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Chess the Musical – in concert (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane – August 1st and 2nd 2022)

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Concert or semi-staged versions of the Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus musical Chess have generally proved more popular (and watchable) than fully staged productions since the show opened in London back in 1986 and ran for over two years amidst a host of difficulties.

While the score makes for one of the very finest musicals ever the story about the rivalries between American and Russian chess players and their respective countries with a tricky love story thrown in has been tweaked and altered mercilessly to the extent that it makes the Sicilian Najdorf look like a move in Snakes and Ladders.

Rice himself seems to prefer the concert versions not least because they allow the audience to focus on the words and this is why concert or semi-staged versions, such as the one that stormed its way into the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, like a blitzkrieg work so well.

The joy of Chess the Musical in Concert was not just the performances which set the stage on fire but the fact that the accomplished and exciting dancer, director and choreographer Nick Winston was at the helm, revisiting his Japanese production of the show from 2020 but with variations and refinements.

So while the songs indeed took centre stage (and how!) Winston took the opportunity to include some classy and tasteful dancing from a brilliant 12-strong ensemble who were far more than just pawns in the production.

Honestly, this isn’t the best version of the musical you could see in terms of structure and character development and fans might riot at the omission of at least a couple of favourite numbers – Merano and the Merchandisers not only bring welcome humour into the tough political arena but play a part in some of the scene-setting so losing them is surely confusing to those less familiar with the show.

But a concert production is really all about the performances and there are some definite sizzlers in this particular Chess move.

The never-disappointing Hadley Fraser, a musicals grandmaster, managed to play out a lot of the drama as the Russian Anatoly, giving a thoughtful interpretation to the role of the chess player torn by the demands of his Cold War masters, his wife and new love. So it is that the massive Act One closer Anthem is in his hands much more than a powerful showstopper, but a heart-rending realisation of what his decision means.

His American bad boy opponent Freddie was played here by the increasingly unmatchable Joel Harper-Jackson, who has been making his mark on the West End for some time but here gave a truly electrifying performance. Every twitch and drug-infused sniff gave depth to this complex character, and with the soaring and gut-wrenching Pity the Child he captured the character better than it has ever been played, giving surely the finest interpretation of the number ever. His take on One Night in Bangkok was a reminder of why the number one chart song has remained such a crown-pleaser. This wasn’t so much a case of a star being born as a confident knight sweeping all opponents off the board.

Samantha Barks, no stranger to the musical with Winston in charge, was also sensational. Taking a break from her usual role of ice queen Elsa on this same stage in the resident Frozen Barks played Florence with no nonsense feistiness hitting the high spot with an energetic Nobody’s Side which left the audience breathless.

Craige Els did a very decent job indeed of the manipulative Molokov, showing off his fine voice and a wicked twinkle especially in the pitch perfect version of the sometimes wasted Soviet Machine.

Such was the inordinate strength of the leads lesser roles tended to suffer in comparison. Some productions have made The Arbiter the almost twisted puppetmaster of the piece, but Ako Mitchell had a quieter approach to the larger than life role and occasionally he felt lost among the ensemble and the outstanding London Musical Theatre Orchestra and Choir with assured musical director Freddie Tapner.

Francis Mayli McCann’s Svetlana seemed to be hankering after more of the limelight: her I Know Him So Well duet with Barks brought the house down and you could hear a pin drop in the beautiful Someone Else’s Story from the original Broadway show (a song which switches between Svetlana and Florence according to production), but she would also have made a good job of He’s a Man, He’s a Child which appeared in the Swedish production but which rarely surfaces in English versions and which was absent here.

Icing on the cake came from Ben Cracknell’s wonderfully atmospheric lighting and Duncan McLean’s video projection, which even saw Trevor McDonald popping up as a newscaster.

This concert version of Chess was a superb opening gambit in the Theatre Royal’s August season of concert shows (Kinky Boots follows next week with Treason later in the month).

It was a reminder that the work is a masterpiece by its writers and always deserves an outing whether as a full-blown piece or as a semi-staged or concert performance in which everyone involved is able to show off their talents in some of the best songs ever written for a musical.

David Guest

Images: Mark Senior