine location fori Si ctlana's flat in old Russia The actors (Stephenl H a m s , Samantha Carr and lulie Dean) had been'1 sclvctcd to act asdoubles for To m m y Korberg,l

l

in video technology, Threc walls of vidcnmonitors. [ 2 6 screens in all, are rontrollr-d by .icomputer to enable a bewildering \’arl('t)" n!images to dominate the visual horizons of thcaudience. Sixty-four of the screens form the

wall, which can be lowered until ithoversabovecentre stage like agiant chessboardThe remaining screens are In permanent position, ‘framing the stage to right and left, in banks eightscreens high and four Wide, The “hole ltkltnnlogical caboodle is operated by acomputer whichcan accept nine separate video inputs and send 1each image to sinng screens or blown up 0 \ ' c ra bank of screens in almost any desired mannerWith computing power equal to that of 32 IBMPersonal Computers, the potential of the svstemfor producing visual extravagaan is almostunlimited. As we were all to discover, however, lit came equipped with one of the most user- ‘hostile pieces of computer software evcr expcr- i‘ienced by those who had to deal with it l

Any such new technology, of course, needs

lI

“ l \ i ‘ awn liti’ lviJiiviv~ ivfivmlisitri " I t ' l l " , ”

\ - w e d . - i m i . L ' i a l Ju ' t i ’H - "fl l m a v ak i w i » \ \ s t i \ t \ I t i t ~ I ‘ A \ N k \

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i u i i u n d a m i d ; gcnlkmanliint-nu u n m i t u m p m N‘s

| \ i 1 u l t | - I l ' " p h l " [ w ,‘2Is i -y td i a m i - m l v ‘ : tar a manti M 1m!

Elaine Paige and Siobhan M f a r t h y for the 'lKnow Him So Well‘ sequences To allow for per~lurnidnccs in which understudiesmight take theserules. or for future cast changes, their faces werenever to be seen in the recorded material -‐ butMrigs in the styles of McCarthyand Paigehadbeencreated to help make the appearance convincing,

time to evolve into an easily operated systemThe Vidiwall itself was far from untried, but thearray of 128 screens for CHESS was consider‑ably greater than anything previously assembled.The haste with which video material had to bepre»recorded also added to the problems.

Perhaps if the original plans had not been hitby a change of director, everything would havegone smoothly with the Vidiwall. The plan hadbeen to complete all the filming and graphicsneeded for the wall during January 1986, toensure that everything was in hand by the timerehearsals were due to start at the beginning ofFebruary, There would then have been sufficienttime for editing and programming to completeth; presentation of the Video material to beits??? With those sections of the show which

Effectively the two month hiatus in productionat the start of 1986 scuppered any hopes of sucha leisurely schedule, Even when Trevor Nunnbegan rehearsals in March, his concerns with

. staging, getting the best out of the cast, and evermore meetings about the increasing technicalProblemsback in the theatre all combined t h A w " M m ” " M N MW\~~ video plans later and later Re d' U'Pus WWh-WWW"‘- cor ings finally IWWWWJV

m the “ b i n mud [ 0 5 0 1rd mythana elsemight contribute to ( a ?

" P m “ h a w “ continuation ygimme w e " the Ch?” BHPN“ '0 M Pom”;a-dmandttwsmmwmm‘These proved to t! Y" “Mtedious technical problem

Having installedanarray 0‘ 6‘n gee-med rumble to hope IM _position to it one square I" M o ' ‑not to beairricuii On the cont rary. It W outto bea task demanding tht “ I 'm-" f 9 ' 9 0 " “vidiwgl l computer can blow up a small! Wto fill all M screens. but unless I t ! d i mare exactly calculated on the mslnll M C ‑nothing can bedone to ensure that the linesdwid‑i n g the chessboard squares would comrade mththe boundaries round the edges of the M N ) "Evenwhen preliminary calculations appearedcor‑rect, some stages of the editing and c o p y i n g pro‑cedures appeared to shrink or expand pictureslose the intended eftect Only rrpeated tripsbetween editing suites and the Vidiwall in thetheatre itself finally ensured anacceptable ht Thewhole operation haddragged on for day after dayand was only satisfactorily completed in the earlyhours o f the m o r n i n g o f 2 7 April vvith the firstpreVIew three days away

