Ford Amphitheatre (Hollywood, CA)
In this Broadway musical by Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita), the game of chess is used as a metaphor for romantic rivalries and the U.S.-Soviet rivalry during the Cold War. The main characters form a love triangle: the ill-mannered American Grandmaster, the intense Russian champion, and the Hungarian-American female chess second. Tony nominee Susan Egan and Ty Taylor star.
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
All dates for this event have expired.
The last event was Monday September 17, 2007 / 8:00pm. (view all dates)
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Yhe sound,lighting nad direction were awful.
A rather painful night including poor audio quality, a shrieking leading lady and an incoherent version of one of my favorite musicals. Yeesh all the way around.
Solid performance benefiting a good cause. Music and Lyrics seemed challenging, but the cast did a remarkable job. Some troubles with the sound system, possibly a result of only one week of reheasal time, but overall a really good night. Kevin Earley (Anatoli) was absolutely phenomenal.
The show was impressive (especially with only 1 week of full rehearsals), but there were sound issues - mixing level and mic reliability. The cast seemed to fight with the live orchestra and choir to be heard and understood. I loved the venue. It was a great setting.
I saw Chess in London, England a number of years ago and loved it. My eager reviews when I returned home caused my husband to hope to see it one day as well. I was excited to learn it was playing in Hollywood and pleased Goldstar was offering tickets. My husband and I bought tickets. I knew the show would have to be different (stage, setting etc) and hoped it would not be a let down. It was not. It was a superb performance, professional and radiating with talent. It was a wonderful evening. Well done!
Everyone should be commended for what they managed to achieve with one weeks rehearsal. However so much of the words were lost due to bad enunciation except for Kevin Earley (brilliant), Susan Egan (fabulous but should have been playing the Florence role) and Thomas Griffith (wonderful). I realize the event was a tribute to someone but the role played by his wife was badly miscast and she lost half the lyrics with her small voice. The role of Freddie was screamed and whole passages disappeared. Mic problems did not help either. The dances however were terrific and saved the day as otherwise not many in the audience around me had any idea what the story was!
I had no problem getting my ticket. My first time at the Ford Theater and it was quite exciting. I love the show, staging and the performers themselves. The sound system had some problems mostly in the 2nd act. But overall a very good theater experience. THANKS!
One-night only gala benefit performance of the incredible musical "CHESS" written by Tim Rice and the gentlemen from ABBA. Top notch talent.
VERY BAD!! Its one of my favorite shows. This production was painful to watch. It was one night only and believe me it was one night too many.
Show had some technical problems, but overall it was impressive with talented performers in a beautiful setting. Considering this is my favorite musical, and I wouldn't have know about the show if it wasn't for Goldstar, I appreciate your service even more.
I might have enjoyed the show if I could have heard more than 30% of the words. Had no idea what was happening with the story as the sound system was terrible and most of the songs where inaudible when more than one person was singing, they were mush. Since there is no shell or backdrop that would contain the sound, it just went, and sometimes the mike's went out. I am sorry because it seemed like a good musical. I had heard the CD years ago, and really liked it, but it wasn't worth the money I paid to go. I'm glad it was for a good cause otherwise I would have asked for my money back. You are free to share this info with anyone you like.
Excellent show. Would have been better, though, had the sound equipment worked more consistently.
the actors were fantastic, great voices, excellent dance numbers, the theater was a beautiful outdoor setting with great sound, a once in a life opportunity for charity,
the seat were amazing close to the stage and at half price. super WOW!!!
Absolutly INCREDIBLE show!!!!!
Overall a great show with a GREAT cast. Only gripes I had was with the technical problems, especially microphones going out, and microphones being left on when they should have been off. Better planning & rehearsal could have helped with figuring out the mic volumes (which were often too loud or too soft). The vocals were often also drowned out by the orchestra. But otherwise, like I said, GREAT cast.
My first time at this venue and was pleasantly surprised. An amphitheatre with an intimate feeling, who would have thought? With that said, glad I wasn't any further back than Row E...LOL
The seats are cramped however and a little more room would have been a plus.
The talent was wonderful, especialy since they mounted this production in 9 days. Pretty impressive.
Kevin Early is amazing! Why hasn't he received a Tony??
This event was spectacular! the venue (The Ford Amphitheater) was gorgeous, our seats were really nice and the show was thrilling.
A talented cast had to fight too many technical glitches and a bad sound mix that made it difficult to understand any of the lyrics, thus making it tough to follow the story in this virtually sung-through musical. Compensating factors were the great score and the excellent performance of Kevin Earley.
The cast and crew put in tons of outstanding work for one night! Kevin Early just needs the right vehicle and I think he will be a huge broadway star. And the choreography and dancing was outstanding!
Musical was great, cast was outstanding and venue cannot be beat. However, the experience was totally ruined by an incredibly poor sound system. Throughtout the entire performance the orchestra overwhelmed the singers so badly that they were virtually indecipherable, the microphones dropped the sound repeatedly and the entire concert was severely compromised as a result. I have seen others concerts at this venue without any prior sound problems, but for this event it could hardly have been worse.
The 1241-seat outdoor Ford Amphitheatre is set against a backdrop of cypresses and chaparral in the Hollywood Hills. It is relatively intimate: no patron is more than 96 feet away from the stage. Music, dance, film, theatre and family events are presented during the summer months. The Ford Amphitheatre Season is a program of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
In this concert staging of the Broadway musical by Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita), the game of chess is used as a metaphor for romantic rivalries and the U.S.-Soviet rivalry during the Cold War. The main characters form a love triangle: the ill-mannered American Grandmaster, the intense Russian champion who plans on defecting to the West, and the Hungarian-American female chess second, who arrives at the international championships with the American but falls in love with the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest, the players, lovers, politicians and spies all struggle to get the upper hand.
The event under the Ford Amphitheatre night sky will star Tony nominee Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret, Triumph of Love), Kevin Earley (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Les Miserables), Ty Taylor (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Grease, Rockstar INXS), Cindy Robinson (Into the Woods, Carousel, Peter Pan), Thomas Griffith (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, 1776 at Hollywood Bowl), Tom Schmid (Annie Get Your Gun, The Last Empress) and Matthew Morrison (The Light in the Piazza, Hairspray tour, 10 Million Miles). Brian Michael Purcell (Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, Evita) will produce and direct the show.
This edgy new multimedia production of Chess will feature musical direction by Dan Redfeld (Little Women) and choreography by A.C. Ciulla (Footloose, Tony nomination), backed by a full a 24-piece orchestra.
This is a one-night-only concert to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
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