Review: CHESS, Royal Academy of Music

Photo credit Craig Fuller

The Royal Academy of Music on Marylebone Road in London is very fortunate to have a group of supporters led by Susie Sainsbury to fund not just the beautiful theatre named after her, but a graduate performance each year of exceptionally talented young performers with outstanding production values that would grace any stage in the West End. What better way to start a career in musical theatre than to learn and perform at this conservatoire.

This year’s production is Chess, the musical written in 1986 by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the latter two of course best known as the creators of the ABBA songs) and using the World Chess Championships as a metaphor for USA v Russia cold war tensions with a strong romantic undercurrent of a man torn between two women. Rarely have we felt the narrative of this title better portrayed in any previous production we have seen.

With a cast of thirty-two including the seven principles roles sharing three performances each and an orchestra of twenty-eight, it is a wonderful showcase for the work of the Academy and of the individuals completing their course. Indeed, as Chair Professor Daniel Bowling notes, for the first time, every single musical theatre student shares the stage for this show, and they act as a wonderful, faultless ensemble cast.

They are very fortunate to have an exceptional creative team with an excellent, fluid, effective set design by Andrzej Goulding, appropriately using live camera work to enhance the visuals, distinctive mainly black and white costumes by Sophia Pardon, and a sharp lighting design by Imogen Clarke and Rob Halliday. These elements combine wonderfully to create the settings in Merano, Italy and Bangkok, Thailand where the two chess championships are held a year apart. What’s more, director Bruce Guthrie and chorographer Ben Hartley use the spaces created to present some brilliantly imaginative scenes with precise and well-rehearsed movement that both support the narrative and enhance the tensions. The result is that the scenes felt clearer, the characters better developed, the ensemble well drilled and the sound - rich, powerful and emotional. Occasionally, we felt the band - in particular the drums - overwhelm the solo voices, especially in the louder rockier songs as the young performers strain to be heard but overall, the combined efforts are outstanding.

We saw Cast Z, with seven principles stepping up from Cast A ensemble to take the leads. Natasha Maia as Florence, the Hungarian émigrée acting as aide to the American Chess player, dominates the show with great emotional range and beautifully clear vocals, especially during the complex emotions of ‘Nobody’s Side’ and ‘Heaven Help my Heart’. She combines well with Shivaane Subash as the estranged Russian player’s wife, Svetlana, in the breakout song from the show, ‘I Know Him So Well’. Connor Ellison, as the American Freddie, first charms us with his personality and then more quietly schemes against the Russians, excelling in the opening of Act 2 with ‘One Night in Bangkok’.

The Arbiter, Harry McCarthy, presents as a slightly weird narrator, a cross between Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show, Elvis, and an ABBA vocalist! It is a compelling, enigmatic, slightly creepy performance as he stares out through darkened eyes at the audience but is great fun to watch as he leads the company in ‘The Arbiter’. The two mysterious figures manipulating the action are the American Walter, Daniel Nardone, and the Russian Molokov, Jacob Dyksterhouse, both well showcased together in ‘Diplomats’. But, of course, the most memorable song is the rousing ‘Anthem’ that closes Act One, delivered here by George Cass as the tormented Russian chess player Anatoly with great power and emotion. There are moments too of joyous light relief as in the delightfully ‘Defection Scene’.

It is always uplifting to see talented young artistes making their first steps into the profession and to note their names to look out for when they appear on a West End stage, but the Royal Academy of Music provides a perfect showcase for their abilities. This is a very fine, well executed production, almost faultless in its delivery and design; it is sad that it only gets to be performed six times as it deserves to be seen by a wider audience. What’s more, they make talking and watching Chess enjoyable!

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

Chess plays at the Royal Academy of Music until 5 July, with further info here.