That Sunday m o r n i n g saw the completion ofthe first batch of edited iriatenal to be turned in tolaser discs for the Vidiwall computer Sixvideotapes were flown to Holland to be trans‑cribed on to permanent laser discs It was still onlythe material for Ad One of the show, but thepressures to produce something were urgent Thecancellation of four prc-Views then gave a slightbreathing space but only another week of allnight editing sessions enabled all the matenal tohe prepared in t i m e for the Act Tw o set of laserdiscs. Only when the discs arrived could the pro‑g r a m m i n g begin and allow l're‘.o r Nunn t o V i e wthe fruits of the film team‘s labours on the Vidiwallitself, Sadly, many at these fruits were soon tobedeclared sour.

The p r o g r a m m i n g o f the computer was onlyone ingredient which w a s to reduce the role ofthe Vidiwall, Perhaps the m a i n problem w” ino w n dominating impact whenever it was usedWithin Trevor Nunn's tight direction of the actorsand a musical score that ran uninterruptedthroughout the whole show, th . hung" w”

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few houn \e t ms tmm the hospital had notlulu!out thepossibrlit).At " 453mmandBennycamehi to the theatre with Tommy amazingly,ready to pertorrn. lt nas the first piexv 0t goodnews that the show hadheard for a long time,At eight I‘ clock the curtain went up for the

first time to a tull theatri- Hundreds of theaudience had m i n e from Sweden, determined tobe the tirst to see this new page in the ABBAhistory The stage still gave the occasionalClunk:there were still afew soundproblems but overall,the whole pertorrnance was remarkably smoothand relatiiely tmuhlevtreeTommy Korberg,despitehisordeal of theearly

evening, gave afine pertonnance. Nobody In theaudienm who had not known of the problems atthe past tew hours could have susperted that a n ) ‑thing hadbeen wrong at allWhen the curtain went down lust after 11 15,

the show had been outstandingly better thanmany had believed posmhleafter seeing the dressrehearsal The audience, Swedes and non-Swedes.had clearly enyuycd it, though the unexpectedlength at the pertormance had resulted in a tew

Wo leleavrn before the end ltwasarelit'f . rnmm, Korbefg against the board dams

l: hear thatg their (Umpl-llnl's m it their Act I fight, the pieces were llrts‘lt t:directed against train tlmctal'h‘s llllunLC down the tilted stage a errkThey were by no means LlH up in the orchestra pit { h e fi r “ t l ‘satisfied With the show the during these prevrewswas simplymain emotion among t o find a way o f e n s u r i n gthe cast and crew was 9 that the position wouldone of profound relief 4 ~t~ ‘l‘Olsl [089”‘9' ‘ fl “ 9 ' "Despite all the problems, (a ue r n and fine tun i ngthe first maior hurdle had '< would have to waitbeen surmounted. All sights «v The little problem of Chesswere now set on the first night ° pieces in the orchestra pit, inciden‑itself. still nine days away, but there '5 CI tally, never was properly solved Desremainedagreat deal of work tobedone W 0 pitl: u s i n g a specually constmctedThe period of prevrews for ashow ought s p magnetisedboard to encourage the chessmen

in an ideal world, to beanopportunity tor fine not to fall off, the tleadrKorberg fights weretuning and m i n o r technical changes, sharpening always liable to send a few pieces bouncingup the production to a state of perfection on the among the musicians. The intrepid musical direc‑first night. The strategy should be like that of a to r, IohnOwen Edwards,even bravely conductedchess endgame, where only a few pieces r e m a i n on during one preview when all the chessmen andon the board, the finish is in sight andall becomes the chess clock hurtled about his head after turna question of absolute preasron and the smallest bling from the stage For a man who had |ust hadfineness of calculation On the CHESS chess- tocopewrththedrsasterofsomeonespillrngeoffeeboard, however, there were still cmder problems on the synthesiser, an unprovoked assault by ato be tackled. When Murray Head pushed full chess set andclock was all in the day's work

