GCG Theatricals To LiveStream CHESS THE MUSICAL on Facebook

GCG Theatricals, a startup musical theatre production company in Orange County, CA, released today the trailer for its upcoming socially distanced production of "Chess The Musical", to air September 25th at 7 PM PDT.

The trailer and event information can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/GCGtheatricals.

"Chess The Musical" is a pop/rock musical, with music written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of the group ABBA, and story & lyrics by Tim Rice, about the Cold War era chess championships in which the CIA and KGB themselves exerted behind the scenes manipulation and intrigue to attempt to influence their respective countries taking the trophy. The American, Freddie Trumper, is based loosely on the brilliant and very temperamental Bobby Fischer, whose antics on and off the board captured international interest and headlines. The Russian, Anatoly Sergievsky is loosely based on Boris Spassky, Fischer's opponent in the 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland, dubbed "Match of the Century."

"Chess The Musical" originated the songs "One Night In Bangkok", and "I Know Him So Well," which later became chart-topping hits in the 80s.

"This pandemic has really been hitting the acting community hard," says Garrett Chandler, founder and director of GCG Theatricals. "Some community theatres as well as professional venues have closed down indefinitely, and others are still navigating a new paradigm of how to move the acting and production experience online. I am happy to be doing my part in providing an outlet for some of my peers to be able to once again participate in the excitement of musical theatre, until a time comes when we are all able to perform live on stage again."

Chandler has previously appeared in a number of productions in local community theatre in Southern CA, as well as previously directing and producing a live stage version of "Chess: The Musical" in 2009.

"This musical is very dear to me, from the first time I listened to the original album and heard a Rodgers and Hammerstein-esque chorus aggressively shift into 80s Rock, I knew there was something special about this piece. The show's troubled history on Broadway and shift from pop opera, to full book musical, has hurt its popularity in the previous years and only the Broadway Script was available to American Theatre Companies. Now they license both versions and of course we secured the license for the London version."

This event is free, and will be Live-Streamed for one night only. Interested parties should visit https://www.facebook.com/GCGtheatricals and like the page in order to watch the performance.

Those who would love to see more online theatre productions continue through the days ahead, should consider donating. The performance is free, but contributions to support the arts can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/gcg-theatricals-presents-chess-the-musical. GoFundMe donations go to helping recoup the costs of the license as well as paying the actors, and will help facilitate more online entertainment in the months ahead.

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