| 
| Director: Hugh Wooldridge
Actors: Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, David Bedella
Studio: Reprise Records
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $12.19
as of 7/30/2010 07:09 CDT details
You Save: $7.79 (39%)
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  76 reviews
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Running Time: 145 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: WEAD517636D
UPC: 075993999242
EAN: 0075993999242
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 66-70 of 76
 So Close to Being Well Played June 19, 2009
Joseph Frederick Martone (Pasadena, CA USA)
3 out of 11 found this review helpful
Pros:
-Almost everyone sings amazingly.
-The music is wonderful.
-The fact that all of this was rehearsed in UNDER A WEEK is nothing short of mind blowing.
-Adam Pascal is mind blowing in his reprise of "Pity the Child". It is the ultimate show stealer.
-Idina is amazing, if a little vocally stressed sometimes. The same goes for Josh and Kerry.
Cons:
-Terrible book. Get another writer, one who is coherent and can keep the show running in under 2 hours and 30 minutes.
-Yes, it is over two hours. Worst of all, it feels like that sometimes in some of the instrumental pieces or unnecessary moments.
-Someone please recast the Arbiter. I don't care if Marti Pellow is "The Pride of Scotland", he can't sing a note if his life depended on it.
-Josh Groban is an amazing singer. Acting wise...well, thank God he's a great singer.
-Kerry Ellis is woefully underused and her songs feel rushed, as if the director said, "Holy Sh**! We forgot to put her in the show!" Her songs do nothing to advance the plot and take up time, but they do sound pretty.
-David Bedella could have done this without the Russian accent. It's distracting from an otherwise fun character, and no other "Russian" in the show speaks as such.
-LONG. ORCHESTRAL. PIECES. They sound good, but don't know when to end.
-Clarke Peters suffers from having a character that isn't well defined, which leads to a few plot holes (for example, the entire climax of Act II). He has a beautiful voice that never gets proper usage, and is reduced to mugging the stage for most of Act II.
It's a good show, but just has too many flaws. If you are a die hard fan, you will love this regardless. Otherwise, get the soundtrack. And fast forward through the Arbiter's songs.
Overall good, but some problems. June 13, 2009
aleksander aarnes
4 out of 32 found this review helpful
I attended the concert, and it was the most extraordinary concert I've ever attended. But it was not sublime and it had it's problems.
When I watched the concert I fell in love with Marti Pellow's Arbiter right away. He performed "The Story of Chess" brilliantly. In fact, so brilliantly that the audience held it's applause. Everything was wonderful and grand until "Anthem". I have to say that Mr. Groban's performing was less than satisfying. First off, his acting is horrendous. Secondly, his voice is strong and beautiful, but it didn't quite fit the character. And thirdly, he sang was out of pitch at the leap from "How could I leave her" too "Where could I start?". And from there on and out the song was overall ruined. Even though he ruined the first act finale, he didn't do as bad in his other songs. He was actually pretty good in "Where I Want to Be". But enough with the criticism of Groban.
Chess in Concert was fabulous. The cast was overall quite good, and the chorus was excellent. I can't quite understand why so many people were complaining about the sound quality. From where I sat in the audience, I could hear everything perfectly fine.
 I'm a Josh Groban fan August 2, 2009
Glory Lady
I caught this show on PBS in progress and had to find out how it began and what the premise of the story was. Interesting concept and staging. It was delightful to see how Josh has grown in his performance. His anthem was magnificent.
Reworked again May 18, 2010
John Bernhardt (Falmouth, Ma United States)
Recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, London, May 12-13, 2008
There is also a single CD Highlights version and DVD version which were released both in the United States and Europe. This concert version stars Josh Groban and was taped a full year before it's release. This is yet another reworking of the ever changing Andersson-Rice-Ulvaeus musical.
This time, Tim Rice took the lead on the redo duties. Bjorn Ulvaeus Andersson and Benny did not get directly involved with this concert ,though perhaps they had a veto, if they did not like the project as a whole. This record is an attempt to issue a fairly complete version of the musical, based generally on the original London staging. Somewhat annoyingly, Tim Rice has once again changed a few lyrics. On the plus side, you get to hear a few of the songs that were written long ago, which had not been available on any recording of CHESS (other then a temporary release on the original version of the Danish Version of Chess) the songs are "Commie newspapers"," Press conference", "Global TV fanfare", "Talking Chess" and "The Interview". These are not great songs, but it's still nice to have them. Most of the songs found only on the American Broadway staging did not make it on this recording, but otherwise this concert is really complete Chess score.