Vrrhm/ was at last in sight but the attaek was m u t i n gm i l of time

I

T H EF I N A L A T T A C K

“Aim: from [us mum-(Inns: works ofi'lii‘ss . i r l , Fischer r i l e iiitrixlnced into the

this» i iwl i l such t‘iinniiivtum iiiidmnfustonthat suddenly diplomats, tiriitors and

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t h A l is the derivation of the word "jinx”7‘Trevor Nunn was taking the latest setback Withhis usual sell-control. Prewews had been runningfor aweek. each time a little better than the onebefore It was Saturday m o r n i n g and two p ” .tonnances were scheduled that day. Trevor hadlust been given the news that Doug Harry hadbeen taken to hospital in the early hours of themorning with a collapsed lung. Doug was theonly man could operate the complex hydraulicswhich moved the stage. In the frantic days afterthe stage computer had been abandoned, therehad been no time for anyone else to team the 10h,And most of the scene changes were totallydependent on the stage revolve.

Once again. everyone waited for hospital bullyetins The good news was that he was not indanger: the bad news was that the hospital wan ‑ted to keep him Infor twenty-four hours' observaation. Robert Fox had already likened the task ofproducing a musical to running a m a j o r militarycampaign. Nowonce again the whole show founditself relying on the sense of duty of a woundedman. Despite the tears of colleagues and director.Dougdeclared himself fit, promisedto take thingseasy, discharged himself from hospital and tookcharge of the stage operation as usual for bothSaturday performances.

which threatened to throw preparations c o mpletely otf balance. But there was still much tobe done in the few days which remained beforethe first night. The audiences were still not en joying the show quite asmuch asthey ought to havebeen The applause was still appreciative ratherthan ecstatic.

Throughout all the months of problems» thechange ofdirector, recalcitrant computers and all.ticket sales hadbeenunaffected.The publicclearlyexpected agreat show. Advance bookings total‑led more than £2 million, enough to fill thetheatre for almost six months, Finally capitalisedat£4 million, the Londonproduction was attract‑i n g more potential investors than it could accom‑modate. With people queueing in such numbersto buy tickets or to risk capital in the show’s suc‑cess, something more than appreciative applauseshould have been coming from the audience.

Trevor Nunnwas clearly womed by their reac‑tion. Something was not right, but he could notdiagnose the problem With any certainty. Nevertheless, during the first weel: of previews, nodrastic changes had been made. Several minuteshad been cut, partly to tighten up some dull sec‑tions, but more because three and aquarter hourswas far too long. particularly for a show which

"that was to be the last of the major panics ,

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started at 8 p n ‘ The sound problems too hadlargely l’ICl'lt stilwd during the p r i m - m s Blur"and Benny had Uflt'rt t-u-n m i n ttt‘lptnp: nut Intllt‘ sound booth and the righl lulani1‘ t h i s

athieicd between vocal and instrumental soundNow the words could be heard above the ()fl‘tu'srtra without the m u s i c fading too much into thebatkgruund. (One performance, which had g i v e nthe s i n g e r s too great a prominence over a mutedband, li'tt Bjorn and Benny bemoaning the lossof their glorious sound ’This is meant to be amusical not anunderscored play ")

Despite these improvements, the audiencewere still leavtng in less than rapture. Until theinterval, the show always went well When thecurtain rose on Theoni Aldredge’s magnificentstone and ivory chesspiece costumes, the reactionwas exactly the stunned admiration expectedlhey laughed at the lakes during ’Merano’ , theyapplauded the chill intensity of 'Pity the Child',they giggled at the British bureaucrats, theycheered Tommy Korberg's ‘Anthem'. But thesecond act |ust was not working.

