BWW Reviews: CHESS IN CONCERT at Street Theatre Company

Make no mistake about it: Street Theatre Company's Chess in Concert is filled to overflowing with an embarrassment of riches. If for no other reason, you should see the concert (onstage through Sunday, February 27) for Laura Matula's bravura performance as Florence Vassy - the American chess champion's second who falls into a torrid affair with his Russian counterpart - which is as stunning as any star turn you will see by any woman in musical theater anywhere. (There. I've said it and I mean it with all my heart: Laura Matula has a spectacularly expressive voice and her dramatic performance in this role is richly shaded and nuanced. In short, she should be a very big star!)

But there are so many other reasons to see Chess in Concert that singling out Matula seems rather capricious and, so, I will list them here: Michael Kitts' completely engrossing and altogether believable take on the role of Anatoly Sergivesky, which culminates in his jaw-droppingly gorgeous rendition of "Anthem," backed by the Festival Chorus to ring down the curtain on Act One; Erin Parker's stunning portrayal of Svetlana, his jilted wife who arrives in Bangkok in an attempt to reclaim her husband, which affords us the opportunity to hear her duet with Matula on "I Know Him So Well," which is as hauntingly beautiful as it could possibly be; Jeffrey Williams' (playing American chess wunderkind Freddy Trumper) second act performance of "One Night in Bangkok," that he delivers with terrific energy and theatricality, completely eclipsing whatever you may have thought of the song previously; and Michael Holder's confident portrayal of The Arbiter, in which - on opening night - he practically sang the roof off its rafters, the roiling storm winds outside notwithstanding.

Chess in Concert is not the complete redefinition of musical theater as we know it - as some might have you believe - nor is it necessarily a historic event in Nashville theater. What it is and what might get lost amidst all the praise that will justifiably be heaped upon the company in the coming days is this: A spectacular musical concert that, as music director Rollie Mains suggested, offers another dimension of what we know as musical theater.

Chess in Concert is also a harbinger of more good things to come from artistic director Cathy Sanborn Street (whose leadership is evident throughout this production) and Street Theatre Company (which will present Ragtime in concert next November) as part of its Innovative Concerts Series - and Show Hope's Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella concert (April 15 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, staged by Studio Tenn's Matt Logan) and the Keeping Scores Concerts series upcoming at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre (kicking off with Funny Girl in late April). Nashville-area audiences, obviously, have a lot to look forward to in the coming months!

Watching Chess in Concert, while appreciating the immense and laudable efforts of all involved, you realize a couple of things. First of all, it's clear why Chess is so problematic as a "show." The plot is somewhat convoluted and a little hard to follow - a bit dated, perhaps - and the characters aren't of the cuddly/lovable type that we want to see in a typical musical comedy (and although there are some amusing moments, it's most certainly not a comedy). Still, the story is tremendously compelling, perhaps in spite of or because of, the script's treatment of Cold War intrigue which tends to overshadow the romance of the piece's competing love stories (Freddy and Anatoly are rivals for Florence's affections, as well as rivals across a chess board).

Yet by distilling the piece to concert form, its creators - Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus - retain the best parts of Chess, making it more approachable and more accessible, particularly when it is undertaken by a troupe of talented artists. We live in Nashville, a city devoted to its music, and there are amazing actors, singers, musicians all around us. That Chess in Concert succeeds so admirably, when mounted by a homegrown company, should come as no surprise whatsoever.

Everyone it this company is thoroughly committed to the piece, from the members of the 30-voice Festival Chorus, the eight members of the "featured ensemble" (which includes Kat Bowser, Abbey Francis, L.T. Kirk, Dan McGeachy, Memory Strong, Josh Waldrop, Jonathan Wilburn and Kelly Wray), the aforementioned principals - including impressive turns from Mike Baum as television presenter/CIA operative Walter DeCourcey, and Alan Lee as Anatoly's second, KGB agent Molokov - and the entire creative team whose artistic vision is brought to life onstage.

Director Lauren Shouse does an excellent job of propelling the story forward with a minimum of staging and an absence of props and sets, allowing audiences to focus on the performances of the assembled singer/actors. There is scarcely a false note to be found among the principals, although a couple of the featured performers threaten to pull focus with their overzealous mugging. Music director Rollie Mains confidently conducts his nine-member orchestra, eliciting an extraordinary performance from his players to provide the ideal accompaniment for the so-called "rock opera," (which is a misnomer, in my book at least, since the show is not completely sung-through - there are snatches of spoken dialogue here and there).

There were some minor sound glitches on opening night, which were quickly remedied, and J.J. Street's sound design, overall, serves the production quite well, compensating for the acoustical problems inherent in the theater's physical space. Steven Steele's lighting design, moody and evocative as it needs to be, helps to illuminate the story as it most assuredly illuminates the playing space.

Nashville theater companies are in the midst of a particularly fertile period, with a plethora of great shows currently on the boards and there is a great deal of competition for the audience's entertainment dollar. However, you'd be hard-pressed to find a theatrical experience more satisfying than Chess in Concert and the fact that it only runs one weekend practically demands that you put it on your engagement calendar now. You really shouldn't miss it!

- Chess in Concert. By Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Directedby Lauren Shouse. Music direction by Rollie Mains. Presented by Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville. Through Sunday, February 27. For tickets, visit the company website at www.streettheatrecompany.org. For further information, call the theater at (615) 554-7414.

To post a comment, you must register and login.