The album was recorded live, and as a result many of the performances sound a little shaky. Another problem for me with any re-recording or theatrical staging of Chess is losing out on getting Benny Andersson and the ABBA band play the music as it meant to be played. I would say that if you want the definitive CHESS album it would seem that it is still your best bet to go back to the original 1984 studio album.
Performers include Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, David Bedella, Kerry Ellis, Clarke Peters, Marti Pellow ; The City of London Philharmonic ; The West End Chorus ; arranged and orchestrated by Anders Eljas ; David Firman, conductor, musical supervisor. Liner notes by Tim Rice and synopsis in container.
Worth it for the songs... June 24, 2009
Steven Valenti (Cleveland, OH)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'm as big a devotee of "Chess" as the next musical fan, but this concert version does not make a great case for a revival in the near future. The score, with music by ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and lyrics by Tim Rice, remains sublime, as it contains some of the best songs from any modern musical. The mix of pop-rock and classical music is still thrilling, and Rice's lyrics are thoroughly literate--sophisticated and witty. The score is the best reason to recommend this DVD (though if you're new to "Chess," you should get acquainted with the original concept CD first).
The problem with "Chess," as clearly evidenced here, is its lack of dramatic... oomph. (Rice readily admits this, and the show has been endlessly tinkered with, including a major rewrite for Broadway, after the London version). The conceit of the show, which uses the World Chess Championship as its backdrop, and the intricacies of the game as a metaphor for 1980s Cold War politics and love relationships, is still a clever idea. Unfortunately, it just never really comes together--as much as the songs are fantastic on their own, the characters and plot are just not compelling.
The cast here does pretty well. Adam Pascal as the American chess champion Freddy comes off best, effortlessly conveying a laidback charm and powerful rock voice, and delivering mightily on "Pity the Child." Josh Groban also does well as the Russian Anatoly, using his BOOMING VOICE effectively most of the time. Idina Menzel, though, as much as I admire her, feels vocally miscast as Florence (Freddy's lover/assistant, later Anatoly's lover/assistant). By the time we get to her duet with Kerry Ellis as Anatoly's deserted wife Svetlana ("I Know Him So Well"), it occurred to me that the ladies should have been playing the opposite roles. David Bedella, so good in "Jerry Springer the Opera," has fun in the rather thankless role of Molokov, Anatoly's handler.
Watching this concert, I couldn't help but think that there must be SOME way to make this show gel better. Can't Freddy and Florence's relationship be better defined? Can't her motivation to move on to Anatoly make better sense? And what's this business about Hungary 1956, and why is that important? And Florence's father is alive? Why don't we care about any of these characters? In fact, who are we even supposed to care about?? They're all sort of unlikable. If that's the point (and it very well might be- to paraphrase a lyric, "Eveybody's playing the game/ but nobody's rules are the same/ nobody's on nobody's side"), make the characters more truly devious in their plotting. The thing is, I don't think these problems are unsolvable. I think we just need a few more nicely positioned numbers. I would suggest changing a LOT of the beginning, especially "Merano" and stuff from the opening of the Chess Championship ("Arbiter's Song," etc.). Yes, I like these songs, but they do tend to drag things down just when we should be starting to get interested.
The concert itself is not particularly well conceived, and doesn't do a whole lot to cover the show's flaws. There is a lot of background mugging by the choir and various ensemble members, making the proceedings more corny than necessary. Also cheesing things up are some horribly amateurish looking graphics, projected on a big screen above the stage. Most cringe-inducing is the choreography throughout the opening chess ceremony (another reason to cut a lot of that), and, especially, the use of ballet dancers during the chess matches (I thought this was called "Chess," not "Ballet"! With all the talk about the wonders of the game, you'd think they would want to focus us on the game, instead of distracting us. I guess there's no getting around the fact chess is sort of boring.) Still, there are those fantastic songs...
Showing reviews 66-70 of 76
|
|
|