Each afternoon of the prevrew period, Tim,Bjorn, Benny and Trevor held councils of war todecide on the changes to be made, It was clear

7‘ t that many of the audience had not been able toi l ,

follow all the tWMts and turns at the plot. pmlarlv tlurlrw, thr' st-uind art , The that sequence,vilirii c i u r y n m - is t r y i n g to manipulate n i - r y n n ci-isc in. M . . r iii-r u w n purpom. Both c h m andin other til‘iuure plan-s, extra l lnn tit dial-it"!were added. or exist ing l i n n re written in orderto explain things better Only In the 135* 45 “ 0 “ ”however. were the changes made which broughtabout a real change to the lud lflk" ! Jppffltltlunof the show

The Great Re-Wnte began on the afternoonof Monday 12May. That was the only t i m e , rightat the end of a highly stressful and exhaustingten weeks, when Trevor Nunn showed any Signof losing his composure or r a i s i n g his v o i c e toa mezzofortc The obiect of his displeasure wasnot a member of the cast. nor one at the crewIt was not even a computer (though there weretimes when the director must have been temptedto take an axe to one of these brutes) What reallyhad the power to irritate Trevor Nunn was asecurity officer With two sniffer dogs who hadcome to check the theatre before a royal charityperformance Through no fault of his o w n , hehadarrivedataparticularly tense moment in rehearsalwhen the cast were looking less then enthusustieabout yet another change in dialogue and staging.lust as things were beginning to grow w o r r y i n gand needed someurgent sorting out. in came thesecurity man demanding that the theatre becleared stage and orchestra pit t o o , so that hisclogs could have agood mitt

Trevor's attempts to plead to be allowed tocontinue with his rehearsal met with stonyinsistence. His arguments that the Princess wouldnot b e c o m i n g u p o n the stage seemed t o enragethe security man. ’lt the Princess wants to go onto the stage, you can’t stop her!’ The dialoguedeveloped into an open r o w, until the securityman laid down the law. 'l 've made- my decistun.You must clear this cinema.’ Trevor tned toexplain that it was a theatre not a c i n e m a , butrehearsals had to stop.

50 it was Tuesday 13 May when the final ver‑sion of the show was eventuAlly put together Thelast hall-hour of the show was to be completerunstructured in order to ensure that it ended onaclimax rather than, asbefore, trickling to afinishafter three or four false endings which hid hadthe audience prematurely reaching for their coat:

The original concept of 1 Know Him SoWell'was completely sacrificed Far from being a songfor two women separately s i n g i n g their feelingsabout the same m a n , the n e w v e r s i o n had thanmeeting face to face apparently dismuins ( m u .commendable lack of hostility to one another)

45

* u b i t o r t t c m v d t h e m a n t h e ) ‘huh loved

the Mm ol Anatoli- in " i nm were also kw Hrsvenom tor Murmur to Rusu a t the end had o r i gI ta ly been dominated .by selfishness and drsil ‘humane-ht Now they wereto hemore dntated h) asense at loyalty to his tarnily.

hast asTommy Korherg \ T‘Anthem had providedsuch aStll’finR '5 .finale to Ad 1 the same song was n o w '1'to hebrought hack at the very and N theshow. but sung by Elaine Paige

All these changes were instigated by TrevorNunn himself It was hard to find anyone whoagreed wrth him, The actors seemed not to likethe new lines being put into their mouths. TimRice thought that all the above changes detractedfrom the message of the whole piece In the orig‑inal v e r s i o n the theme of political and economiccorruption spread throughout the whole story.finally afilrcting even the noble Sergievsky. Thenew ending was too optimistic and he did notlike it But havrng g i v e n Trevor Nunn the respon»sibility for directing. he was not g o i n g to inter‑fere. Tim sat throughout the rehearsal ( i n 13May.lettingthe director get onwith his rob,while him‑self looking rather pained at the way things weregoing ’We can try it Trevor’s way this evening.It rt doesn't work we can always go back to theold v e r s i o n ’

