Chess

Chess January 1999 Church Hill Theatre This highly-acclaimed and award-winning musical develops the ancient and distinguished game of chess into a sizzling tale of romantic rivalries and east-west political intrigue.

A considerable musical achievement and exactly what you would expect from the collaboration of Tim Rice and Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus from Abba - a mixture of Evita and Abba with a touch of Tchaikovsky. The score holds some of the most exciting music of the 1980's with the pre-production recording reaching the number one spot in the charts, a slot that no show song had occupied for years.

The romantic and dramatic music of the score is its chief glory - the heroine's emotional "Someone Else's Story", the Russian's soaring anthem "My Land", the American's ledger-line-ripping tantrum "Pity The Child" and the romantic duo "You And I".

Tempo's production of Chess featured highly technical lighting and sound systems with a large video screen, archive film footage, live on stage pictures and pre-filmed playback. Fully mixed orchestra and radio-miked principals.