“Chess”, not a show I was familiar with and given its youth production nature it seemed an unusual choice for production company DTC to stray away from the safer ground of shows like “Our House” and “Les Mis” that they have previously produced.
However I can honestly say that the cast, crew and producers pulled it off. The show used a smaller group of prominent characters compared to others and this worked to the casts strengths meaning the actors that performed were a much tighter unit and produced some good moments. Sadly those moments were few and far between due to the sheer number of songs that Chess possesses, I know it’s a musical but when the first half runs at 1 hour 15 minutes and about an hour of that is similarly paced songs it gets quite laborious. The second half was better with a shorter running time and songs that had more character, including “One Night In Bangkok” and the one everyone knows “I Know Him So Well”. All the songs were performed excellently though with some very strong voices being able to really stretch their legs.
An usual staging and minimal set forced innovative direction and lighting to be used so scenes could be distinguished between and the show didn’t become visually boring. There were no legs and as a result no wings so all the stage was visible and the space was filled well by clever lighting conventions. The crew who were dressed in white shirts and black ties sat to the side of the stage and took on acting crew member roles during scene changes.
In a sentence, the cast was better than the show with the audience feeling they’d had a good game but check-mate hadn’t quite been achieved. I feel spurred on to look out for future shows produced by DTC thanks to Chess, one of which was hinted at after the final number when the theme from “The Phantom of the Opera” rang throughout the auditorium, a surprise to the cast as much as the audience it seemed, look out for that in 2012.
-Tom Marcinek, Box Office Assistant
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