They tried it Trevor’s way at the evening per‑

'\

Another rwplr of moves not thegame will bewon.

y.

t o w n i e And it worked. The audience at th‑and went wrld With my standing ovation

.ind all On this the very last prevrew,suddenly everythinghadgum- right

Nobody quite understood whatTrevor Nunn5 magic

‘ ingredient had been. but' t ‘ he had transfomied the

9 show in a way that 24‘ hours earlier had

9 not seemed possible° The final adiustment to the show

0 was something Trevor did only wltli9 the utmost reluctance. Right at the end,after Elaine Paige's 'Anthem'. and after the

standing ovation. the cast had taken their placeson the chessboard stage to put the final touch tothe geometry of the show by repealng the open‑ing lines:

‘buhgame a] chessMeans tlrm's one Its:Vanutmrr Ir]! Io heplayed.furh ritzygut through[Means our or twoLess mistakes r e m a i n in in iriiulr,’

Elegant, theatrically effective, a reminder of theformal start to the whole show, it gave a finestructure to the proceedings And it killed theapplause stone dead. Shaking his head regretfully,Trevor Nunn cut this piece of action, saying,'I never believed I would see myself doing this.’But the audience clearly wanted the opportunityto applaudand the director felt obliged to let themdo so, even at the expense of his geometry.

m‘C H E C K M A T E

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m m i n p r f v r r w smiles a t l n l M l " ' 9break out on the t o . “ nt in those wt... toil beenworking so hard lirr so hing Besides the ta r ”tirur t ‘ \ l members and the twenty seven in thehand thf t r were twenty three stage hamh mteen lighting and suund engineers . a wardrobedepartment at seventeen four people In “N” WIK‘department and by the l l l n f we have added othertnhnriiaris, pnidurtmn staft. management andbox office the s i t e at the army has mounted toaround r50 people And they all lookedelhausted but happy in the knowledge that theshow was a t last heading in the right d in - ( t r on

What lttlll‘ t ime remarried before the first nightperformance was not meant to be wasted At lastthe fine tuning could tar-gm lhe r i m m i n g 0 t 1 4May was alloiated tor tt'LhflKIl rehearsal! ofscene changes and Vidrwall “the computersstaged their last act of dehanre and a g a i n nothingwas accomplished before lunchtime the after»noon was better spent as lrevor Nunn had a longsession wrth the principals in o n e r o o m of thetheatre, leavrng the stage for Molly Molloy toput the final touches to the choreography ot theBangkok numbers At around five o'clock therehearsals finally stopped, leavrrrg just t w o hoursfor everyone to prepare themselves tor the firstnight performance.

The culmination of five years of effort had tob e a very special o c c a s i o n . The Prince Edwardtheatre that e v e n i n g , and the Bclvedere restaurantin Holland Park after the show4 must have beenthe largest exclusive party of the year Even thepress photographers at the theatre seemed overrwhelmcd at the number of stars rushing pastthem. One was heard replacrng his lens cap dis‑gustedly and complaining, ‘Whal a coclvup AllI got was a bird from Abba' Whose picture hewas trying to catch remains a mystery. It couldhave been Samantha Fox or Sarah Brightman orPamela Stephenson. Or hemight have been chas‑i n g David Gower, Rod Stewart, Michael Parkinvson or Billy Connolly They were all at the showwith ahost of other famous names

The party at the Belvedr-rebeganasanintimatesit-down dinner for six hundred close personalfriends and relations of the composers, lyricist andstars After the food had been eaten. a fresh influx‐ the second eleven ~ of guests kept the revelneggoing well into the following m o r n i n g And allnight the champagne flowed freely

Some had labelled CHESS the musicalextravagant. Compared wrth CHESS the party,it lookedrather modest And all the time the partycontinued, the newspapers were preparing the"x.momrng editions with the first of the r e v i e w s ,

47

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